Page 6 of In Want of a Wife
Mr. Chapman stood behind him, beaming. “Well done, Mr. Davies. Our Carol is well on the mend, and these two kids will be back to health in no time.”
They never asked where he had acquired the skill of stitching up wounds, and it was best they didn’t. But there was a reason the floors were painted red in the officer’s quarters on a ship. He had seen too many bleed out after cannon fire ricocheted in the air, and men screaming while enemy fire pierced the hull and expelled deadly splinters through the air.
He’d never forget those screams, or the blood staining his hands, or the way his body plowed forward through the chaos to make meaning of a shambolic existence.
Rafe nodded, proud to have helped but wishing more than anything to disappear for a while.
CHAPTER 2
Kate’s dark,thick brows drew together before the warning came. It made no difference, for Lily expected it. If she hadn't been jilted twice now, she might have ventured to agree with Kate.
But Lily would not falter. Especially not for another man.
“You are a dear friend and have done a great service by taking me in after the scandal, so please don’t take this the wrong way, but that is absurd,” Kate said. “You cannot travel across England to marry a stranger and live on the Isle of Wight. You have no idea who the man is. What if he is seventy and prefers the company of goats? Oh goodness”—Kate’s eyes widened—“what if he wants ten children?”
Lily pried the newspaper from her friend’s hand with a scowl. “Don’t be silly.”
“What if he doesn’t approve?”
“Of what?”
“Your obsession with the stars?”
Even in Lily’s haste to be rid of her family, it was a very real concern. She had endured their lack of interest and encouragement for some time now.She rubbed her wrist to distract from the way it was suddenly difficult to draw breath. Could she survive her future husband casting her off in the same way?
Her plan to answer the advertisement was the best solution that she could think of apart from joining a convent, and that was less than desirable. And spinsterhood meant staying with her family, which was even more so.Beyond being stuck, she’d be a further burden to her father, and she didn’t wish to bring trouble about.
“I won’t lie. Being the source of gossip is not easy, but with time, it becomes easier to bear. We will face this tide together. You don’t have to make a hasty decision to run away.”
She was not running—exactly. Lily was merely fixing a wrong, a spot left vacant quite suddenly that she had expected to be filled by now. She was without a husband, so she must find another. That had always been expected of her, especially now that her father had another four daughters after marrying her stepmother.
Lily collapsed against the sofa with a frustrated groan and pushed away a taxidermy of a mallard ready for flight. “It would be easier if you agreed instead of pretending to be the voice of reason. Charlotte does a fine job of that.”
Her best friends were always looking after Lily and her scatter-brained ideas. If only they could forget about the time she caused an explosion in the scullery kitchen after reading an interesting book on war tactics. But no. Her eyebrows had luckily grown back, and Kate recovered her hearing in her left ear, but the book had been removed from the house, and her father had left for London for far too long afterward.
“Felton might be gone, but there are still plenty of men?—”
Voices, frantic and loud, echoed out in the hallway.
“Oh God.” Lily’s stomach soured and suddenly the world tipped.
“What have you done, Lily?” Her stepmother cried from the other side of the door. Her father’s bristling attempt at quelling his wife’s nerves followed but to no avail.
“You ruined a perfectly good match. The viscount would have provided you with a handsome life. He was a fine man, an excellent man for marriage.”
If that were true, then perhaps her father would be less upset. But he wasn’t rid of her yet again, and now she was squarely in the middleof another scandal. Lily grimaced, bending forward to rest her head against her knees in case she cast up her accounts.
“You have ruined your sisters, so you think of that,” her stepmother continued. “You have not only brought ruin upon yourself, but to your family. Their happiness is doomed!”
Kate snickered. Lily elbowed her, trying not to do the same.
“Open the door, young lady,” her father shouted next. “You cannot barricade yourself in my office. I will have business to see to now that you shamed us. A man must have his sanctuary.”
A stuffy, chaotic mess with one too many waterfowl. Funny what a man would consider an escape. She wished for one herself, free of ducks and disappointment.
“It has been a tiring morning for all those involved,” came another friendly voice. Charlotte Gairdner, the Duchess of Dandridge, had the remarkable advantage of making Lily’s parents agreeable. “I think it best we allow Lily to rest and have time to recover from the shock.”
Lily could barely remember her mother’s honeyed voice, but Charlotte's rang close. Her stepmother had one shrill volume, an unfortunate affection for frills, and an unnecessary urge to wear the most bizarre hair accessories.
