Sally slowly scanned the room and met Lady Ellicott’s hard gaze. Her heart thudded at the woman’s obvious disapproval of her talking with Felix. “Oh dear.”
“Trouble?”
“Hopefully not.” Sally licked her lips. “Lady Ellicott has opinions.”
“And so do you,” Felix said. “I have always been of the opinion you should not have to change to please the ones you love.”
When they had first met, they had been at a small dinner and he had caught her sneaking sips from her father’s whiskey glass. He had smiled and said nothing. When he had begun to aid her by passing her his untouched glass the following nights, she had fallen a little bit in love with him each time. Together they had skirted the boundaries of propriety in public and laughed about it afterward whenever they could snatch a private moment. She had had so little time to know Felix, but those innocent days had not lasted. Their interest in each other had quickly strayed into passion.
“You certainly did not.” Sally sucked in a breath at how quickly resentment flared in her. Felix was a dangerous man. Ambitious and charming, he made her forget the way she should behave. She should not be sitting next to him unless she had no choice. He had used her to feather his own nest. “You should leave.”
“I think you are correct.” A few moments later, Felix excused himself from her mother an
d retired for the night without looking back.
Chapter Fourteen
“My word, that man has a presence,” her mother gushed as she collapsed at Sally’s side in quite a state. “I know you still think meanly toward the captain, but I think he would do for one of your cousins, or perhaps for Louisa. He has aged very well indeed. Can you imagine how handsome his children would be?”
Sally had imagined that many times, but the thought of Felix as a potential suitor or husband to any of her female relations was appalling. She glanced sharply at her mother. “Mother, I do not think you should play matchmaker.”
Lady Ellicott joined them, her eyes fixed on Sally. Her lips pressed together in a tight, disapproving line.
“Well, I know I should not play matchmaker, but,” Mama continued, oblivious to Lady Ellicott’s growing scowl, “when we dined together last night, I could swear that man is terribly lonely. No family but a brother. I suspect there is bad blood between them. No home but his wretched ship. If Victoria or Audrey can cheer him, then who am I to stand in the way of a second betrothal for him?”
“Felix knows how to look after himself perfectly well.” Sally bit her lip at her use of his first name. If she wanted to hide her past from Lady Ellicott, she had to stop thinking of him in such informal terms.
The countess frowned. “Felix?”
Sally floundered a moment, but her mother spoke up before she could. “Captain Hastings, of course. He has had such a long acquaintance with our family and was once engaged to be married to someone I knew well. Such a dear man, and so polite to me. I would have him happy once more.”
Lady Ellicott’s eyes lit up as she scented a scandal worth hearing. “Was it his profession that turned the connection sour?”
Her mother smiled. “In a way, although I think an outside influence had more to do with the break than anything.”
“Mother, we should not talk about his past,” Sally whispered, frantic that her past betrothal to Felix not be revealed to Lady Ellicott.
Mama took no notice of her distress. “It is such a shame. Many parents have ambitions for their children that conflict with what’s truly best for them. And he was in love too, I think. The poor man has never looked at another woman the same way.”
The countess stiffened in her chair. “How inconvenient, but I am sure he will easily find another. He has means, I understand.”
“He does, but it is so tragic I can barely speak of what he has suffered. I have hope now that he is finally ready to put the past behind him and love again. He has made his name and a tidy fortune and will surely catch the notice of some deserving woman.” Mama smiled serenely, leaving Sally with the distinct impression she was goading Lady Ellicott on purpose.
But why? Her parents’ arranged marriage had never been much of an example of wedded bliss, and everyone in society knew they lived separate lives. Even so, Mama always claimed a love match would best suit her own daughters when their turn came to marry. She wanted her children to be happy, and yet lasting love had eluded both Sally and Louisa.
“I am sure Captain Hastings will find someone.” Else.
“I would not be too sure,” Mama murmured.
“Please, not tonight,” Sally whispered.
“Soon then.”
Sally nodded, knowing she could not escape a lengthy debate about Felix forever. In a way it was odd that her mother had barely mentioned him in the past years, except to occasionally say his name when sharing news of him in her letters from Laurence.
Mama was going to be disappointed once she discovered Sally had not agreed to marry Ellicott because she had fallen in love with him. And after her little talk with Ellicott, it seemed very likely she might have committed herself to a union similar to her parents’ marriage. Unless she could make Ellicott love her.
But love was a fleeting and fickle companion and never a certainty. Sally had to embrace whatever opportunities came her way and accept what she could not change. She could marry without love and be content with that outcome. It would enable her to live the life she was always meant to have.