The Devil Who Tamed Her (23 page)

“Y
OU DON
’
T UNDERSTAND
, S
HERMAN
,” M
ARY
said. “She cried herself to sleep. She’s not the least bit happy with this turn of events.”

“And I am?”

They were in the dining room working their way through a breakfast neither of them was paying much attention to. Mary had explained to her husband last night what had occurred, as much as she understood of it anyway, and she’d been accurate in her prediction. He’d been furious and his mood hadn’t improved much this morning. She didn’t usually react to his moods in a like manner, but in this case, she was just as upset, but for different reasons.

“She could have had the grandest wedding of the century,” Sherman continued. “Royalty might even have attended. Do you realize the lost opportunities—”

“For
once
will you think about your daughter and not your damned ‘opportunities’!”

Mary rarely ever shouted at her husband. Unlike her daughter, it just wasn’t in her nature to lose her temper or have emotional outbursts. On the rare occasions it did happen, Sherman usually took quick note of it, which is what he did right now. He slumped down in his chair. The heat went out of his expression. And he eyed his wife warily.

“Take her shopping,” he mumbled. “That always cheers you women up.”

“That’s callous, Sherman.”

He flushed. “But it works, doesn’t it?”

“For minor upsets, perhaps, but this disaster can hardly be called minor. And this isn’t even the first time she’s cried this week. She wasn’t sick those few days she stayed in her room, you know. She’d heard something that quite undid her.”

“What?”

“I have no idea. She wasn’t willing to discuss it with me, tried to pretend it was nothing. But I’ve never seen her quite so angry, or despondent—well, other than when you engaged her to MacTavish.”

He flushed again. “Let’s please not rehash that again, m’dear. That could have been a grand match if she had just given it a chance.”

“That’s neither here nor there. The point is, she’s currently devastated because she’s married to a man who obviously doesn’t want her.”

He sat up, angry now on Ophelia’s behalf. “I will not for a moment believe that
any
man could
not
want that angel.”

Mary raised a brow at him. “Angel in looks, certainly, but you know very well that the unusual childhood you put her through not only made her haughty and abrasive, but had her distrusting everyone she met.”

“Must I be blamed for everything?”

“When you
are
to blame, yes. I warned you countless times to stop treating her like a bauble you were compelled to show off. You treated her like an adult when she was still a child. You marched an endless stream of bachelors through here to enlist offers for her long before she was ready for them.”

“If you must know, even I got annoyed at the extreme number of those offers.”

“Then how do you think she felt? Your shouting matches with her are legendary, you know. The entire block snickers about them.”

Once again, he flushed. “She wasn’t quite as volatile when she returned from that visit with Locke, did you notice that? I almost didn’t recognize her.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Because
you
never saw her mellow side for the simple reason that her reaction to you has always been explosive. But, yes, I did notice a remarkable difference in her when she returned home. She was softer. It was as if the brambles had been removed.”

“Think the Lockes overwhelmed and humbled her with their superiority?” he wondered aloud.

She tsked at him. “I don’t think anything of the sort. And we’ve never met them, other than the viscount and his sister. Do not presume things about that family that could be far from the mark.”

He shrugged. “Then what could have changed her? Surely she mentioned something to you?”

“I’m her mother, Sherman, not her best friend. Though I wish it were otherwise, she rarely confides in me.”

But Mary, having said her piece, was still confronted with the same sorry situation, which was worth crying over. In fact, she became quite choked up when she added, “She hasn’t had a happy life, Sherman. Do you realize that? She’s the most beautiful daughter anyone could ask for, but she’s also the most unhappy.”

“What can I do?”

“Besides make her angry? I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. But you must admit, that does seem to be the only way she reacts to you. And I’m not sure anything can be done to help this situation. The odd thing is, I think she loves him. She didn’t say so exactly, but you see a glow in her eyes when she talks about him. Which doesn’t explain why she’s here with us and he’s gone his merry way. I think she was right, he really didn’t want to get married. He only did so because of those silly rumors, which, I might add,
you
helped to propagate by telling all your cronies that she was visiting the Lockes and you expected her to come home with an engagement.”

His face flushed to a deeper shade or red. “I’ll pay Locke a visit to see which way the wind blows in his court.”

“Don’t do that,” she admonished quickly. “You could make things even worse.” But then she amended with a little heat, “However, if he hasn’t come by to collect her in the next few days, I’ll go with you to give him a piece of
my
mind. I will not have my daughter made a laughingstock because it will appear that he didn’t find her acceptable.”

“Y
OU AREN
’
T UP YET
? S
ADIE
said you were.”

Ophelia sat up abruptly in bed. She had been awake, knew that it was close to noon. She’d just been unwilling to rise to face what she was sure was going to be a difficult day. And she’d been right. By the looks of Jane and Edith, barely containing their excitement as they marched into her room, they knew she was now Lady Locke.

“My maid thinks I should be up, so telling you I am is her ornery way of making sure I am,” Ophelia explained, and even pretended a yawn for their benefit.

“A late night, eh?” Jane snickered.

Jane and Edith went to their usual seats at the little breakfast-tray table. It appeared Sadie had left a tray there on her last attempt to get Ophelia out of bed.

That remark was rather bold for Jane, though, an unrestrained reference to a wedding night. But Ophelia didn’t need to respond to it.

Edith couldn’t contain her excitement any longer and burst out, “You are
so
lucky!”

And Jane added, “We only just found out you were engaged to him. Can you believe it? No one bothered to mention it to us because they were sure we already knew all about it. And now this!”

“But we certainly didn’t expect to find you here,” Edith said. “We went to Locke’s house this morning to see you. His butler didn’t know what we were talking about. When we told him you’d married Lord Locke, he nearly called us liars. Said he hadn’t heard about it yet, so it couldn’t be true. You’ll have to fire that man. I don’t care if he was just doing his job, he was quite rude about it.”

“So why are you here instead of there?” Jane asked next, quite pointedly.

Ophelia sighed inwardly and prevaricated, “His house isn’t ready for me yet.” But she should have known her friends wouldn’t leave it at that.

“Really?” Edith said with a speculating frown. “But his sister is staying with him.”

“Amanda doesn’t mind. Rafe thinks I will and wants it to be just right for me. First impressions and all that. Which is fine with me. We had our wedding night.”

The blush was immediate and not because of the subject, though both girls would assume that was the case. She blushed because it wasn’t true. Why was she resorting to lies again? Because she couldn’t tolerate pity and she knew that was what she’d get from these two if they knew the truth?

To change the subject somewhat, she said, “One of you must have been up and about early this morning, to have heard the news so soon.”

“You must be joking,” Edith replied with a laugh. “We heard about it last night.”

“All but a few of the Cade guests must have rushed out to every party they could find,” Jane added. “You know how the ton is, everyone wanting to be the first with the latest
on dit
. We actually heard about it twice last night. First that you were on your way to get married.”

“And then again,” Edith finished, “less than an hour later, that you
were
married. A few of the Cade guests stayed behind till Lady Cade returned with the confirmation that, yes, it really did happen, she’d witnessed it herself. Then they too rushed around to spread the word.”

“And you’re not going to believe this,” Jane went on with even more excitement. “But I got my first proposal last night too, right after the news about your wedding spread. It was from Lord Even. Not that I’m the least bit interested in him, but it’s a start!”

“Indeed, two of your former beaux called on me this morning,” Edith said. “I was incredulous as you can imagine, but quite delighted. They’re taking it rather well, their disappointment, but most of them have realized that now that you’re definitely out of the running for them, they still
do
need to get married.”

“So Edith and I just might find husbands this Season as well, even though there isn’t much time left to decide. But the opportunities are endless now.”

Listening to them, seeing how excited they both were about her “leftovers,” she had to wonder why they didn’t hate her. She’d held them back through no fault of her own other than her infamous beauty. They hadn’t even tried to decide ahead of time whom they might want to marry. They’d both decided instead that they simply wouldn’t stand a chance until she got married first. It was sad. It shouldn’t have been that way. And she’d done nothing to make sure it wasn’t that way because she hadn’t really been a friend to either of them.

“I can make a few recommendations if you’d like,” Ophelia said almost shyly. “Though it might not have seemed like it, I
was
paying attention to most of those gentlemen, and some of them were nicer than others, some were more romantic, some I’m sure would make exemplary fathers. And I know you know why I’d look for that in a man.” Both girls chuckled. “But having been engaged, I wasn’t really interested in any of them myself, so I wasn’t shy about putting them on the spot with pertinent questions to find out more about them.”

“Did any have all three qualities?” Jane asked with interest.

“Indeed,” Ophelia replied. “For instance, Harry Cragg would likely be perfect for you, Jane. He’s not only an avid horseman, he also breeds racers on his estate in Kent. I know how disappointed you were when your parents wouldn’t let you ride anymore after you took that one tumble and broke your arm. To be honest, I think Harry was only interested in me because he found out I enjoy riding. That man will expect his wife, when he gets one, to ride with him every day, I don’t doubt.”

“She’s right,” Edith agreed. “The one time I spoke with Harry, he only wanted to talk about horses. Quite boring for me, but don’t you remember me telling you, Jane, that
you
would have been fascinated?”

“He’s quite handsome too, isn’t he?” Jane said, beginning to look more than just a little interested. “At least I think so.”

“A little too outdoorsy for my tastes,” Edith replied with a grin. “Course I
am
a bluestocking.”

“Yes, we know you’d rather have your nose in a book than go to a party,” Jane teased.

“Come to think of it, Edith, you should probably give Lord Paisley a little attention,” Ophelia remarked. “Can’t remember his first name, but he was boasting about a personal library of over three thousand books. Said he had to add on to his estate just to make more room for them.”

“Are you joking?” Edith asked wide-eyed.

“Not a’tall. I got the impression that he’d travel halfway across the world if he heard of a book he wanted in some foreign country.”

“And he’s quite pale enough to suit you, m’dear,” Jane chuckled.

“You know, Pheli,” Edith began spontaneously without thought, “I never would have—oh, I’m sorry, that just slipped out.”

“It’s all right,” Ophelia assured her. “That old nickname doesn’t bother me anymore.”

“It doesn’t?” Jane said with a thoughtful frown. “You’ve changed, Ophelia, really changed. Truthfully, I’ve never felt this—this—”

“Relaxed,” Edith finished for her. “Yes, I’ve felt it too. And at the risk of being thrown out, I have to say I love the change in you. Who would have ever thought you’d make an effort to help us figure out who the best choices might be for us, like a real…”

Edith didn’t finish, but she was blushing profusely. The unspoken
friend
hovered between them. The same embarrassment overtook Ophelia. Rafe had really called it on the nose. The old bitterness had made her far too self-centered and had kept her from ever getting close to these two. They had always reacted to her reactions. Come to think of it, when she wasn’t reacting to something, which had been rarely, they were both nice girls and fun to be around.

God, what she’d missed in life, alienating friends so they wouldn’t hurt her, when doing that had actually hurt her the most.