She dipped her head to one side, not wanting to admit that she didn’t know who these ladies were.
“Concubines at the club, Westcott’s. Surely you know—if he tells you everything, if you share your confidences.”
“He does not have concubines,” she said. She hated the way her voice sounded so weak as she spoke.
“Well, if that is what he said, I shall not shatter this carefully built house of cards the two of you have constructed together. I would’ve made you happy, you know,” he said. “We could’ve gone on grand adventures together. We could’ve seen the world. But you had to choose him over me. Discard me like yesterday’s porridge. I would’ve shown you the world.”
“If I had to be married to you to see the world, my lord, I would rather look at nothing but the bottom of my own foot for the rest of my life.”
He scoffed and started to grin. Then the grin faltered, as if he just then understood what she had said.
“Ungrateful wench,” he said. “You deserve one another,” he said and stormed away, leaving her behind.
She couldn’t believe a man like him. Like Lady Charmaine—self-absorbed, concerned only with his own well-being. No, she couldn’t put any faith in him. And yet she couldn’t help it. There was that nagging feeling. She still did not know Nathaniel that well. Her heart assumed that it knew him. But her mind—her mind knew that they were still strangers.
She was relieved when the door opened and her father exited.
“My dear,” he said. “What are you doing out here on your own?”
“I am simply waiting for Nathaniel,” she said. Her father nodded, but then just sidled to one side.
“I see. And the two of you… Are you really content?”
Why was everybody questioning her today? It was exceedingly annoying.
“Yes, Father. We are perfectly happy. Why?” She recalled her father talking to her husband and how displeased he had looked. “Do you want us not to get along? I thought you had made your?—”
“We did. I only thought that he was more…” He waved a hand. “It does not matter. As long as you are happy.”
“I am,” she said. Her father sat beside her on the stone steps, and she joined him. They hadn’t sat this way together for quite some time. Something could always come between them. His desire to place obligations upon her that were not her own to bear. His wishes to marry her off to someone she didn’t want…
“Father, why did you never talk to me about what I wished? What I desired?”
He shrugged. “I suppose I always thought of what was best for us as a family, as opposed to what was best for each individual.”
She wanted to say, ‘You only thought about what was best for you,’ but bit the words back. There was no reason to upset her father further.
“I see. Did you not care if I was happy?”
“I did,” he said. “Very much. And you are happy now, with your handsome, rich fellow.”
She shrugged. “I am. We are still getting to know one another and…”
A thought came to her. Her father had been a frequent patron of the gentleman’s club before having to stop because his bills were getting out of hand. Could it be that he could put her mind at ease?
She turned to him. “Father? I have a question to ask you, and I need you to tell me the truth.”
“Of course, my dear. We have put all bygones behind us, after all. Now come—ask me. What bothers you?”
“The gentleman’s clubs. When you go there, are there ever…”
“Ladies?” he half-chuckled. “In White’s? No, my dear. They are not allowed. You know that.”
She already felt lighter.
“Now there are at other clubs, of course,” he said, and she sat up straight as an arrow.
“Other clubs? You mean Brooks and Boodle’s?”
