Page 78 of Death of a Courtesan
‘Do I get the impression that you are not anxious for promotion?’
Riley smiled. ‘I never could deceive you.’ He sighed. ‘The fact of the matter is that I struggle to juggle my career and social obligations as it is. Besides,’ he added, treating Amelia to a probing look, ‘perhaps it’s time I made my mother happy and thought about taking a wife.’
‘Oh.’ She looked momentarily discomposed. ‘Do you have a particular lady in mind?’
‘Alas, the only one who could make me content seems determined not to marry.’
‘If she is worth pursuing, perhaps you should attempt to change her mind.’
‘I wouldn’t have her marry me because she felt sorry for me.’
Amelia’s laugher echoed around the room, drawing curious glances from several people. ‘You are not the type of man to invoke pity, Riley. Envy perhaps from other men, and you set female hearts fluttering everywhere you go. But pity.’ She shook her head. ‘Never that.’
Talking to Amelia in an abstract manner about his personal ambitions was, it seemed, acceptable to her. But surely she was aware that the woman he referred to was her. Olivia had noticed his interest but Amelia was either blind to his attentions or was trying to let him down gently by pretending not to realise. Dear God, give him a straightforward murder to solve any day. It was a deal easier than trying to decide what went on inside an intelligent woman’s head.
‘Uncle Riley, we need your advice.’ Cabbage skipped up to him, with Carolyn walking more sedately at her side.
‘Since when did you ever listen to any advice I gave you, Lady Cabbage?’ Riley asked, tugging at one of her curls.
‘Oh, I always listen to you because you speak sensibly.’ Riley thought his niece would revise that opinion if she’d heard him clumsily skirting around his desire for Amelia, petrified of rejection. Why the devil he couldn’t simply tell her what he felt and be done with it was a mystery. He did have to marry and the only woman he wanted to marry was Amelia, but so long as he didn’t actually declare himself he couldn’t be disappointed. ‘Anyway, Caro and I find ourselves in something of a quandary.’
‘What quandary would that be?’ Riley asked.
‘Well, Papa is being most unreasonable.’ Sophia pouted. ‘He came to see me a day or two before he returned to Chichester.’
‘Nothing surprising about that, Cabbage. You are his daughter.’
‘He chose a most inconvenient time to remember that I exist.’ Sophia chewed her lower lip between her teeth. ‘Just when I was starting to enjoy myself.’
Riley could see that his beloved niece was putting a brave face on a situation that clearly worried her. ‘What is it?’ he asked, throwing his free arm around her shoulders. ‘What did your father have to say for himself?’
‘He wants me to go home,’ she said gloomily.
‘Why?’ Amelia asked. ‘I thought you were settled in London indefinitely with your grandmother and aunt.’
‘So did I, but Papa says I shouldn’t be enjoying myself when Jasper is unwell. But really, he is always unwell.’ Sophia, normally full ofjoie de vivre,was a study in righteous indignation. ‘I don’t see what I can do to change that,’ she said with straightforward logic. ‘Oh, I know I’m too young be involved with all the society parties and balls and what have you, but it is so much fun being on the periphery.’
‘Sophia gives me courage to face it all,’ Carolyn said. ‘I wasn’t looking forward to it because unlike her I find it hard to express myself to strangers and worry that no one will ask me to dance. But her interest is infectious and it doesn’t seem quite so daunting with her as a friend.’
‘You will have to convince Papa to let me stay,’ Sophia said, tugging at Riley’s arm. ‘He will listen to you.’
‘Perhaps you should propose to the lady who has stolen your heart,’ Amelia suggested when, having been assured of Riley’s help, the girls had wandered off again. ‘That way, your family won’t be able to deny you anything.’
