“Thank you for telling me,” she said. “Have you heard from Kemble?”
“Not yet,” he said shortly. “But I would request that you wait until your birthday is over to make any decisions.”
“Of course.”
“There’s noof courseabout you, Heather Hayes.”
* * * *
Later in the evening, Heather and her friends (plus Maeve, who got on famously with the Duchess of Lyon) gathered after dinner for tea and sherry.
Gossip was flying around, as usual.
“Didn’t you meet a gentleman around the same time?” Camellia was saying to Poppy. “Some friend of Norbury’s?”
Poppy sniffed. “Met him, yes. And there the matter ends. For I’ve not heard from him since Rose’s wedding.”
“I’m sorry,” Heather said impulsively.
“Well, I’m not sorry!” Poppy snapped. “I don’t think about Carlos de la Guerraat all.”
“Oh.” Heather reached for Rose’s hand and squeezed it lightly. She received a firm squeeze in return, Rose conveying wordlessly that Poppy was lying through her teeth.
Camellia came up to Heather a while later. “Poor Poppy,” she said. “I think her heart’s a little broken. She had her head turned by that man, and he vanished past the horizon without so much as a farewell.”
“He can’t be worth much, if he chose to ignore Poppy,” Heather said loyally.
“Perhaps Poppy and I can go become old maids together. I’ll never meet a man I actually want to marry.” Camellia gave her a sidelong look. “Not like Lord MacNair. My goodness, Heather, objecting to him is like objecting to finding buried treasure in your yard.”
“It’s a little too much like that,” Heather noted. “I do not wish to be kept around because it’s convenient to dip into my pockets.”
“Is that how they describe it in Scotland?” Daisy asked with an innocent look (Daisy read very widely for a lady).
“Daisy!” Heather gasped.
“Oh, don’t be a goose. He’s obviously head over heels in love with you.”
“And you with him,” Poppy added.
“I am not! Not…exactly,” Heather muttered.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of in loving a good man,” Rose said. “And love is a perfectly valid reason for marriage. We are all modern women. We should hold modern values. Like marrying for love. Not money or property or titles.”
Daisy conceded, “Though they have their uses too.”
“How do you know that I love him?” Heather asked.
Her friends glanced at each other and then laughed out loud.
“Oh, Heather,” Poppy gasped through her giggles. “It’s the most obvious thing in the world. The way you both tip-toe around each other and then explode because you can’t tip-toe forever. The way you talk about him and the way he talks about you…and the way you look at him when his attention is elsewhere.”
Heather sighed sadly. “We’ve had too many harsh words between us. Niall married me in haste, and I think he regrets it. I’ve been a bit of a pill. Well, more than a bit. I got angry at myself and took it out on him, and he must be ready to wash his hands of me now.”
Rose reached out her hands, and Heather took them. “You are being very silly, Heather,” she declared. “Fortunately, silliness is curable. You must go to him and tell him the truth of what’s in your heart.”
“Oh, how simple.”
“It is that simple.”
