Page 12 of Deception and Desire
“Come now, I’ve never known you to be at a loss for words.”
“Not around you.” Fenella tried to remove the sullen look that had overtaken her features, but thoughts of the previous season still taunted her. “I decided if I’m to be rejected this season, it will be on my own terms and of my own doing.”
“Ah, I see.” He sat down across from her and crossed his legs, his head tipped to the side, swirling the amber liquid in his cut-crystal glass. “Still stinging from the last year?”
She nodded, defying the hot tears that stung her eyes. It had been excruciating.
No Evie by her side, no friend to have a decent conversation with– only girls shorter, rounder, prettier than her. The whispers in not-so-hushed tones about her height, the name-calling—long shanks, Amazonian, bluestocking. Every attempt at friendship had been met with insincere smiles and tart responses. And the men. Oh, the men.
Fenella had learned during the last season to stand, never to sit. It discouraged the shorter ones to approach her, eliminating the awkward silence when they had to look up to meet her eyes.
And thenhehad appeared like a knight on a white horse to rescue her from the malicious tongues.
Despite being escorted by her mother’s friend, a countess, her first season had truly been a disaster she did not want to repeat. “I do not belong in such society. I’d be happier locked in my room than try to be one of them.” She crossed her arms and lifted her head defiantly.
“No, you wouldn’t, my sweet.” His jaw clenched, his tone gruff. “But I highly disapprove of such misrepresentation. Are you ashamed of who you are? Of being a Franklin?”
Her throat convulsed and tears threatened again. Her heart ached with the knowledge she’d disappointed her father. “Oh, Papa, no. I never meant… I promise it won’t happen again.”
He chucked her under the chin. “There is more to life than Almack’s and the circle your mother craves. Now, please tell me about the tick your mother described. It sounds painful.”
A giggle bubbled up Fenella’s throat. “I was trying to smile seductively and wink.”
“I see. And the licking of your face?” Papa’s bushy brows drew together, more in an effort not to laugh, she thought, than a reprimand.
“I was wetting my lips so I would look kissable.” With a grin, she showed her father.
He shuddered. “God in heaven, child, no wonder you can’t get anyone to dance with you. How long did you practice to look so monstrous?”
“At least an hour in front of my mirror. Rose thought it quite entertaining.” She peeked at him through her lashes, hearing the laughter in his voice. “I just can’t go back to Almack’s. Please, Papa. I’ll do anything.”
He stood and held out his arms. “Come and give this old man a hug. I think I have a solution that may please both you and your mother.”
*
Early April
“You must swearto write me every week.” Evie hugged her sister after their mother had completed an endless list of instructions. “I shall miss you so.”
Fenella smiled. “You will be too busy with suitors to think about me. This has worked out for the best, you’ll see.” She climbed into the carriage and waited for her father. Their trunks were tied on top of the conveyance, letters safely packed to her grandmother and other relatives, and some fresh biscuits from Cook wrapped in paper.
“Where is Rose?” asked her sister. “She didn’t change her mind about accompanying you?”
“No! She’s bidding her mother farewell. We’ll pick her up on the way.”
Glasgow! She would spend the next six months with her grandmother. How her father had managed it, she didn’t know. He climbed in and settled across from her with a smile. Tapping the roof with his cane, the carriage lurched forward.
“Don’t make me regret this, Fenella.”
She chewed her lip, guilt nagging at her. “Will you miss me overly much?”
“A day without your smile is never easy, my sweet.” His eyes drifted out the window, the jovial expression fading. “But your mother is right, this is partly my fault. I need to make amends with both of you.”
“I’m the closest thing you have to a son, Papa.” She moved to other side of the carriage and sat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. “It’s so unfair Mother never had a boy.”
“I wouldn’t replace you with a male heir, even if I had three wishes from a genie’s bottle.” He moved his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. “It’s not like I’m a peer of the realm. My life’s work won’t be entailed to some distant cousin who will put you and your sister out on the street.”
“I wrote a list of things you need to oversee while I’m away. It will be a terrible hardship to have me away.”
