Page 52 of In Want of a Wife
Instead, a knock sounded at the front door, and Mrs. Davies excused herself before bustling back in with a group of older women all clamoring for a view.
“Rafe!”
A gray-haired woman rushed around and threw her arms around him. She drew back, cupped his face in her hands, and smiled. “You’ve been away too long.”
“Mrs. Finch, did you just pinch me?”
The older woman snickered, then turned to Lily before the entire room shifted their focus to her.
“Hello,” she said weakly. She held out her hand and waved to the waiting crowd.
“Rafe Michael Davies, you’ve gone and done it, you sly devil. You’ve married.”
Lily felt the heat bite her cheeks. She rolled her shoulders and turned her gaze to a non-remarkable spot on the worn pine floor.
“Well, Evelyn, Rafe has informed me that this Miss Abrams here is intended to be Henry’s bride.” Mrs. Davies set down the rolling pin and smiled. “Rafe?”
Lily glanced upward, her fists tightening. The coward.
He peeked at Lily, mouthed “sorry” and then threw on that annoyingly handsome smile of his. The one that could convince an entire room they alone had his undivided attention. “It’s true, ladies. I am still very much a bachelor married to the sea, but how lucky is my brother?”
The group of women laughed and murmured among themselves for a moment while Lily scanned the room for a quick exit. She had been a fool to believe Rafe that this would go swimmingly. But honestly, what had she expected? She was traveling alone through England with the brother of her betrothed. Her soon-to-be husband, aman she had never met and only exchanged a few letters with before packing up her belongings to move to the Isle of Wight where she would become his wife.
All attention turned to Lily once more as she stepped forward, about to dash around Rafe to race outside when she froze, watching as Rafe’s face paled. He drew back, gripping the counter of the work surface as a young woman shut the door to the front of the house and raced into the kitchen.
“Where have you been?” the young woman shouted, parting the crowd to throw her arms around Rafe.
He staggered back a step, meeting Lily once more in the eye.
But all she found in his stare was dread.
His sister Mariwas his shadow for the rest of the day. And the hell of it was, he missed her, thoroughly. Just as he had missed his mother. But he hadn’t returned home since the accident.
But he would for Henry. He did.
To fetch their grandmother’s ring, so his brother could properly propose to Lily.
Once he knew he was getting married, that is. That was a small oversight.
Surely Henry would agree once he met Lily.
She was… everything a man needed in a wife. No, much more. Everything a man could wish for in a wife.
But right now, she was thoroughly livid with Rafe.
Mari sat beside him on the settee, drawing. Still, after all these years, she had charcoal under her fingernails from drawing her discoveries along the beach.
“Rafe?”
He continued to pretend to read, even as he could feel Lily’s glare on him from the chair by the window.
“Yes, Fish?”
“When are you coming back?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Why? I miss you.”
