Page 58 of Felicity Cabot Sells Her Soul
The thinly-veiled threat fell precisely as she had meant it to do. Between the two of them, Mama would seem the more credible. She would only have to pretend some sort of altercation, make the right sorts of sounds, profess that she had been attacked without cause…
She could, in only moments, make Felicity appear entirely deranged. Suggest that a woman prone to such wild outbursts had no business in the educating of impressionable young minds. Probably she had never intended to meet with one of her daughters face-to-face like this, in such a public place—but she certainly knew how to turn even an unexpected meeting toher advantage.
There was nothing she could do in this moment. Inches away from the villain that had caused her so much stress and worry these last months—and powerless to stop her.
“Why?” she asked. “Whyme? What did I ever do to merit this?”
Mama shrugged, bland, blasé. “My last husband turned out not to be quite so wealthy as he purported himself to be. And you—you married rich,” she said. “In fact, all three of you did well for yourselves. I never imagined two of you would snag titles.”
“Mercyiswealthy in her own right, her husband’s fortune notwithstanding,” Felicity said. “And Charity is now a duchess. They’ve both got more money even than my husband.”
“But only you have got your charming little school,” Mama said. “Only you have got a reputation capable of being ruined. I suppose in a way, you’ve proved to be the most useful to me.” She reached out one hand and patted Felicity’s cheek. “Oh, come now, don’t cryover it. You’ve always looked so dreadful when you cry.”
It took every ounce of her will not to slap Mama’s hand away. “You’ll ruin your own reputation, too,” Felicity said. “What you are threatening to expose—it will ruin you, as well.”
A patronizing smile. “My dear, I haven’t gone by the name I was born with since I was sixteen years old. I’ve had half a dozen names since, and as I don’t intend to remain in England, there is no one to connect me to those lives I once led any longer. Why ought I to care if your mother is so slandered? I haven’t been that woman for a very, very long time.”
She was right—she wasright. And there was nothing Felicity could do for it. Every consequence would fall upon her shoulders alone.
“It’s only five thousand pounds, dear. Now be a good girl and don’t attempt to follow me any farther, or I shall have to scream,” Mama said in a simpering coo, with a last pat to Felicity’s cheek. “Once our business is concluded, you’ll never have to see me again.”
Until, of course, Felicity thought, Mama found herself once more in need of funds. Ian had been right all along. And still she could do nothing for it.
Nothing but to watch as Mama sashayed away, fading into the thick of the milling crowd, secure in the knowledge that she had made herselfuntouchable.
∞∞∞
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you wish,” Ian said, striving to strip the irritation from his tone as he addressed Felicity’s family, “but I see no particular reason that would require your presence in my office.”
Of course, his not quite subtle suggestion that they had overstayed their welcome within had fallen entirely upon deaf ears. TheywereFelicity’s family, after all.
“One can discern a great deal about a man from the way he keeps his office,” Thomas said, bouncing his baby daughter in his arms as he settled into a chair.
“Is that so? What, then, have you discerned of me?” It had come out like a challenge, but then, it had been intended as one.
A muscle flexed in Thomas’ jaw. “You keep a tidy office.”
“I don’t like clutter.”
From her corner where she had been quietly conversing with her husband, Charity issued a little snort, rather unbecoming of a duchess. “That’s rich. Felicity has never been what anyone would consider tidy.”
Her husband gave a low, exasperated chuckle. “You’re one to talk.”
“I don’t mind Felicity’s clutter,” Ian said. Besides, he’d hired on a whole host of staff. There were at least three maids-of-all-work who could be prevailed upon to straighten up after her, should it become necessary.
Mercy, who had been making circuits of the perimeter of the room, ventured back toward the desk to drop a kiss upon her daughter’s chubby cheek. “It’s rather too obvious, isn’t it?” she asked. And then, when that failed to garner anything but silence as a response, she sighed. “I suppose I sometimes forget that not everyone is familiar with such things.” She gave a sweeping gesture of her hand to the room at large. “This is a place of business,” she said. “Probably everyone who steps foot into this room wants something of you, Mr. Carlisle. Is that not so?”
By and large, yes. “My staff and my solicitor both serve as a barrier against unwanted intrusions,” he said. “But otherwise, yes. Most everyone who walks through those doors has got some sort of proposition for me.”
“So no personal effects,” Mercy said. “Nothing anyone might use to ingratiate themselves, to manipulate your emotions. When they enter youroffice, they see only a blank slate—and they must stand alone upon the strength of their proposition.”
She was more astute that she appeared. “It suits my purposes to be cold and impersonal in such situations,” he said. “Sentimentality ill becomes a man of my position.”
“But youaresentimental,” Charity charged.
It was an effort not to roll his eyes. “With all due respect—”
Charity tipped her nose upward and shot him a superior glance. “I’ve seen Felicity’s ring.”
