“That would be generous of you.”
Thea’s voice sounded distant, almost cold, and Freddie eyed her sidelong. “You almost seem as though you do not like him.”
Thea offered a tiny shrug. “He is a servant.”
While that answer was something he himself would have said, its coming from Thea sounded odd. He remembered Thea and Mr. Carter being quite close when they were children, and his sister always had a soft spot for the staff that made their lives easy and pampered.
So why is she so indifferent now?
Reaching the dock, Mr. Carter remaining on the path that led to it, Freddie gazed out over the still lake. A falcon screeched a rapidchirk-chirk-chirkas it soared up and over the stand of trees to vanish over the hills. He breathed in the scent of rotted plants and muck, as well as the fresher odors of the heather carried in by the breeze.
“I wished to ask you if you found a candidate you like,” he said finally.
Thea remained silent for a time, staring down at the lapping wavelets that struck the shore. The light wind tossed a tendril of her hair across her lips, and her fingers absently brushed it away. “I wish I could say yes, Freddie,” she replied, her tone soft. “But no. The Earl of Harrowshire comes close, yet his appearance repels me.”
“Looks are not everything.”
She stared up at him. “Who are you to say that?” she snapped. “I saw you chasing the prettiest lady at the party and you got angry when Ampleforth got interested also. I will wager if she had a wart on her nose and was missing teeth, you would have not cared if the Baron pursued her.”
Freddie smiled. “Touché.”
“I will admit Lord Harrowshire is a kind and generous man,” Thea admitted. “I liked him. I also liked the son of Lord Marlowdale.”
“Both of whom would make excellent choices as a husband, given their wealth and titles.”
“But I do not like either of them well enough to feel I could ever love them.”
“Thea,” Freddie said slowly, trying to think of the right words to say. “You cannot put your emotions into this equation.”
“I can and I will. Iwillmarry for love, Freddie.”
“As you told Robert, you must make your choice as though it were a business decision.”
Thea tried to wither him with a cold stare, her nose high. “I was also trying to put him off, and you know it. As an argument that was pathetic.”
“I am sorry, Thea, but marrying for love just is not possible for you.”
She spun to face him, her face tight with anger. “I saw the way you looked at the Countess, Freddie. You cannot deny you were attracted to her, and she you. Until yourfriendinterfered. So you could easily have fallen in love with her, asked her to marry you.”
Annoyance growing inside him, Freddie folded his arms across his chest. “So?”
“So,” she sneered, her pale brown eyes sparking fury, “what is good for you, is not good for me? You can marry for love while I cannot? You are such a hypocrite.”
His anger deflating, Freddie watched her stomp back across the dock and up the path, Mr. Carter bowing before falling into his place behind her. Once she vanished into the house, he turned his eyes back over the lake, watching sparrows dive for insects over its surface. “I am so sorry, Thea,” he murmured. “Robert is the best choice as a husband for you.”
I will tell him soon.
Chapter 21
Feeling like kicking someone or something, Thea forced her angry impulses to the side as she entertained several noble ladies in the solar. A maid served them hot tea and biscuits as they gossiped about society – who was marrying whom, who recently had a child, what the Prince Regent was doing – things that Thea could care less about. Her gut clenched and roiled alternately, she barely tasted her tea.
Ampleforth is not the only one up to something. Freddie is, too.
Her gut told her that since she did not find a suitable potential husband –how can I when I love Liam?– Freddie would now take matters into his own hands. He would make the choice for her and that choice certainly would not be Liam Carter. Trying to smile at whatever the plump Lady Harrington was saying while chewing her lip, Thea fretted and worried.
Perhaps Liam and I could run away together. He can gain employment as a footman in a noble household and I can work as a maid.
However romantic a picture that made, she knew she could never live the life of a cleaning or serving maid. Smiling and nodding in all the right places as her guests chatted, feigning an interest in their gossip, Thea wondered if she should just tell Freddie about how Liam and she felt for one another.
