Page 72 of A Bachelor’s Lessons in Love

She tapped a finger against her saucer. “It could upset her, you know. She has always expected me to be there for her, I always told her I would. What if she feels I am abandoning her? Or that I care for you more than I do her? Or⁠—”

Edward set his toast down deliberately. “Felicity.”

She glanced at him, fear evidently written all across her expression, for her future husband leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice.

“Daphne is not going to be upset. My darling, Daphne is not going to be surprised. She has spent the last several weeks attempting to play matchmaker.”

Felicity’s mouth dropped open. “She has not.”

The man’s lips twitched. “She has. With all the subtlety of a cavalry charge.”

Her mouth immediately fell open to argue, but she stopped. She would have noticed such a thing, surely. No one knew Daphne as she did. If the young woman had attempted such manipulation, it would have been obvious. Except… Except looking back, she recalled a few oddly pointed comments, the knowing glances, the way Daphne had encouraged the two of them to spend time together.

Her face grew warm.

Edward, observing her closely, smirked. “Ah. There it is. The blush I love so well.”

Felicity gave him a look of reproof, but before she could respond, Daphne entered the breakfast room. She was bright-eyed, perfectly composed, and looking not at all like a young woman recovering from an evening of a discomforting headache.

She settled in her chair. “Good morning, Colonel. Aunt Felicity.”

Folding his arms, Edward leaned back in his seat. “Daphne. How is your headache?”

Daphne, already reaching for the teapot, paused. For a moment, she looked genuinely confused—then her eyes lit with understanding. She set the teapot down, lifting her chin in almost a perfect replica of her aunt. “I am fine. Of course,” she said simply.

Felicity nearly choked on her tea.

Edward let out a low, amused exhale, shaking his head slightly.

Daphne, utterly unaffected by the scrutiny, reached for a slice of toast. “Did you finally propose matrimony to my aunt?” she asked blithely, as though inquiring about the weather.

Felicity stared at her. What the⁠—

“I did.” Edward—drat the man—bit into his toast, entirely unbothered.

Daphne nodded approvingly. “Good. Of course, you said yes, Aunt Felicity. You are far too clever to turn the Colonel down, especially given how much he adores you. I am glad.” She grinned boldly at her aunt. “You know, I was hoping for this almost from the beginning.”

Setting down her teacup with a bit more force than necessary, Felicity narrowed her eyes at her niece. “Daphne Price—almost from the beginning?”

Smiling serenely, Daphne shrugged. “Well, I needed to be sure he wasn’t a scoundrel.”

The Colonel released a quiet laugh. “And once you determined I was not?”

Unrushed and utterly composed, Daphne buttered her toast. “Then I knew it would only be a matter of time before you both stopped being so stubborn.”

After spending the last several hours wondering how to tell Daphne, it was rather a shock. “Well. I never.”

Edward, horribly smug, reached for the teapot. “More tea, my dear betrothed?”

She glared at him, but she was smiling despite herself.

The young lady, chewing her toast, sighed dramatically. “I do hope marriage makes you both more sensible.”

Edward’s hearty laugh filled the breakfast room, but Felicity was still staring at her niece, trying to understand how everything had turned upside down so quickly.

An unrepentant grin on her face, Daphne said, “I take it by your expression that you were worried about telling me.”

For goodness sake! Felicity threw both hands in the air, a gesture of surrender at last. “Yes, well! Clearly, I need not have been.”