“I know you’re quite taken with him.” Tess smiled. She meant no castigation in the observation. How could she when he had such an effect on her too?
Mrs. Wells shrugged. “He was polite and complimentary and respectful when he visited last evening. As first impressions go, he makes quite a good one.”
Tess couldn’t argue with her. She’d been ready to have the man bodily removed from Lady Goddard’s the moment she met him and then wished he’d stayed longer by the time he departed.
“May I admit something to you?” Mrs. Wells asked.
“Of course. You may tell me anything. I always appreciate your opinion and value your advice.”
Mrs. Wells only smiled in reply because they both knew Tess was hardheaded, and Tristan was much the same.
“That man who weighs on your mind from the past did not make a good first impression.”
Tess snapped her gaze to the woman who’d become like a mother to both her and her brother over the last decade and a half. She’d been so deeply affected by her feelings for Mr. Shaw before introducing him to her father or Mrs. Wells that whatever impression he’d made could not shake her feelings for him.
“He was a bit rude. Arrogant.”
Mrs. Wells had never been fond of him, and Tess’s fatherhad gently expressed his own reservations. Yet she’d still been shocked when Shaw shattered her heart.
“Why didn’t I see it?”
“Because he didn’t wish you to. The man was a pretender. He treated you well enough, I suppose, so it was hard to see who he was beyond those moments. Many were taken in by him.”
“And what if I’m blinded by a man’s charm again?”
“You’re too clever for that now.”
“I was clever then too.”
Mrs. Wells laughed. “You were indeed, but you fell in love.”
“Does love make us all fools then?”
She shook her head. “Perhaps there’s a poet or two that says as much, but I think it’s more that love is a risk.”
“I don’t want to take that risk again.”
“Oh Tess, I hope you do.”
“Why? You saw what it did to me. And how poorly people think of me as a result.”
“Who thinks poorly of you?” Mrs. Wells sat up in her chair, squaring her shoulders as if prepared to take on anyone who dared to look at Tess askance. “Send them directly to me, if you like, and I’ll set them straight.”
Tess chuckled. “I don’t wish to be pitied again.”
“You did nothing wrong, my dear.” Mrs. Wells reached out and took Tess’s hand, holding it gently between her own. “You do know that, don’t you?”
“I trusted a deceiver.”
“As did Priscilla Walcott, if the rumors are true. The man was convincing, and he’d perfected his vile game.” Mrs. Wells gave Tess’s hand a squeeze. “Trusting others is not a fault, my girl. Deceiving others is. The fault lies entirely with Mr. Shaw.”
Tess didn’t disagree, and yet once he’d been exposed, she’d felt somehow deserving of the heartbreak and shame.
“Please don’t let what one awful man did mar the course of your life or cause you to wall yourself off from love and companionship forever.”
“Spinsterhood seems easier.”
“And lonelier. You have so much love to give, Tess.”
