“They’ll be reluctant to let him go.” Vandeimen’s smile said that if there’d been any ambivalence, it had gone. “We chargers and marchers are two-a-penny, but organizers like Hawk are treasured more than gold. Quartermaster Division,” he added in explanation to everyone. “Got the armies to the field, with weapons and supplies intact. To the right field at the right time, even, if they were really good.”
The teasing look between the two men suggested it was an old joke.
“And tidied up afterward,” said the major, “which is why I get home a year late and find all the loveliest ladies taken.”
He flashed Maria another look, but then turned to Natalie and to Cissy’s blushing, seventeen-year-old daughter to express relief that some lovely ladies were still available.
Maria picked up conversation, but she was puzzling over the man’s animosity. Was it Maurice? He’d made a great deal of money supplying the army with clothes and equipment. Perhaps he’d clashed with Major Hawkinville at some point.
Was it the age difference? She wouldn’t have expected another young man to be outraged.
Or perhaps she was misreading a dark mood that had nothing to do with her.
The bell rang to warn of the end of the intermission, so Maria invited the major to stay. He accepted, and she settled to the next act plotting how to keep him by Vandeimen’s side as long as possible. She could bear his antagonism if she must.
At the next intermission, they all strolled in the corridor. Maria wasn’t sure how, but she ended up partnered with the major, while Vandeimen escorted Louisa Embleborough, a young miss suitable for either of these handsome heroes.
“Jealousy? Already?”
She looked up into those very blue, very chilly eyes. There was no doubt. He was antagonistic toward her. She’d like to confronthim directly about it, but that might drive him away. She made herself answer lightly. “Not at all, Major. I know how devoted Lord Vandeimen is to me, andItrust his sense of honor.”
His eyes narrowed, but then changed, so that she couldn’t be sure what she’d seen. “Perhaps it is I who am jealous, Mrs. Celestin. You are exceptionally beautiful.”
Ah. Blatant fortune hunters she could deal with. Smiling, she said, “No, I’m not.”
“You must allow me to know my own mind, ma’am. Beauty is not the same in every eye.”
“Strange, then, that some people become acknowledged beauties.”
He looked around and discreetly indicated a young brunette surrounded by men. “I don’t know who she is, but I assume she is a toast.”
“Miss Regis? Yes, she is much admired.”
“I’m sure she is perfect to many, but I cannot admire a turned-up nose, and her smile is far too wide.” He looked back at her. “Your mouth, however, is perfect.”
Her not-too-wide smile was making her cheeks ache. Did he know she didn’t want to send him off with a flea in his ear?
“Perfect,” she echoed. “How lovely. What else about me is perfect, Major? I’m thirty-three years old and must hoard any compliments that still come my way.”
“You’re barren,” he said. “And that is not a compliment.”
Her breath caught. “And you are an uncouth swine, but you probably can’t help that, either.”
They were both smiling, hiding their battle from those around.
“Van’s marrying you for your money. If he needs money, I’ll find a way to get it for him.”
“Are you Midas, then? He lost ten thousand in one night.” She watched in satisfaction as his smile disappeared. “Now, escort me back to my box.”
At the door he halted, smile absent, hostility unmasked. “He deserves better than to marry for money, Mrs. Celestin. And he needs a family.”
She agreed with him, but she couldn’t let that show. “I want his happiness, Major Hawkinville. For that reason, you are welcome to call at my house. You will understand, I’m sure, if I try to avoid you.”
She went into the box alone.
Van was finding shy Miss Embleborough hard work, but he kept an eye on Maria and Hawk at the same time. He might not have seen a great deal of his friend over the past ten years, but he could still read him. He was in a hawkish mood.
Doubtless he thought Maria a heartless harpy and was riding to the rescue. As the bell sounded and people flowed back into their boxes, he managed to pass Miss Embleborough on to her brother, and paused with Hawk outside the box.
