Chapter 7 #2
What exactly was happening? I’d been expecting him to at least acknowledge or look at me after our introduction, but he only had eyes for Hattie.
Who was Captain Calder, really? Practically engaged to a woman named May even though no one knew of it, ensconced in a croft overnight with me, and what…what had happened between him and Hattie?
And if something had happened between Harriet and the Captain, why hadn’t she told me about him? We told each other everything.
Well, except that one time. But that had been me keeping Matilda’s secrets from her and everyone else. Hattie had never kept secrets from me, had she? Based on the way she was smiling at Captain Calder, it was possible she had.
Was everyone who met Captain Calder enraptured by him? Mama looked as taken with him as Hattie did, and I’d…
Well . . .
Even I had been swept under his spell that night. And not only that night. How many times had my thoughts turned to him over the past several days? More often than I could count.
Papa had spoken of him as if kindness and control were his specialties, but what if Papa was wrong? What if casting spells over the people around him to think he was those things was his true specialty?
I knew somewhere out there was a woman named May he was, well, perhaps not in love with, but was passionate for, and now he was looking at Hattie as if she might already own a piece of his heart.
Add to that the fact that he’d kissed me, and Captain Calder’s upstanding reputation was unraveling right before my eyes.
And the way he kissed? It had been soft, but thorough. I’d thought enough about that fleeting moment to know there had been a certain skill to his hands and mouth. Exactly how practiced was he?
Too practiced for an unmarried military man. Who had he been practicing on? Not Hattie, I hope. She would have been only—heavens—seventeen at the time.
Impossible.
The great Captain Calder was not the man Papa thought him to be.
He wasn’t even the man I’d thought him to be.
I’d believed him so completely when he’d worried over my honor, even offering to marry me while simultaneously sneaking out of the croft before anyone could identify him.
He’d never given me his name. In fact, he’d offered me protection only with his words while his actions were self-serving.
I’d been worried he would demand to uphold my honor. I had to hold back a snort.
Casting spells indeed.
I took a deep and calming breath, schooling my face into the bland features of someone who was not at all interested in the man in front of her. When I was finally composed enough to look up, I found that the Captain had turned his gaze toward me.
I let my smile blossom as naturally as possible, as if I was delighted to be introduced to him. “I’m so very pleased to meet you, Captain Calder. I’ve heard so much about you, it is almost,” I raised an eyebrow, “as if we have met before.”
The captain’s smile faltered, then quickly recovered. “You’ve heard of me?” His eyes flashed toward Hattie. “From whom?”
I narrowed my eyes on him. No, not from Hattie. You managed to convince her to keep your secrets just as you did me. “My father, of course. He’s been very impressed by your career.”
“That I have.” Papa clapped a hand onto Captain Calder’s shoulder. “He well earned his lieutenancy under me in Walcheren, rallying even the sickest of soldiers, and I have only heard the best of reports about his deeds in Waterloo just this year.”
“Thank you, General. Most of what I’ve learned about serving and leading was learned from you.”
“Well, we won’t mention that to Wellington,” Papa said with a grin.
I loved seeing Papa with his men. All of them respected him, some out of fear and others out of love. If I didn’t know better I would have placed Captain Calder in the category of those who wholeheartedly cared and looked up to him. He seemed so sincere.
The dinner bell rang and I flinched. Papa excused himself to find Sir Phillip’s wife. Mama turned to Captain Calder. “I have you escorting Evelyn into the dining room. Thank you for joining us for the next few weeks.”
Captain Calder’s practiced smile once again faltered.
The hours I spent studying his face had served me well and I could see the discomfort breaking through that gentlemanly mask of his.
He hadn’t counted on seeing me again, and he definitely hadn’t counted on me being General Blackwell’s daughter or escorting me into dinner every night.
He tucked all of those thoughts away masterfully, held out his arm and nodded briskly in my direction.
It was as though he’d been issued a battle command, not an invitation to dine.
“I assume,” I said under my breath. “You would like our adventure together to remain a secret?”
He didn’t look at me, only glancing ahead, but he did nod.
“I told you I don’t like keeping secrets from my family.”
“But in our case,” he said softly, “don’t you think it would be for the better good?”
It would be for his better good, that was certain. I closed my eyes tightly, still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that the man who’d kissed me was Captain Calder.
If he’d come here in order to take advantage of Hattie, or even distract her when Mama and I had gone through so much effort to put her in the path of good, upstanding young men, then he was going to have a battle on his hands. “I suppose we shall have to see.”
This time it was my turn to look forward, as if I had no interest in the man escorting me into dinner while he turned his head to examine me.
I hoped what he found there was at least a little bit intimidating.