Even Joanna looked surprised. “Oh, you are a wicked thing!” she said, smacking him lightly on the arm. “You must not jest so with my sister, for she is a sensitive creature. She will not understand that you are only teasing. Indeed, when Ellen and I jest like that, she gets very upset.”
“I apologize,” Daniel said curtly, bowing his head so that Phoebe could not see his eyes. “I did not realize that my jests would cause offense, as I am sure that you did not realize your jests about my ‘clumsiness’ would.”
Phoebe floundered, her stomach twisting into knots. “I caused offense?”
“As intended,” Daniel replied, lifting his head and flashing her an empty smile.
Phoebe stared at him, trying to understand what had happened. Gone were the easy grins and ready laughter of earlier that day, and all of his sweet encouragements. Gone was his desire to protect her and his willingness to joke with her and his eagerness to learn more about her, though in the back of her mind, she could still see him standing beneath the cedar tree with his arms outstretched, as if he truly believed he could break her fall if she fell.
Where had that man disappeared to? What was this cold creature who had replaced him, and why did she miss the other version so keenly?
“I did not want to have to have my sister join me for the rest of the evening as two ladies with injured ankles, that is all,” Phoebe replied, her voice shakier than she would have liked it to be. “Dancing is a more dangerous pastime than many would think.”
Daniel nodded slowly. “So, it is the dancing you do not approve of and not the partner?”
“I do not think this is the time nor the place for this conversation, do you?” She settled back into the comfortable shell ofreplacement mother, letting the strength of that role smooth out the trembling in her voice. “I have made my opinions known to you. Do not pretend otherwise.”
Joanna’s gaze flitted anxiously between her sister and her would-be suitor, appearing more uneasy than Phoebe had ever seen her. And though Phoebe was still determined to deny the courtship, she did feel awful that her sister was caught in the middle of it, not least because of that… bewildering embrace that, try as she might, she could not forget. The way Daniel had looked at her, had held her, had whispered, “You are safe,” was something her mind could not relinquish, even with this changeling Daniel standing in front of her.
“Do you know where Ellen is?” Joanna asked abruptly.
Phoebe gestured to the other side of the room. “She has gone to converse with some ladies over there. If you can see Matilda, you will find Ellen.”
“Allow me to guess,” Daniel said coldly. “There is a gentleman she adores, whom you do not like, so she must be observed like a hawk so as not to disappoint you?”
Phoebe gasped involuntarily, recovering as fast as she could. “I am sure that evenyouknow the Baron of Harburgh is a poor match for my sister, and, no, she is not being ‘observed like a hawk.’ She is being chaperoned, which is the proper thing to do.”
“I… think I shall go and find her,” Joanna said, hurrying off without another word.
Phoebe opened her mouth to ask Daniel why he was behaving in such a manner, but before she could say anything at all, he bowed his head to her and declared, “If Miss Joanna has departed, I should, too. For her sake.” He paused, adding, “Everything I have done, everything I am doing, is for her sake. Do not forget that.”
He turned on his heel and marched away, thankfully moving in the opposite direction to where Joanna had gone. Phoebe watched him go, dumbfounded. She had not been about to chide him or scold him, she had merely wished to ask why she had upset him so much. Now, alone again, she felt utterly stupid, her heart aching far more than her sore ankle ever could.
Indeed, though he was never hers, to begin with, she felt as if she had lost something greater than a red star in those gardens.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
After the ball, Phoebe had hoped to return to Woodholme Manor as quickly as possible, to remove Joanna from Daniel’s pursuit, and to remove herself from a situation that left her feeling increasingly uncomfortable. She might have managed it, if Amelia had not implored her to stay another week with her sisters. Even then, Phoebe might have refused, but the rest of the Spinsters’ Club had already agreed, and she did not want to be the only one absent.
But after two days of being on the receiving end of Daniel’s cold dismissal, or being avoided altogether, even if they passed one another in the hallway, Phoebe began to wonder if she had made a grave mistake by staying. She did not want anyone to realize that she was hurt, for if her friends began asking questions, she knew she would buckle and tell them that… Well, she did not know exactly what she would say, but something along the lines of,“I do not think I dislike him as much as I claimed to, but he cannot ever be mine, and I will not be the one who hurts my sister. I will not have her hate me. I would rather be alone forever.”
More to the point, it was obvious that Daniel felt nothing for her. He had clearly realized in the gardens that his attempt to gain Phoebe’s favor had stepped over a line he had never intended to cross, and now he was in the process of redrawing that line much further back, as far away from her as he could.
So, resigned to his frosty treatment of her, Phoebe made the choice to simply act as a chaperone, holding her tongue whenever the desire to retort came over her. After all, his behavior—goodorbad—would not alter the outcome. No Miss Wilson would be marrying that man, now or ever.
“Are you well, Sister?” Ellen asked as the quartet walked down the forest path that connected Westyork Manor to Daisy House, where Olivia and Evan had invited them for tea.
Phoebe snapped out of her thoughts. “Hmm?”
“You look pale, and your cheeks are very red. Do you have a fever?”
Phoebe mustered a smile. “I have not been sleeping well, that is all. You know how terribly I fare when I am not in my own bed. Meanwhile, I do believe that you and Joanna could sleep on rocks and awaken looking so refreshed that anyone would think you had slept for days on a down mattress.”
“Matilda says it is because your bed is the only place where you can find peace,” Ellen said quietly. “Is that true?”
Phoebe’s eyes widened. “What? No, not at all. The only place where I find peace is wherever the two of you are, and wherever my friends are. I do not think it is so strange for people to prefer their own bed over guest beds. Matilda should not have put such foolish notions in your head. I know she is exceedingly wise, but she is not always right.”
“I dare you to say that to her,” Ellen teased, apparently satisfied by the explanation.
