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He was not alone in his displeasure. Percy imagined picking up Lady Catherine and cheerfully tossing her out a window. The next quarter of an hour was spent in stilted conversation, his unresolved request hanging in the air between the two men. When Eden returned, it was to an atmosphere as tense as that before a storm.
Unable to answer her unspoken query, Percy resolved to pick up the thread again on Thursday when Sir Geoffrey came to White’s.
Dinner was a quiet affair. Despite his host’s repeated attempts to be genial, his wife’s manner put a damper on the atmosphere. Had his desire for Eden been any less, Percy would have excused himself and left in full affront. Never had he been treated with such outright hostility. The woman had all but declared open warfare.
By the time dessert was brought out, Lady Catherine had managed to thoroughly cow her husband. Percy now wondered whether the man would indeed come to White’s on Thursday. Never had he encountered a more controlling female!
This was the woman he would one day call mother-in-law. It was a sobering thought.
No matter, he told himself. Once married, she’d have little choice but to accept him. Regardless of what she thought of him now, he would change her opinion of him over time—provided certain aspects of his life remained private.
It was a discussion he’d have to have with Eden at some point, one he both dreaded and anticipated. The burden of secrecy was one he’d decided he didn’t want in his marriage. Eden was strong enough to bear it with him. If all went well, he might even find in her an ally.
But not if he couldn’t get her father’s permission to marry her.
Once again, he found himself in the awkward position of having lost the high ground. He declined the halfhearted offer of an after dinner brandy and pipe, knowing it would be a futile exercise to again attempt broaching the subject of courtship. Lady Catherine, malevolent wasp that she was, had effectively headed him off.
The triumphant smile on her face as she bid him farewell made his teeth itch. The glow in Eden’s eyes, however, was all the encouragement he needed to stay his course. If by some miracle Sir Geoffrey did show up at White’s, he would make another attempt. Then, too, there was the Sheffield ball.
Chapter Ten
Eden wanted to scream. However, as an outburst would only reinforce her stepmother’s argument that Percy was a bad influence on her, she restrained herself. A cool head was needed to think this through. Unable to sleep later that night, she decided to go to the library and fetch a book. As she passed her parents’ chambers, she heard Papa’s voice through the door and stopped.
“I cannot stress to you enough the importance of her marrying well, and Tavistoke is a fine candidate for the job—you know our situation—yet you treated him with contempt bordering on outright rudeness! I?
??ll be surprised if he ever shows his face here again.”
“Good,” snapped her stepmother. “Geoffrey, you know what is said of the man. Is that really who you want marrying your daughter?”
“Much of what is said of many people is no more than rumor. The man is a marquess, Catherine. A wealthy marquess!”
“There are other wealthy men,” replied Catherine. “As a matter of fact, I have a much better suitor in mind for her.”
Eden’s heart stopped.
“Whom?” asked her father.
“Lord Bracknell’s son, Viscount Ravenwood. Bracknell approached me weeks ago concerning Eden. Then last week he inquired again, this time with promises on behalf of his heir. If she marries the lad, your daughter will one day be countess. I know it is not as lofty a title as marchioness, but is it not good enough?”
Silence reigned for several moments during which Eden’s breath returned in a painful rush of disbelief. Her stepmother was the daughter of an earl. She’d married Papa for love, crushing her family’s ambitions, but she had never let him or anyone else forget her lofty origins.
“Why did you not tell me of this before now?” asked her father, echoing Eden’s foremost thought.
“I was waiting for the right moment.”
“The right moment would have been the day you spoke with him. I’m her father, Catherine. I should have been informed at once. No, you withheld this knowledge for another reason. I would have it now, if you please. The truth.”
“At first I did not think they would suit, but I am now reconsidering,” explained Catherine.
“Then you are aware of his reputation,” he shot back.
“Ravenwood is by far the lesser of two evils,” her stepmother replied. “He’s much younger and far less jaded. Eden would have a better chance of reforming him. Tavistoke is a hardened roué. Any display of moral rectitude on his part is surely false.”
“And if Eden prefers him, despite you trotting out this other fellow?”
“She won’t.”
Eden’s blood boiled at her presumptuous tone.
