Chapter 1 #2
Mother swooped in. “You didn’t need to pry into his past, Sylvia. For goodness’ sake, I’ve taught you how to make polite conversation. I can’t understand why you refuse to do so.”
Glancing back at Matilda as Mother pulled Sylvie away again, she could see her friend was as confused as she felt. Whatever had happened, Sylvie hadn’t caused it this time.
Thankfully, Mother seemed aware that they’d suffered a glaring—and very public—defeat.
She led Sylvie to a corner by the refreshment table, not so far from where Mr. Greene was speaking with a surprisingly rapt Miss Howard.
Mother used Sylvie to block herself from the view of the rest of the room while rubbing her temple with two fingers.
“You’ve given me yet another headache, Sylvia.
I simply can’t understand why you don’t see the predicament you’re in.
This is your third season. Third! You’re in danger of becoming a spinster, but when I attempt to help you, you behave as if it’s a terrible betrayal of some kind. ”
Sylvie’s heart softened a smidgen, seeing the utter consternation she’d caused her mother. “I don’t see it as a predicament. That’s why I’m not bothered. The right man won’t care how many seasons I’ve been out. He’ll be interested in who I am, not just Father’s money.”
“Sylvia, if that’s what you’re waiting on, I’ll go to the grave with no grandchildren. The world doesn’t work that way, and the sooner you accept your future, the sooner I can stop repairing the damage done by your shenanigans.”
If she’d held any sort of hope that her mother would ever understand her feelings on this matter, Sylvie would have been disappointed by the response.
But she’d long since given up expecting understanding and accepted that Mother was going to push her into a loveless but advantageous marriage if Sylvie gave her the least bit of space to do so.
That was the entire reason Sylvie had one secret carefully hidden away from her parents, one part of her life she protected at all costs.
If she’d had to continue on through another season of being thrust at eligible gentlemen she didn’t want anything to do with while knowing there was nothing in her future that could give her hope of fulfillment, she’d have lost all will to go on.
But now she did have something all her own, and that secret knowledge gave her the resolve to argue. “Mother, you could let me choose which men I’m interested in spending time with. I know what kind of man you deem acceptable. Would allowing me to have some say be so terrible?”
Her mother huffed and took a moment to straighten the lace at her neckline.
Then she reached up to pinch Sylvie’s cheeks, despite the stifling, crowded ballroom likely having flushed them already.
“Yes, it would be terrible. Knowing you, he would end up being some penniless poet with no connections and no standing. And that’s not what’s best for you. Now smile. We’re going to try again.”
Sylvie swallowed a groan and followed her mother back out into the fray.
Mother meant well. She wanted Sylvie to have the life of luxury she’d had, to be taken care of.
As an only child after the loss of two infant brothers, Sylvie recognized that her parents showed their love for her by attempting to control and protect every moment of her life.
It was sweet in some instances, but confining in others.
Being protected every moment had a way of making her doubt her ability to do anything on her own.
Maybe they were right and her only purpose in life was to fulfill the roles society laid out for her. But they couldn’t force her to smile about it.
Miles needed to apologize. He’d been rude to Miss Bryce—that had been clear the moment her eyes widened.
He hadn’t meant to. But her assumption that his life in England had been all glittering balls and tea at Buckingham Palace had piled on top of frustration from the unwanted attention he’d received from the moment they walked in.
Thanks to Alexander’s introduction, most of the guests wanted to fawn over him based on his rank.
Not because of who he was as a person, but because of a title he hadn’t been meant to inherit in the first place. It had all been too much.
If there was one thing he couldn’t stand, it was strangers thinking they knew something about him that they didn’t.
Nonetheless, his irritable reaction had been unnecessary.
He might have laughed off her comment and shifted the conversation to learn something about her.
Then perhaps he would still be speaking with her instead of wallowing in a shadowed corner.
Of all the beautiful, cultured women in the room, she was the only one he wanted to be chatting with.
But he had the distinct impression she wouldn’t forgive him as quickly as the other ladies at the ball might.
No, Miss Bryce would be the type to hold a man to a higher standard.
Her strength was evident in every move he now watched her make—
“Miles? For heaven’s sake, come back to the present.”
Blinking away the vision of twirling Miss Bryce around the crowded dance floor, Miles’s gaze focused on his friend waving a hand in front of his face.
Even though Alexander Lofton’s introductions of Miles as a marquess had started all this trouble, he and his wife were kind enough to host Miles for the summer.
He ought to take more care to repay them with good manners. “Quite sorry. What were you saying?”
A knowing smirk creased Alexander’s face.
Suave, handsome, and rich enough to garner far more than his share of female attention while they’d been at university together, they’d known each other long enough that Alexander could read Miles’s moods too well.
“I was asking if any young ladies caught your eye, but the answer to that question is evident. Which one is it? Miss Rawlings? One of the Moreau sisters? Perhaps the recently widowed Mrs. Templeton?”
“I’m not here to find a wife.”
Miles once again wished he’d used a softer tone, but Alexander responded with a laugh. “So you say. But the Lord tends to work in ways we can’t understand, and the right lady has a way of sneaking up on a man.”
Adjusting his tone this time, Miles shook his head to add emphasis that he hoped would finally convince his friend.
“I have no interest in God’s ways. I’m only here to work at the Cedar Point laboratory for the summer.
No true lady would want me once she finds out I’m nothing more than a scientist who left his fortune, title, and family obligations, so I don’t see a reason to try. ”
Despite his usual vehement tone, the statement rang false this time. Something about the fire in Miss Bryce’s eyes made him wonder if she might understand his past, even exonerate him of it in ways others never had.