"Indeed," he continued, "you, Lady Louise, are the only one that I truly desire and wish to be married to," he said.
"That is not how I remember it, Lord Felington," Louise said, "I could remember you telling me that you do not wish to be married to me."
"I am but only a man and I have no power over her seduction and when she asked that I be engaged to her instead, I had no choice," Felington said, "everything that I said and did at the house party, I only did them because Emily told me to."
"That is a serious accusation, Lord Felington," Louise noted.
"Indeed, it is," he said.
"Are you certain you are not saying this because Emily has now left you for a captain?" Louise asked.
Felington winced and for the first time since they started talking, Louise saw a crack in his delighted exterior. He looked hurt but the next moment, he covered it up with an arrogant smile.
"Certainly not, Lady Louise," Felington said, "in fact, before Lady Emily abandoned me, I have been making plans to call off my engagement to her and come back to you. I suspect that she ran away with the sailor in order to hide from the shame that would have surely come to her if I had called off the engagement as I had planned."
"Hmm!" Louise said, as she mulled over his perfectly crafted lie.
For any other maiden, this well-curated lie would have worked and they would have taken him back with open arms. Louise, however, was not another maiden. Her father's death and the fact that she had had to take care of her family had forced her to make use of her wit even more. And at that moment, she knew that Felington was simply lying and blaming Emily for his actions instead of admitting his wrong.
"Louise," Felington said in an earnest voice, "I plan on pursuing your interest with every fiber in me. It is you that I want, and I shall stop at nothing to ensure that you know this."
"Is that so?" Louise asked.
"I know that you probably have reservations for me now especially after what happened and I do not blame you. However, I promise you that you would not have a reason to regret taking me back."
Louise smiled, nodding as though she agreed with every word that he said. After all, pretending to agree was, in fact, better than arguing with a man who believed that he could get her back after embarrassing her in the presence of the wholeton.
They danced in silence some more while Louise counted down the time until she was able to get away from Felington. The only thing that got her through were moments when she would sneak looks at Callum who was dancing with Catherine just a few feet away from them.
"And I heard about your predicament, Louise," he suddenly said.
"Predicament? I do not understand, my lord," Louise said.
"I was told that the heir of your father's estate is threatening to throw you and your family out," he said.
"That is true,” Louise said, in a low tone. She did not think that her family's situation was exactly a secret but yet, she did not like that a dubious man like Felington was trying to use it as leverage.
"You have nothing to worry about," Felington said, "if you marry me, that is. Your family is welcome to stay with me."
Louise nodded. "I appreciate the offer," she said, "however, since Aunt Theodora is getting married to the Duke soon and I may get a suitable proposal before the end of the Season, I am certain that we would not have a problem finding a roof over our heads. However, I will give it a thought and let you know what I think.”
“The Duke is known to care for people so I suppose he would be happy to house you then," Felington said.
Louise nodded and her heart leaped with joy as the dance slowly began to come to an end.
"But yet, I want you to know that I am more than willing to marry you if you will have me," Felington said, and Louise could hear a sense of urgency in his voice.
"I will give it a thought," Louise lied. Of course, she knew she would not. The last thing she wanted to do was get married to Felington. The dance came to a stop now and all around them, men were bowing to their dance partners.
"You know, if I wanted, I could easily go to heir and make my intentions known to him," Felington said, in a tone that Louise wasn't sure was a threat or not.
"I could easily finalize the wedding agreement with the heir, talk about the dowry, and then get married to you. I know you could not possibly disobey the heir, after all, he is the one who would pay the dowry when you finally get married."
"What are you..." His words made Louise uneasy and as she looked up at him, she could see determined eyes that were ready to do whatever it took to have her. His eyes suddenly softened and he smiled as he let go of her and took a bow. After this, he took several steps toward her and whispered to her. "But I would never do that to you," he said, "I would give you the choice to decide if you want to be married to me."
With that, he left.
Louise was still wondering what Felington meant when Callum came to her with a footman who bore a glass of wine. Louise smiled genuinely at the gesture. "How did you know I was thirsty, Lord Langton?" She asked him.
