“Come up off the floor, then.” He assisted her to her feet and onto the settee beside him.
The desire to lean against his comforting frame was almost impossible to ignore.
Almost.
“Lady Bethany and I saw you on Bond Street two days ago,” she said. “With Lord Greystone.” Felicity wasn’t sure why she mentioned it. He didn’t owe her any explanations of his actions or whereabouts since arriving in London.
“Ah. Yes. Delightful ladies. Lady Posy is Greys’ cousin and ward, and Miss Violet is his aunt. His great aunt is in town as well, for the season, all the way from Yorkshire. It seems Lady Posy’s aunts have decided it’s high time she enter society.”
Felicity’s chest loosened for no reason at all. “Oh. How lovely for her.” Words that generally would mean nothing more than precisely what she said. So why did they come out sounding petty?
Axel swiped at an unruly lock of hair and then tilted his head to study her. “Greys doesn’t have much family.”
“Oh.”
“I wanted to call on you, but…” he was staring at his hands, his elbows resting on his knees again. “I thought it best to allow you a few days to settle in.”
“I appreciate that.” But had she?
“You didn’t seem overly anxious for my company last month.” He glanced at her sideways.
“This isn’t a proper time,” Felicity glanced around the room, “or place to discuss this.”
“A simple, I am, or I am not, would suffice.” He set his jaw. And here she was, being snippy again. How did he even stand to be in her presence?
He deserved an answer from her. He deserved to know whether or not he could go on with his life as though nothing had happened between them.
“I’m not sure.”
His head snapped around. “How is that possible?”
She certainly was not going to explain or discuss the amount of blood that had signified what she’d believed to be her courses. Nor was she going to provide an account of her morning bouts of retching.
They were at Lady Willoughby’s ball, for heaven’s sake!
“My mother will be wondering where I’ve gone off to.” But before she could jump to her feet, he grasped her wrist.
“You will tell me everything.” It wasn’t a question. “We can walk outside rather than waltz if you’d like, but I need to know, Felicity.”
She jerked her arm free, even knowing he deserved an answer.
Because if she was with child, she wasn’t going to have a choice but to marry him. Everything would change.
“Very well.” And knowing she was already late for her dance with Lord Oswald, she all but flew out of the room.
She could only avoid Manningham for a few hours.
But just as Felicity had determined she had no choice but to face the consequences, fate stepped in.
Much later that evening, when she’d looked around for him at the allotted time, while waiting in the chairs along the walls with the chaperones, and then wandered to the terrace door, he was nowhere to be seen. Were all men so fickle?
Because the waltz, the one that he’d reserved, was already halfway over.
“There you are. Your mother is ready to leave but said you had promised this set? Why are you not dancing?” Circles etched beneath her father’s eyes, but they were also sparkling. He must have won at cards this evening, and for that, at least, she was grateful.
“I was,” she admitted.
“Who is this cad who’s stood you up?”
