Page 22 of Charming the Accidental Suitor
She went unheard. “And now Lady Olivia has come to town. Do you really believe you can stand a chance when there’s competition like that around?”
“We’re not competition,” Felicity said. But she barely heard herself, her voice was so small.
This was a point on which they’d never agree. Her mother saw all the women of their acquaintance as either a tactical ally or the enemy. Felicity wasn’t sure her mother actually understood what a ‘friend’ truly was.
“No,youare not competition forher,” her mother clarified. “You should be grateful your father found someone willing to take you on.”
“I—” Felicity couldn’t continue. How could she argue that? Was she really so difficult?
She frowned. Possibly.
“But Mother?—”
“No arguing. If you’d just done as you were told for once, you might have more say in the matter. But as usual, you were headstrong and willful?—”
“I wasn’t. I fully planned on…”
But her words trailed off as she watched her mother walk out the door without so much as a goodbye.
Later that evening, she was still quiet as she fussed with her dinner. She pushed the food around but could not bring herself to eat it.
“Is something the matter?” Uncle Edward’s tone was as short as ever.
A diplomat he would never be.
The thought made her smile despite her heavy heart. “Nothing important, Uncle.”
“Mmph.”
She went back to pushing her food around on the plate, biding her time until dinner was over and she could escape.
Fresh air, that was what she needed.
Fresh air and moonlight. And perhaps an adventure. Just a small one. She wouldn’t stray far from home.
Her brows knit. How farwasEverson’s home?
The thought of Albright’s annoyance if he even knew she was even thinking about spying on Everson had another smile tugging at her lips.
He truly was the most amusing to annoy. He was easy to rile and yet he seemed amused as well. And all the more irritated because he was amused.
She finally took a bite of her food and chewed slowly. Yes, Albright was surprisingly fun to tease. Surprisingly fun…period.
She’d overlooked him at the start of the Season. She’d seen his easy smile and his calm demeanor and had mistaken him for…
Well, boring, she supposed. But while he was indeed calm, she couldn’t see him now without thinking of that Latin phrase her old tutor had made her memorize:altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi.
Or, the much easier to remember English translation—still waters run deep.
She was lost in thought as she chewed her next bite. And indeed, these thoughts were a most welcome distraction from the impending engagement that had kept her mind churning these last few hours.
A little later, however, her Uncle Edward broke the silence at the dinner table again. “Do you know what I’ve always liked about you, Felicity?”
Her head shot up in surprise. “What’s that, Uncle?”
“How self sufficient you are,” he said.
She blinked. On one hand, this much was clear. She suspected the only reason he’d allowed her parents to keep foisting her on him and his household every year to “betterprepare her for society” was aided by the fact that she’d required little by way of paternal affection from the man.
