His arm tightened around her.
“That was an awful thing for your mother to say. She should have kept those thoughts in her head.”
“Not ‘she should never have considered such a thing’?” His tone was back to the confident drawl she was used to. It was comforting.
“Well, you can’t criticize what people say in their heads. Goodness, if I was held accountable for my every thought, I’d have no one willing to talk to me.”
He shook his head. “You are a singular woman of many contradictions.”
“Inconsiderate, too, apparently,” she said, still smarting at his earlier words.
“And yet sometimes the sweetest woman I know,” he murmured. “Wanting you makes no sense. But God help me, I do.”
His words made her feel giddy. And safe enough to ask the question that had been niggling at her these past ten minutes. “Did Daisy truly have a caller waiting to take her out?”
“Is that such a surprise?”
“I just…It never occurred to me.”
“That she might have a life outside of waiting on you?”
“No.”Darn it.“Well, yes. I suppose.” It’s not that she actively thought Daisy had no life outside service. She just hadn’t thought about it at all. Had given it no consideration.
Making her inconsiderate and self-absorbed.
Just like he’d said.
Disappointment hung heavy—a giant cloak of failure. And she hated failing.
Benedict tipped her face toward his. His look was kinder than she deserved. “Princess, you’ve spent your entire life seeking the esteem of others…but they aren’t here. So maybe it’s time to put that energy into the people whoarehere.”
“I wouldn’t know where to start. I have nothing in common with anyone here.”
Benedict chuckled and tugged at her earlobe. “Start with these. Listen, and you might find you have more in common than you think.”
“I just…” She took a deep breath and looked toward the door that Daisy had exited through so quickly. “I just worry that I’m too late. What must she think of me?”
That night, as Daisy pulled the pins from Amelia’s hair, Amelia stared at her lady’s maid in the glass. Amelia did not, as a rule, apologize. So she had no idea where to start.
But their conversation so far this evening had been stilted. And on purpose or not, Amelia had clearly hurt Daisy’s feelings.
“Daisy,” she started. “I am…” And she faltered.
“Yes, m’lady?”
“I am…wondering how your afternoon with Marcus went.”
Daisy’s hands stilled. No doubt she shared Amelia’s surprise at the content of this discussion.
“It was brief, m’lady.” She put down the last of the pins and picked up the brush. “He only gets Thursday morning off, and I only get the afternoon. We make do with an hour together at lunch.”
“Oh. I see.” How could she not? The determined yank of the brush through her knotted hair made it plain.
Regardless, this would be the appropriate time to apologize. She had, after all, robbed the couple of a quarter of their time together.
“Daisy, I’m quite s…” The word just stuck there. Fast. “What I mean to say is, I’m very s…”
Ack.
