Chapter 6

“How much longer are you going to engage that woman?” Felix asked.

Thel speared a piece of charred beef from his plate and stuck it in his mouth as an excuse not to answer. His brother had been nettling him since Olivia and Constance had left. It would not usually have been a problem, except that he was unsure of his own feelings toward the woman.

That he desired her was obvious but did not explain why seeing her in distress made his chest ache, and why reaching for her seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

Perhaps it was only that she had surprised him. The gentle, soft-spoken lady who had opened her arms for Alanna was entirely different from the confident woman who had put Mrs. Zephyr in her place.

“If you continue to associate with her, how long until society turns on all of us?” his brother asked from across the table. “You must dismiss the wretched woman at once.”

Elijah, their youngest brother, grimaced. Unlike Thel and Felix, the sharp planes of Elijah’s face were clean shaven, and he kept his dark-brown hair short. At three-and-twenty, he was the only one of them who was still a never-married, confirmed bachelor, despite their mother’s pestering.

“The articles are rather concerning,” Felix’s wife, Celina, said. She dabbed her lips with a black, silk handkerchief, despite having consumed no more than a bite of every plate that had been placed before her. He had no idea how she maintained her fashionably curvy figure without the appearance of an appetite.

“Quite right,” Felix said. He pinned Thel with a glare. “What would Father think, if he knew a woman of such dubious reputation was in close contact with his granddaughter?”

Thel didn’t want to think about the articles. He should have confronted his daughter before she’d left with Lady Allen, but he had been too set on finding another meaning in the letter that he had missed. It made little sense that Constance was attacking Lady Allen. First, the articles had started weeks before they had met her. Second, if Constance held some grudge against Lady Allen, why had she not balked when he had suggested engaging her services?

Elijah put his hand on Felix’s shoulder. “Thel has made his decision. We must respect it.”

Felix scoffed. “It was his decision not to marry Constance to an appropriate man, and now she is in the care of a woman accused of murder. We will be lucky if she survives the season with her reputation intact.” He swung his arm around, tipping over his wife’s glass and spilling wine onto her lap.

She shrieked as servants rushed to clear up the mess.

Felix continued, undeterred despite the flurry of activity around him. “She should have been matched as soon as her breasts began to bud. Men will be trying to get under her skirts—”

Thel pushed back from the table. “Enough!”

Felix quieted, but the resentment on his face was clear.

“I will not speak of this again.” Thel swept his gaze down the table and made eye contact with each person present. “Constance will marry a man of her choosing. If we disapprove of her selection, then we will deal with that when the time comes. But you will not continue to question my decisions. Father has made it clear that as heir, I am the head of this house while he’s away.”

One by one, they looked down. Everyone except Felix.

“You don’t deserve to be the heir,” his brother whispered. Then he stumbled out of his chair and down the hallway. His wife hurried after him, leaving a trail of red droplets in her wake.

“Excuse me, everyone, but I believe I have lost my appetite,” Thel said before charging out of the dining room.

He did not want his family to see how badly Felix had rattled him. It would only upset the balance of harmony in the house when it was more important than ever for them to support one another. Part of him wondered if he had made a mistake not finding a husband for Constance earlier. As much as he wanted her to experience the love he had, he feared Felix would not easily give up his campaign to see her wed to a man of his choice. Whether Felix’s determination was due to a desire to see his niece matched to an appropriate man, or something else, Thel didn’t know, and he was not confident Felix would answer him if he asked.

When he was back in his office and behind his desk, he withdrew a leatherbound notebook and a pen. He was too angry to read, but his high emotions could be put to another use. The latest chapters of Lady Audley’s Secret were unsatisfactory. He wanted to explore an alternative storyline where the main character’s wife joined him when he left for Australia to prospect for gold. It would have been better for the couple to stay in England with the rest of their extended family, but he could not think of a way to accomplish that without venturing into the realm of fantasy.

He dipped his pen in the ink and began writing furiously. Images appeared in his head one by one, painted in wide strokes like a watercolor. With each line, a bit of anger drained out of him until he was left exhausted.

Perhaps Felix was right about his celibacy. His attraction to Lady Allen was a distraction. He would not betray Marguerite by involving his heart, but—if Lady Allen was amenable—a physical affair would allow him to slake his lust and ensure his skills in the bedroom were up to snuff. He was unsure what he could offer in exchange, but he had no doubt she would make her desires known.

If she did not demand reparations the moment he told her what he had found in Constance’s room.

“There you are.”

He slapped his notebook closed. Elijah stood in the open door, a cigar between his lips.

“Felix is furious,” Elijah said as he sauntered into the room. “You know how he is, always acting like he’s the heir. Like he has authority over the rest of us. Without Father here to set him right, he probably thinks he’ll get away with it. I suspect he intended to use Constance in one of his business deals. You should not have engaged Lady Allen.”

Thel didn’t have the energy to remind his brother of the edict he had set down in the dining room. Elijah had never been the rule-abiding sort. Thel had once caught his brother with a set of shears in their mother’s closet, slicing her favorite gown into pieces. When he’d asked why Elijah had done it, his brother had only shrugged and said, “I needed strips of cloth.”

Thel slid his notebook back into his desk. “What has Olivia done to set you all against her?”

Elijah scowled. “You call her by her given name?”

Thel’s cheeks heated. “Lady Allen is a respectable woman, no matter what the newspapers say.” He picked up a cigar from the open box on his desk but did not light it. “In any case, I am Constance’s father, and our father’s heir. It is my duty to see to her future.”

Elijah made no further comment, but the disharmony in the house was worrisome. The family should have supported his decision regarding Constance. They should have come together to ensure her debut was successful and free of scandal. Instead, they were bickering like children. If the fighting continued, it would not be long before his Felix sought his own accommodations. The family was a delicate ecosystem. Once Felix and his wife and children left, it would not be long before Elijah followed. Every member of his family would go their separate ways, and he would have no chance of convincing Constance and her future husband to live with him. He would be left alone and without purpose.

Again.

He could not let that happen. They had been happy before, and could be so again, even if it meant letting Felix have his way.

Lady Allen was his last chance. No other matchmaker had been willing to abide by his requirements. If she could not secure a love match for Constance, a suitor who met with his brother’s approval, he would allow Felix to present him with options for an arranged marriage.

One way or another, his daughter would be married by the end of the season.