Page 39 of Charming the Accidental Suitor
So much he really should have saidbeforehe’d proposed. Before he’d left her that night under the tree, for that matter. And now…
He paced Carver’s parlor like a caged animal.
Now he feared it was too late. And with Kal’s latest news, he was certain of it. He stopped his pacing to fix the unflappable Marquess with a glare—though on some level he knew it was not polite to shoot the messenger. “What do you mean she is to marry?”
Kal looked to Carver as if to say, would you care to step in?
Carver was known to be better with people who were in a temper, and it was alarming to realize that Albright was now that man in a temper.
He never lost his temper. Never lost his wits.
Until lately.
Until Felicity.
Albright scrubbed a hand over his face, his heart pounding out the wordstoo late. Felicity was to marry another, and he was too late. He took a deep breath and gave Carver an expectant look. “Well?”
Carver exchanged looks with Kal, Rodrick, and Marlin.
All four of them had been tasked with ferreting out information from their fiancées—Felicity’s friends. And what they’d returned with was nothing short of unbearable.
Carver winced. “Perhaps you should speak to her directly?—”
“I’ve tried!” Lud, now he was shouting. He aimed for calm as he explained. “I’ve been to see her so many times her great uncle threatened to have me removed physically if I showed up on her doorstep again.”
This earned four shocked expressions.
“Oh dear,” Rodrick murmured.
“Indeed.” Albright straightened his spine. His pride did not relish this admission, and he could only imagine how much more shocked they’d be if he told them how he’d also visited her home unannounced after dark when everyone in the house would be asleep.
He’d been so certain he’d find her in that tree. He’d even taken a midnight tour of the garden. It would have been romantic indeed…if Felicity had been out there.
He resumed pacing as he worked through what little his friends had told him. “Who is she to marry? And when?”
“Well, this is the unpleasant part, you see…” Carver said.
Albright turned to face them with wide eyes. They hadn’t even gotten to the unpleasant part yet?
“It seems her parents are…forcing a match. At least, that’s how Meg put it.” Carver turned to the others and all three of them nodded in unison.
“Forcing a match,” he echoed. But as he spoke his mind was elsewhere. It was back under that tree. He was seeing that awful panic that she’d tried to hide with her smiles and her laughter.
His heart felt like it was breaking in two. She’d seemed desperate because shewasdesperate. “Who?” he snapped.
“Lord Bargedale.” Kal’s tone was grim. Well, it was always grim, but now it was grimmer than usual and a heavy silence fell.
Albright felt sick. “He’s old enough to be her grandfather.”
“And a mean old gent, if rumors are to be believed,” Carver added.
Albright started to pace and then stopped. His mind was spinning and his heart was racing, but that would not do. If he was to win Felicity’s hand he needed the use of his wits. And so he gripped the mantel until his knuckles turned white and his pulse slowed.
He found himself picturing Felicity in the carriage, replaying her words.
She’d had her reasons for confronting Everson, and saving her uncle from theft was only one part of it. He took a deep breath, certainty filling him and giving him an odd sort of reassurance.
If he knew anything, it was that Felicity would not marry Bargedale without a battle. She’d fight for her freedom, and that meant she had a plan.
