“Leah’s right,” Fox added quietly. “You should venture out into society more, Malcolm.”
“Aye,” Ethan added. “The picnic will be the perfect thing for ye.”
Malcolm sighed and nearly threw down his napkin.
Helikedhis solitary, un-venturesome state.
“And between now and then, Ethan, you can further woo your Miss Brodure.” Leah’s face beamed with a smile.
Malcolm managed a strained smile of his own.
For his own sanity, his brother’s wooing couldn’t happen quickly enough.
7
Ethan Penn-Leith’s social call left Viola feeling off-kilter.
Fortunately, her father was ecstatic enough for the both of them.
“Mark my words, my dear,” he said over tea two days later. “This is just the beginning. Mr. Penn-Leith means to court you in earnest. Did I mention I received a letter from Kendall earlier today? He is very pleased that we have arrived safely, and I have already penned him an update about our—or rather,your—progress with Mr. Penn-Leith.”
“Gracious, Papa.” A blush scorched Viola’s skin, surely turning her cheeks as red as the velvet fabric of her chair. “It is very much early days yet.”
“Yes, I know, daughter, but I cannot help but think upon it! A marriage to Mr. Penn-Leith would cement your position among the greatest novelists of our age—”
“I thought mywritingwould do that, not my choice of husband,” she countered, tone as dry as the Sahara.
“Of course, you are quite right, my dear.” He laughed good-naturedly, reaching for a piece of shortbread. “But you like Mr. Penn-Leith, do you not?”
Viola shook off a sigh as she poured her own tea.
Shedidlike Ethan.
Or, rather, shewantedto like him.
So why, as she stirred sugar into her cup, was she wondering if Malcolm Penn-Leith took time out of his busy day for tea?
She supposed it was because . . . well . . .
Malcolm appeared to have an intensity, agravitas, that she had yet to see in Ethan. As if all those hours with his coos were spent pondering the breadth of the universe.
And yet, . . . she could not simply abandon Ethan after two lackluster encounters.
The very thought was absurd.
Particularly as her father’s ambitions and Kendall’s plans relied on her engaging Ethan Penn-Leith’s interest.
Surely her lack of immediate connection with Ethan stemmed from the intense pressure surrounding their possible courtship. Viola merely needed to relax and form a true friendship with him.
To that end, she smiled at her father and took a sip of tea. “Idolike Mr. Penn-Leith”—both of them—“I simply wish to allow our acquaintance to progress at its own pace.”
But, of course, in that wish, Viola was utterly thwarted.
Just like Kendall, the townspeople of Fettermill pushed Viola and Ethan to make a match of it as quickly as possible.
In the days that followed, every social call Viola received, every call she returned, someone wished to discuss where she and Ethan were on the path to their own timeless literary romance.
Dr. Ruxton regaled Viola with stories of Ethan as a wee lad, how he used his glib tongue to talk Mrs. Ruxton out of shortbread, which given his wife’s volubility, was no mean feat.
