Page 10 of A Flaming Lady's Secret Valentine
“How lucky you are… They’re all the same, glorified meat markets. Cecilia suffered the worst of it yestereve, through some fault of my own.”
Raphael’s ears perked up at the mention of Lady Cecilia. He readjusted his hold on the reins. “You say Lady Cecilia suffered?”
“I did—at the hands of Radcliff.” Edward waved the notion away. “He is determined to call on her before the week’s end. If Father has his way, they will be writing the Archbishop before February is ended to secure a licence.”
His fingers dug into the palms of his hands, and he quickly loosened the reins. Raphael had no place feeling any sort of way about Lady Cecilia’s engagement. It was an inevitability that she would marry, and soon. He swallowed down his jealousy and turned back to the view of Norwich.
“How do you feel about it, Travers?”
Raphael’s eyes widened. “I beg your pardon, my lord?”
Edward regarded him curiously. “Thecasain Tuscany? That is why we rode out here, after all.”
“Of course, my lord.” Raphael swallowed and reached into his bag, searching for the documents he had received from the solicitors in London. He pulled the papers free, but the bottoms of them were damp and brown with mud.
“Oh dear.” Edward laughed. “No matter. We will dry them inside and review what we can. Onward and upwards, Travers!” Edward spurred his horse into a canter. “To Berilton and then toFirenze!”
“You say your brother took off at the crack of a dawn? A more curious man I have never known,” Daphne said, standing before the window of the drawing room. She glanced at the embroidery hoop in her hand and scoffed. “I am hopeless.”
“You are not hopeless.” Cecilia looked up from her own work, which was not much more impressive than Daphne’s. “It is a difficult craft.”
“I had mastered embroidery by my seventh birthday,” the duchess remarked. She smirked and sucked in her cheeks, artfully pricking her fabric. “If you girls spent less time worrying over how well you were faring, you would have more time to spend on improving your skills.”
There was unexpected wisdom in those words, and Cecilia considered her hoop gravely. “My rose looks more like a pile of sick. I am not sure there’s much improving on sick.”
Daphne yawned. “I think I will retire.”
“We have only just broken our fasts! Surely your work cannot be so terrible! You could ask Mama for help.”
The duchess tittered.
“Her Grace knows as well as I do that I am a lost cause, and rightfully so.” Daphne circled the settees, setting her embroidery down on the coffee cart. “My brioche is sitting so high in my tummy. I really do think I should lie down. May I, Your Grace?”
Smiling, Cecilia’s mother gestured for the door and bid her to rest well. “She truly is daemon with a needle.”
Cecilia choked on a laugh. “Mama, really! That is not exactly helpful.”
“Neither is delusion. That is what I have always believed. To that end, was Lord Radcliff not a dream yestereve? It is not my place to gossip, but he is possessed of such strong admiration for you. And of course, he must be to have asked you to dance twice in one eve!”
“What does Lord Radcliff have to do with delusion?” Cecilia thrust her needle through her embroidering fabric, picturing the man’s ruddy face.
“Lord Radcliff is at one with his feelings and his intentions. You know this. I was not speaking of Lord Radcliff but of you. Allow his affection to wash over you, and do not discredit yourself as you did on the carriage ride home. When I was freshly debuted, we received compliments as gifts not as burdens.”
“Pride is a sin.”
“So is false humility.”
“I am not sure that is right.” Cecilia set down her work. She had chewed her lip raw. Glancing over her shoulder, she looked out of the window Daphne had been stood in front of.
“Lord Radcliff is perfectly pleasant, and I am flattered that he thinks highly of me.”
She did not add that she suspected his admiration of her was in great part due to his good rapport with her father.
“But in truth, the matter of my marriage brings me a great deal of worry, and I should like to think no more of Lord Radcliff until after I am as convinced of his quality as he is of mine.”
She had rendered her mother speechless. The duchess licked her teeth and the sound caused Cecilia to look around. “I said yestereve that I wished you would confide in me, did I not? Some others might call this my comeuppance.”
Cecilia frowned. “That is my truth. I am sorry if I upset you.”
