Page 3 of Master of Games
Sophie was so happy…
She had a husband who held her and kissed her like she was the most precious person in the world.
Sophie would have a family, a home of her own.
Tabbie made herself stop.
Even if she wanted those things, which she didn’t, they had little or nothing to do with Ironheart.
He’d marry eventually, Tabbie was certain of that fact. He was a duke after all, and so he’d marry for the title, and not just any woman. The debutante he chose would be the most perfect girl of the season, flawless in her appearance, and likely as morally bankrupt as Ironheart himself.
She lifted her skirts and strode back to the manor, her head high. She didn’t need the attention of a man like that.
She didn’t need any man’s attention.
Entering the house through the front-to-back grand entryway, her heels tapped across the marble floor.
Her father, as a marquess, had provided for Tabbie’s financial future. She was an independently wealthy woman and when he died, she was certain she’d be able to afford a home of her own. No man required.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t marry. Between the size of her dowry, her own wealth, her social status and connections, any number of men would choose her.
Second sons who didn’t have any financial means to support themselves. Perhaps a titled lord whose father had bankrupted the estate.
She stopped, looking up at the lavishly gilded ceiling.
How perfectly wretched it would be to spend her life with a man like that. He would both need her, perhaps he’d also pity her, but he’d certainly be resentful of her. That he had to settle for a woman like herself just to fill his coiffeurs.
She knew all this. She’d rehearsed it in her head a hundred times. And yet…
When she looked at Sophie and Max, a deep yearning pulsed in her chest.
“Is there anything I might do for you, my lady?” the housekeeper asked.
Tabbie turned, realizing the woman was in the entrance of the hall that led to the back stairs and down to the kitchen.
“I’m quite well. Thank you, Mrs. Banks.”
“It’s quiet without your father here,” Mrs. Banks replied, as though the words actually meant something.
Tabbie knew what the other woman hinted at. Tabbie spent most of her time alone when her father had to return to London for business. “Yes. It is.”
“And with the construction…” Mrs. Banks started.
While she appreciated Mrs. Banks’ care, Tabbie neither wanted nor needed advice from the housekeeper. She very well knew the emotional toll the construction was causing. Perhaps this year she should have gone back to London with her father. “I’m quite all right. Thank you, Mrs. Banks.”
The other woman gave a quick nod before she started down the hall.
Tabbie looked up at the ceiling again.
She’d given up most of her friends over the past three years. The only reason she’d become friendly with Sophie was because Sophie was unfailingly kind, and the warmest person Tabbie had ever met.
And now, Sophie was off to the north of England with her new husband. Was that how Tabbie’s life was going to be?
Make the occasional friend who then married?
Maybe Mrs. Banks had a point.
With a sigh, she turned left, heading to the sitting room that was always bathed in afternoon light.
