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Thea had spent the duration of the afternoon with her brother sitting on a bench in Sydney Gardens and admiring the many horses that trotted by pulling various conveyances or carrying riders, while James, Felicity, and I walked among the garden paths and allowed the siblings their privacy.
It was cold, but my layers of warm wool kept the chills at bay while my thoughts were wrapped in the image of Thea’s brilliant smile. We seemed to have fallen into a rhythm of friendship again, our teasing what it once was, but far less hostile. I wondered, when it came to Thea, if that was all she knew how to do with me: tease.
“That woman last night,” Felicity said, her tone full of mild curiosity. “The opera singer? She seemed awfully familiar with you.”
“I’ve known her for a few years,” I said.
“As have I, but she did not act the same with me. Bold of her to approach you with her husband,” James said.
I whipped my head around to stare at my older brother. “Gads, is that what you think? We were never familiar in that way.”
Felicity’s copper eyebrows rose on her forehead.
James shrugged. “From the way she hung onto you, it certainly seemed like she had a reason for being so possessive.”
“She’s a woman. It is what they do.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. If James and Felicity believed Mrs. Rossi to be a past paramour of mine, did Thea believe it as well? She had been cold to me last night, but I had wondered if that was due to excessive weariness.
Felicity stopped on the path and tilted her head to look at me, the confusion growing stronger on her expression. “Benedict, you cannot mean that the way Mrs. Rossi acted, groping your arm in such a familiar way, is such a common occurrence that you believed it to be ordinary behavior?”
“Or do you mean,” James put in, “that it is such familiar behavior for Mrs. Rossi that it seemed ordinary from her?”
I looked between them, trying to make sense of what they were asking me. Were not all women the same? Ingratiating themselves as best they could in hopes of a compliment or a request to call later or send some flowers?
“This is how most women treat you, is it not?” Felicity asked.
“Well, of course.” I gestured to my brother. “I am certain you understand.”
James laughed. “I contended with my share of flirtatious women, but no, it was not the same for me. It was laughable, the way she hung on your arm. Most women of good breeding would not dare touch you in such a familiar manner.”
“Perhaps my problem is that I ought to surround myself with more women of good breeding.”
“I think you already do,” Felicity said with a wry smile. “Thea and I are perfectly acceptable.”
“And neither of them hang on your arm as though mistaking it for a hat rack,” James added.
“No, it is safe to say they do not.” I flashed Felicity a grin, but my stomach was in turmoil. I had owed that to the fact that Thea never seemed to want anything to do with me and Felicity was my sister-in-law. Running my mind over the last interactions I’d had with women who were not in my family, though, I recalled them all being of similar behavior. Miss Dodwell, at the Bakewell assemblies, had acted in much the same manner, and the same could be said for each of the other women I’d partnered with that night.
Thea’s misinterpretation of my intentions with Miss Dodwell and the way I had treated my other partners could not be dismissed any longer as a flair of dramatics, not when Felicity and James saw things the very same way. I had always known I was a bit of a flirt, but I had believed it was typical behavior, that I was not acting differently than any other man in my position would.
“Tell me,” I asked, gathering their attention once more, “do you both believe me to be above reproach in the way I treat women, or am I perhaps . . .”
“Perhaps what, exactly?” James asked.
“Am I too much of a flirt?”
Felicity laughed. “Is that a bad thing? You have never, in my company, done anything which might make you a rake or a cad. Flirting, on the other hand, is harmless, as long as both parties are fully aware of the boundaries.”
“Mrs. Rossi was standing beside her husband. She certainly saw nothing wrong in the way she acted.” James shrugged. “I would not lose sleep over it if I were you.”
“I am not overly concerned with that moment in particular,” I reassured him. “But I do not want to give the wrong woman a reason to believe I am interested in pursuing her.” Or, perhaps, give therightwoman a reason to believe I am pursuing others.
“It is something to consider,” James agreed. He looked up and lifted his hand in greeting. “Here come Thea and Archie. Gads, but they look similar.”
I followed his line of sight until I found them walking toward us, and I had to agree. The serious little boy, with his dark hair and vibrant blue eyes, could have been Thea’s son. Their father had certainly influenced their appearance greatly, it seemed. Thea’s smile was radiant, her body veritably pulsing with joy, and it was impossible not to return her happiness to a degree.
Would it be difficult for her to leave Bath? Perhaps she would desire to remain here a little longer. I was certainly prepared to delay our foray into London. I worried that once we got there, she would become lost to me forever. For how could a woman, who looked as she did, who exuded such joy in a ballroom, not have a wave of suitors knocking down her door and filling her drawing room within the first week?
“We need to return Archie to school now,” Thea explained with some sadness when they came upon us. We walked down the path leading to his school and stood before the building while Thea led Archie back inside. When she returned to us, we remained in front of the yellow stone school Archie Danvers had just disappeared into and waited while Thea seemed to be attempting to memorize everything in sight. I looked at James over the top of her head, and he gave a small shrug.
