Page 43 of A Countess Captured for the Captain
“You may laugh if you wish, Samantha. But it is I who have won,” she snarled.
“I was not aware of any contest between us. If it was my father’s affections you sought to win, then that was already achieved. He saw in you the possibility for what I was not – the heir he so longed for. You have given him that, Regina, and I am sure you now have his favor for life. I have no desire to come between you, nor do I care anything for your having birthed an heir. I hope the child brings you both much joy and I hope he will grow up knowing the love and acceptance which I knew from my mother and was denied from my father,” she said, pleased to speak her mind to Regina, who looked somewhat taken aback.
“Perhaps a dance, Samantha,” Nox said, looking thoroughly embarrassed, as he stood between the two women, the child now beginning to cry in his cot.
“See now, Samantha, you have upset Hubert,” Regina exclaimed, just as Samantha’s father emerged from the throng.
“Ah, Samantha, you have met your brother, I see,” he said, nodding to her.
He made no attempt at congratulating them on their marriage, nor did he seek reconciliation with Nox, who held out his hand hopefully.
“Your Grace, might I wish you my congratulations upon the birth of your son and once again make my apologies for our past misunderstandings. My uncle has told me much about our shared history, and it seems only right that we attempt a reconciliation,” Nox said.
Samantha’s father sniffed, eyeing Nox suspiciously.
“Your parents were friends of mine, that much is true, though I hardly expected you to turn out in the way you did. All that pirating nonsense was quite ridiculous. Still, it is in the past, as you say, and I can hardly hold it against you forever. I thank you for your good wishes,” he said, and took Nox’s hand.
There was still no mention of the marriage and Samantha glanced at Regina, who had a smug look upon her face.
“Do you accept our marriage, Father?” Samantha asked, feeling that she had little to lose in asking the question.
Her father merely made a harrumphing sound, before turning away and making his way back into the throng.
“Whatever foolish game you are playing, stop it,” Regina hissed, and Samantha took Nox by the hand and led him away.
“I told you all of this would come to nothing,” she said, watching as her father now received the congratulations of others.
“Perhaps a reconciliation will come, Samantha. He cannot be angry forever and you heard what he said, he is willing to leave the past behind. I only wish I could remember more of what it was like when we were children. We must have met one another, do you not think?” Nox asked.
Samantha had wondered about this, too, but her father had never paid her much attention as a child and she could not imagine that he would ever have taken her to meet his friends. She and her mother had led quite separate lives from her father – a fact for which she was grateful.
“Shall we dance?” she asked, and Nox nodded.
“I thought you would never ask,” he replied, taking her in his arms, as another waltz picked up and the salon filled with dancing couples.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Samantha was growing bored. The ball was just as she had imagined it to be – a chance for Regina to show off her prize, a male heir for the Duke, and to cast herself as principal player in the upper echelons of the ton. If that was her intention then she had succeeded, for anyone who was anyone was in attendance that evening.
Samantha and Nox had danced three dances in a row and now they stepped out, making their way to the punch bowl for refreshment. It was not that Samantha had grown tired of his company – far from it, she was delighting in having her husband at her side – but she had no wish to remain at Hampton Manor any longer than necessary.
Regina had received every guest like a royal progress and Samantha’s father had made a speech declaiming his delight in now possessing a male heir to “fill the empty void,” as he had put it, a crude reference to Samantha, who in that moment would gladly have stormed out.
“I am just going to take the air for a moment. These occasions can grow so stuffy,” Nox said, for he was used to high seas where fresh sea air was in abundance, the very opposite of a stuffy salon filled with scents both fair and foul.
Samantha nodded, and he kissed her upon the cheeks, before making his way through the throng. Rebecca and Catherine now came over, each gushing over the elaborateness of the proceedings. They were each dressed in the most exquisite dresses and Samantha wondered again why Catherine was yet to find a suitable man given how pretty and charming she was.
“But I must say, Regina looks ridiculous sitting upon that throne-like construction. Who does she think she is?” Rebecca whispered, as they glanced over at Regina who was now talking to Nox’s uncle and aunt, still perched on the dais.
“She thinks she is the talk of the ton and the envy of every woman here, which is not entirely true, because I for one do not envy her at all. Indeed, she quite repulses me,” Samantha said, folding her arms, as Catherine began to giggle.
“Oh, Samantha, you do have a habit of speaking your mind,” she said, and Samantha raised her eyebrows.
“Only because it is true. She is the most ridiculous of women,” she replied, shaking her head.
“But there is no doubting she has done her duty,” Rebecca said.
“Oh yes, she has done her duty, and everyone must know about it,” Samantha replied, glancing at Regina, who was still speaking in full flow, extolling herself loudly to anyone who would listen.
