Page 25 of A Lady's Propitious Match
CHAPTER 11
Clara sucked in a nervous breath as soon as Christopher left the room. What had started as a normal morning with her spending time with her mother, had quickly taken a strange turn.
Now she was fearfully awaiting her mother’s reaction to Christopher turning up with an adorable bouquet of flowers for her. She was not ready for it, but she forced herself to turn. Seeing her mother’s questioning eyes, pursed lips and a taciturn glance, made her pulse race anticipating a confrontation.
Clara parted her lips, knowing that it was much better for her to get something in first, to maybe explain herself in a way that her mother would understand.
But she did not get a chance to say a word.
“Do not even think about it, Clara,” her mother warned, waggling her finger in her daughter’s face as she spoke. “I do not want you to even consider than man a prospect. Not when you have interest from Lord Simon Caldwell.”
“But, Mother, you have not even…”
Clara watched in horror as her mother shook her head, refusing to even listen to her. How were Christopher and she going to make this plan work if her mother would not even listen?
“Lord Caldwell is a wonderful man with a great title and even better prospects. Mr. Fitzhugh is a second son who seems to want to run some kind of art business. That is silliness.”
“You know that I am also interested in art…”
“Do not allow your silly little hobby to sway your decisions. You will not be happy if you make that rash decision. You deserve a certain kind of life style, and that is not something a second son with no inheritance will be able to provide.”
Clara did not like this. Not one bit. Was she not allowed an opinion on her own future? Was she not permitted to think for herself? She did not care about titles and prospects, Lord Caldwell was a bore and she just knew that she would be unhappy with himforever if she was forced to spend too much time with him. There was no way it would work out.
Christopher might not have some inheritance and a fancy title before his name, but there was an undeniable spark between them. She felt seen by him.
But how on earth could she make her mother understand that? It was clear that she was heated and not in the mood to listen to anything that Clara had to say. But this might be the most important argument that Clara ever had with her mother, if she wanted to start making her own choices in the future for her life.
“Mother, I think we should at least give him a chance…”
“I do not want that man in my home. There is no reason for him to be here. I am quite baffled as to why he was here right now. What have you done to give him the impression that a visit from him would be welcome? I did not even know you knew one another…”
Luckily, before Clara was forced to find a response to that question, the butler entered the room once more. Unfortunately, he did not come with good news.
“Lady Clara, Lord Simon Caldwell is here to visit.”
Clara groaned inwardly, but her mother lit up with excitement. It was likely that she had pre-arranged this meeting to push her wants and needs. This was the last thing that she wanted to deal with right now. Clara needed some time alone to digest her surprise visit with Christopher and to think about their theater date. She did not want this.
But her mother was already eagerly guiding him inside and ensuring they all had tea, and cake as well. Simon was certainly a much more welcome visitor.
“Oh, it is so wonderful to see you, Lord Caldwell,” Clara’s mother declared. “And those flowers… my goodness, they are absolutely wonderful. What a fine looking bouquet.”
Clara felt the pointed look from her mother, but Clara was not impressed. She loved the flowers that Christopher brought for her because they felt personalized and sweet.
Simon always came with a bouquet of flowers that were more certainly for show. They were extravagant for the sake of it, which only reminded Clara how bland he was as a person.
“You are looking rather ravishing today,” Simon declared as he took her hand to kiss it. “It is always wonderful to see you.”
Clara could have predicted that was what he would say, because that was always what he said when he came to speak with her. She had a theory that he had been given etiquette lessons when he was younger, and that was the script given to him.
He probably said exactly the same thing to all the other women he had ever encountered in his life, no matter what capacity he met them in. You are looking rather ravishing today. It is always wonderful to see you. It was truly a boring opening.
“Thank you.” It was a struggle for Clara to smile, but her mother’s beady eyes were upon her. When she was being watched like a hawk like this, it was very difficult to perform as she was expected to. But Clara did not want to upset her mother further. “It is nice to see you too.”
They took a seat for tea and cakes, and Clara really did try her absolute hardest to focus on what Simon was saying, but it was truly challenging. Clara writhed through agonizing banal discourse for a prolonged thirty minutes, her mind spinning the whole time.
All she could think about was how much she preferred to have Christopher sitting opposite her, even if they could not talk as freely as they wanted to. At least she had a natural smile in his presence, and she did not wish that she was anywhere else in the world…
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