Page 20 of A Lady of Conscience

“Hannah?” Her father entered the drawing room, balancing some of his weight on his ebony cane. The injury he’d suffered to his right leg while serving as a cavalry captain in the Peninsular Wars necessitated the use of it. “Is Lord St. Clare⁠—”

“Gone,” she said bleakly.

Her father exhibited no surprise as he came to sit beside her on the sofa. He leaned his cane next to him. “I had anticipated he might be.”

“Did he apply to you for⁠—”

“He did.”

Hannah couldn’t imagine what that scene might have been like. Her father was a former soldier, and not generally warm in his dealings with others. His kindness and gentleness were reserved for his family alone. “What did you say to him?” she asked.

“That the decision was yours to make.”

She gave her father a wretched look. “How do you know I’ve made the right one?”

Papa set a reassuring hand on her back. “Your mother and I have confidence in you, sweetheart.”

Her eyes stung with the threat of tears. “I refused him.”

Papa’s expression was solemn. “I had anticipated that as well.”

“I fear I hurt him.”

“He’ll recover.”

“You didn’t see his face.” Hannah recalled the way James had looked after he’d risen from the sofa. “He made himself vulnerable to me and I injured his pride.”

Her father rubbed her back. “You’ve done him a service,” he said. “Some men benefit from being knocked down a peg. It’s character building.”

“I’d no idea of knocking him down. I only said that I shouldn’t like to have to change in order to be accepted.”

Papa’s brows lowered. “Did he ask you to change?”

“He requires a wife who can move in London society. A lady who will be successful there. He thought that, with an effort—” Hannah stopped herself. “But that isn’t what I want.”

“What do you want, pet?”

She gave him a faint, rueful smile. “A marriage like yours and Mama’s, of course.”

Papa’s stern countenance softened at the mere mention of her mother. “Ah. Something to aspire to, indeed.”

“Will you tell her about Lord St. Clare’s visit when she returns?”

“I will.”

“She will be shocked.”

“No. That she won’t be,” Papa said. “What she will be is even prouder of you than she already is.”

“Proud? Because I rejected the heir to an earldom?”

“Because you listened to your heart.”

“I don’t know,” Hannah said. “It’s aching awfully at the moment.”

“There will be other proposals,” her father promised her. “Better ones. Soon, that ache you feel will be but a distant memory.”

Hannah found the thought of future marriage proposals cold comfort after what had just passed. As for her heart, she sincerely hoped her father was right.