I’d been in a state ever since Captain Calder had whispered into my neck. “Hattie,” I said with a huff of frustration. This was the wrong time to be thinking of things Captain Calder said only to distract me. “You need to tell me everything you can about Captain Calder and you need to do it now. Please.”
Hattie’s eyes positively glowed at the mention of his name, and somehow that sentence was exactly the thing she needed to set off her delighted laugh. She grabbed both of my hands this time and squeezed them.
Something buried deep inside me broke at the sound of her laughter. If I’d had any doubt about the captain’s claim over my most wonderful cousin’s heart, it fled. Hattie laughed and smiledeasily, but almost never like this—not with her whole body and soul.
Which was good. Very good. The whole point of this house party was to find Hattie a suitor or, even better, a fiancé, and here we were with most of the work done before we’d even arrived. And Captain Calder was ... well, he was perfect. I’d never met a better man and I’d never known a better woman than Hattie.
Everything was coming together splendidly. Some day in the future I would call Captain John Calder cousin and he would become a permanent fixture at our family gatherings. Hattie would become the mistress of the house she so thoroughly fell in love with, and everything would be as it should. The future would be perfect.
Once I adjusted to the idea of every single detail of it.
“What do you want to know about him?” Her voice jumped with excitement.
I closed my eyes for the space of a breath. I needed a reprieve from her happiness, just for a moment.
When I could finally speak, I didn’t manage a look of happiness. If anything, I probably looked as though I wanted to accuse her of a crime.
“Why didn’t you tell me about him? I thought we shared everything. Captain Calder is ... ” I trailed off, because how could I explain him? He was so capable, and everyone loved him, and the only thing that had ever given me pause about him was the name he’d called out in the night. Come to find out, he was just a man who desperately missed his sister, which was frustratingly endearing, and another point in his favor. “You’ve kept him a secret from me all this time. And I know—I have no right to censure you over a secret when a secret of mine damaged your family so but ... ” I rubbed circles into my temples with my fingertips. I’m not certain I was even making sense anymore.With a sigh, I said the one thing that just kept echoing in my mind. “Six years, Hattie. You’ve kept him a secret for six years.”
Once the words left my mouth, all the anxious energy that had fueled my walk from the terrace to the library fled. All of my fire extinguished as if it had been smothered by a blanket. My arms drooped to my sides, and even my hair felt heavy.
Hattie didn’t seem to notice. She took me by both hands and dragged me to the settee. With only the slightest tap on my shoulder I collapsed onto the seat. She settled next to me, curled her legs up on the seat, and squeezed my hands once again with delight. “I met him at Eastmoor, the Hartleys’ estate.”
I think I’d heard that estate mentioned. And I knew the Hartleys a little, but they were better friends with Aunt and Uncle Pryor than our family. “And ... ” I waited for her to continue.
“Oh, Evelyn, he was so thoughtful and a perfect gentleman. Really.” She leaned forward until our faces were only inches apart. It was like we were children again, spilling secrets and plotting out a day of adventures. “I never saw him do an unkind thing. We were thrown together often, since we were the only two young people staying there at the time.”
“And you never thought to mention this to me because ... ”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Your father was gone for almost a year after that, and I don’t think it crossed my mind when your family was so worried about his safety. Besides, I didn’t know you would be interested.”
I shook my head. Six years ago I would have only been sixteen, and much more interested in horses and guns than men. But I’d always had a place in my heart for Hattie. “You didn’t think I would be interested? Of course I’m interested.”
She smiled again, and, blast it, how could Captain Calder have resisted her? Why would he have wanted to? “I’m so glad,” she said. “It will make everything much easier. I know I haven’tseen him for years, but he is most certainly the best of men. And in case you aren’t aware, your parents agree with my assessment of him. Applewood will need repairs, of course, but he plans to use his bounty money for them. And on top of everything else, it is so close to your home. There couldn’t be a better situation.”
“He’s spoken to you about his plans for Applewood?” When did he have time? Had they snuck out last night after spending the day there?
“Actually, your mother told me.”
“My mother?”
“Yes. She had every young man investigated before coming, including Captain Calder.”
She certainly had, and so had I, but somehow we had missed one very important point. “Hattie, he is—I think he is quite serious. A proposal could be coming, perhaps sooner than any of us thought possible.”
Hattie’s eyes went wide, and for the first time since I mentioned him, her smile faltered. “Already? He can’t think to propose already.”
Already? Hadn’t he waited years? He spoke about her with his fellow soldiers while in battle. He planned a future with her. When he’d reached for me in the middle of the night at the cottage, it was Hattie he’d been longing for. And yet, the way he’d whispered in my ear earlier, his voice rolling over my shoulders in that hushed tone—was that the action of a man on the verge of proposing to another woman? My face heated. He had been trying to distract me. I knew how tempting it was to win at any cost. Hadn’t I done the same to him? “Honestly, I don’t know.”
“I think it would be too soon.”
I nodded. Of course it would be too soon. They’d barely spoken to each other in six years. And in the meantime, I’d fought with him, shot with him, stared up at the sky withhim, and spent a night caring for him. I had also spent way too much time remembering every single experience. It had to stop. I couldn’t keep thinking of Captain Calder like this. It was scandalous and embarrassing. But how, exactly, does one go about forgetting someone so ...so ... uncommonly out of the ordinary?
We had just over a week left in this house party. Certainly in that amount of time I could purge all thoughts of that night and his whisper. “He should wait at least until the end of the house party.”
“I agree.” She grinned. “And a proposal then would make your mother extremely happy.”
Of course it would. It would make all of us happy. It had been a rough two years without Matilda, especially for Hattie. And while Hattie would always miss her sister, at least now she would be starting a family of her own with perhaps the only man I’d ever met who might be worthy of her.
