She set her cup and saucer on the table before she stood. Sitting there while she weighed the options was getting her nowhere!
Except, Frances knew one thing—she did want to spend time with Seth no matter how ill-advised.
She wandered to the window to look down at the square where people were going about their day while emotions warred within her.
What was she to do?
When she’d first learned the truth about Seth, she had wanted revenge on him and thought it was impossible. But perhaps it was…
Despite how much her heart screamed to give him another chance, her mind remembered the thirst for revenge.
A heart could not be trusted. Not hers and certainly not his, which left her only one choice.
Frances would allow Seth to court her. They would become friends again and she would let him believe there was a future. And then, she would do to him what he had done to her. This would guarantee that Seth would never want to speak to her again, her heart would be safe from making foolish decisions, and Frances would have her revenge.
Chapter Nine
Even though he wanted to call on Frances the next day, Seth tried to be patient while he waited for her to decide.
If she rejected his courtship, then he had only himself to blame but hoped that she would give him another chance.
Two days after Frances had claimed that she needed time, Seth received a missive from her. She agreed to be courted but was only available in the afternoon or a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday evening.
He had frowned because he could not imagine what she might be doing the other evenings but would make certain that his free hours were the same as hers. Besides, he should be at The Emerald Garter the nights she was unavailable anyway, but still wondered what would be occupying her time.
Regardless, he would not press and would take every opportunity he had to be with Frances and called that very afternoon with a bouquet of autumn flowers. They had become friends and started to heal from the loss of their family members while planting a garden and he wanted her to remember so they could begin anew.
As with most homes of a similar style, he anticipated that a drawing room or sitting room was beyond one door and a dining room behind another. Further down the dark corridor was likely a library with kitchens below or across the hall. Yet, when he had visited previously, he had followed Lady Bethany to a parlor on the first floor. Did she and Bethany not use the ground floor?
As the footman climbed the stairs, Seth decided that he would consider the question another day and followed, even though he had been asked to wait until the servant learned if Frances was at home.
“Lord Seth Claxton has come to call, Miss Hawthorn.”
“Please, send him up,” she answered.
“I do not know what I would have done if you had not been at home,” Seth said as he entered the parlor. “It would have been quite awkward for your footman to turn and find me standing there before he ordered me from your home.”
“Then perhaps you should have remained where you were told until summoned,” Frances returned and Seth could not help but smile.
Yes, Frances had changed since he had last seen her in Laswell, and while he missed the sweet girl from the cottage in the woods, he was growing to appreciate the strong woman she had apparently become.
“I thought we could take a drive in the park,” he suggested.
“Do you have an open conveyance?” she returned. “One must be conscious of a reputation regardless of spinster status.”
He did not see her as a spinster because to him, they were women who were old, wrinkled and having never been married. Frances was still young and beautiful, but because her age was eight and twenty, Society had deemed her as such. Worse, a wallflower spinster. They might as well have decided that she would grow old alone.
“I have my low phaeton,” Seth answered.
“I will only be a moment,” she said before calmly walking from the parlor.
She was so polite, as if they were mere acquaintances, which was rather aggravating and needed to change. Hopefully she would soften toward him as they drove.
If it were spring, they would be riding during the fashionable hour. As it was autumn, Seth wasn’t certain if there was a fashionable hour to ride in the park because he had never bothered to learn. However, he did hope that the fashionable time was the same year-round because he wanted to be seen with Frances by his side. No doubt his squiring a beautiful woman about would cause a stir among the gossips, and for the first time in his life, Seth didn’t care. In fact, he’d welcome their wagging tongues.
If only he would have been so brave five years ago…
He shook the thoughts away as it did no good to revisit a past that could not be changed.
