“Friends, not lovers,” Nicholas said. “Which is what I discovered with another woman a little over sixteen years ago, I seem to remember. Maybe I am fated to have a whole host of female friends but no lover.”
“I doubt it,” Devlin said. “Not when I see the way all the women here, especially the unmarried ones, have been looking at you all day. One of these days you are going to look back at one of themand fall in love. Good Lord, we sound like a couple of women. This is what being an expectant father—again—does to a man. It makes him hideously sentimental.”
Nicholas laughed. Devlin did not suspect, then. Probably no one else did either.
“I had better go ask one of those women for the next dance,” he said, “before they are all spoken for.”
He could see that Owen was leading Winifred onto the floor.
—
Winifred was standing at the open window of her bedchamber later that night when her mother tapped on the door before opening it quietly and letting herself in. Winifred had been trying to cool her hot cheeks and quiet the teeming thoughts and emotions that tumbled around in her head and would surely make sleep all but impossible.
The ball had ended an hour ago, and all the outside guests had dispersed homeward. The family and houseguests had straggled off to bed a little more slowly. She had changed into her nightgown and brushed out her hair. But she had not lain down.
“I thought you might still be up,” her mother said.
“Yes.” Winifred smiled at her. “It has been a lovely day, has it not?”
“So,” Mama said, coming to stand beside her at the window, though nothing was visible outside while the candles burned inside, “you and Colonel Nicholas Ware?”
“It was very hot when the waltz ended,” Winifred said. “And neither of us was hungry. It was beautifully cool outside. And quiet.”
“We thought it was Owen Ware when we came here,” her mother said. “It never was?”
“Oh, Owen and I are firm friends,” Winifred said. “We have a great deal in common. He is one of those people with whom I can talk endlessly without ever wondering how we are going to fill the silence.”
“We thought that for Colonel Ware it was Miss Haviland,” her mother said. “But there has been no announcement, and they have spent almost no time together today. So much for my matchmaking instincts and Papa’s.”
“He likes her,” Winifred said. “He is fond of her. It turned out, however, that neither of them really wished to marry the other.”
“And this he told you?” her mother said.
“Yes,” Winifred said.
“He is not at all the sort of man I would have expected to capture your heart,” Mama said.
Oh, and she had really thought when she returned to the ballroom that no one had noticed.Of courseMama had. Probably Papa too.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Mama asked. “I am guessing you will find it difficult to sleep left to your own company.”
“He is the very last person with whom I would have expected to fall in love,” Winifred said.
“But you have fallen?”
“Yes,” Winifred said.
“Are you likely to have your heart broken?” Mama asked gently.
“Oh no.” Winifred turned to look at her mother with raised eyebrows. “He loves me too, Mama. We are going to marry. He is going to talk to Papa tomorrow. He asked that we stay quiet about it tonight and tomorrow, though, out of deference for the feelings of the Havilands, who came here on the assumption that his betrothal to Miss Haviland would be announced during their visit.And he did offer for her, because he felt obligated. She refused. And she has looked the happier for it today. I have not imagined that, have I?”
“I do not believe so,” her mother said. “I have noticed a difference in her.”
“Mama,” Winifred said. “I am so happy I feel quite sick.”
They both laughed, and her mother opened her arms to enclose her daughter within their comfort.
“It is all Papa and I have ever wanted for you,” she said. “Ever since we fell in love with you at the orphanage school. That you be happy, that is, for what remained of your childhood and in whatever you chose to do when you grew up. It is all we want for all our children. One can shelter them only so long before most of them will choose to fly free. It is not a comfortable thing being a parent, Winifred. One wants the world for one’s children but must allow them to choose the nature of that world for themselves. Shall we sit down on these chairs while you tell me how you came to fall in love with Colonel Nicholas Ware? I cannot pretend that I am not totally surprised. And puzzled.”
