“Why have you never told me this?” she demanded, suddenly feeling out to sea.
“You hadn’t noticed me.” He lifted a shoulder. “It didn’t seem to matter.”
Annalise shook her head forcefully back and forth. “But it does. I want to remember you too. I don’t recall that night at all.”
“You were wearing blue. A soft blue that set off your dark hair and made your complexion look like fresh cream.”
A fire built in her toes and raced like an inferno throughout her body. She remembered that gown. Remembered that night, but she did not remember him. And that lapse made her angry. Made her horribly sad and upset she had missed out on the chance to see him again. To know him more. To simply converse with him before her father’s impending death made their marriage a necessity to fend off ruin.
“I hadn’t realized you knew Mama before you were married.” Beth looked back and forth between them curiously. “I assumed you met right before you were married.”
“We knew each other, but not well,” Annalise said, pressing a hand to her shaking lips.
Phillip considered her for a long moment, his sapphire eyes now so familiar and dear. “And sadly, we have not had many opportunities to rectify that.”
And he was right. His career with the navy had robbed them both from forming any sort of bond that was not attached to the children they shared. Annalise had been saddened by it, but only as a passing thought. She had missed out on so many years, so many leaves, to truly know and enjoy the man Fate had determined she marry. Aside from the early, lean years of their marriage when Mr. Dalton had stolen her inheritance, Phillip had worked hard to give her a life devoid of the worry and stress she experienced after her father’s death.
But now, now that he was home for good and she was beginning to know him—the real Phillip, not the caricature of a husband she’d sketched in her mind over their long marriage—Annalise realized she finally had the opportunity to give him something in return.
Love. And a home filled to the rafters with the love she now recognized pumped in her veins hot and fast for him. It had always been for him; she had just not known it.
Turning to Beth, Phillip took both of her hands into his large ones. “When did you first notice Mr. Newell?”
Scowling in thought, Beth’s pretty face lit up. “He came to call. Here. I remember being surprised and a bit—”
She broke off so quickly it took Annalise a moment to realize it. Before she could prompt the girl for more, Phillip did.
“And a bit what, poppet?”
Their daughter’s throat worked as she attempted to swallow. “Disappointed.”
“Why were you disappointed?”
“Because he wasn’t Mr. Ramsgate coming to call.”
“Ahh,” Phillip said, as if this explanation was perfectly logical. “And who is Mr. Ramsgate that he left you anticipating his return?”
“Henry Ramsgate is a friend of Oliver’s from London.”
“And am I to guess this foolish young man did not return your regard?” Phillip growled, the perfect replica of a disgruntled father.
Annalise fought back a smile.
A light glinted in Beth’s brown eyes. “Oh, but he did. Or at least he led me to believe he did. But then he traveled to London and never returned.”
It was just as Annalise expected. Beth had been nursing a broken heart, which left her vulnerable to Silas Newell’s charms.
“Has Oliver heard from him?” she asked.
“I’m certain he has, but he has not told me, and I’ve been afraid to ask.” Beth cast her eyes to where her hands lay entwined with her father’s.
“Afraid? What would my brave daughter have to be afraid of?” Phillip asked, his voice gruff but his gaze soft as he studied Beth.
Glancing up, Beth pressed her lips together and shook her head. Annalise draped an arm around her waist in comfort and encouragement, until the girl finally said, “Because what if Oliver knows Henry simply did not want to return?”
And Annalise’s breath caught to hear the pain and uncertainty in her daughter’s voice.
His palms felt clammy, and a drop of sweat ran down his spine.
Phillip did not want to muck this up. For the first time, Beth was sharing her troubles with him. She was receptive to his suggestions and observations. He was actually parenting after a very long absence from the job.
And while he worried over every word, Annalise sat serenely by, the precise words and advice Beth needed to hear ready to fall from her tongue at a moment’s notice. She made this parenting business look effortless, but he knew it had been anything but. He had the advantage of having Annalise by his side as he helped Beth through her heartache, but who had been by his wife’s side, helping her, with the painful realities of parenthood while he was gone at sea?
No one. The enormity of that realization had him sit back in his chair. It was easy to rationalize all that Annalise had done as a single mother with an absent husband, but it was quite another to experience firsthand what a feat it was.
Lord, but he yearned to keep her. Wished anew that she would accompany him to Wales and live by his side. But seeing her with the children, seeing how beloved she was by the Pellinghams, all of their neighbors, had reminded him that her roots in Bristol were deep. For while he was sailing off to foreign shores, her friends were the ones she turned to when the trials of being a single parent became more difficult than she could bear. When he departed for Wales, he would long for her sunny smiles and easy laugh. And after the passionate night they had spent together, Phillip would miss her touch. The sweet taste of her lips. The low moans she made when she came apart in his arms. His nights and days would be lonely, but he didn’t dare ask her for more than she’d already given him.
But now was not the time to concern himself with his future plans. Instead, he needed to aid Beth in realizing what a bounder Silas Newell was.
Annalise shifted, and he turned his gaze to her only to find her gesturing with her chin towards Beth. The girl had said something, and he had not responded. He needed to fix that.
Mentally chewing over her words, Phillip decided his best course of action was to be honest. “That is definitely a risk you will have to take. Loving someone is taking a risk that they won’t love you in return.”
Rising from his seat, he crouched down before her and met Beth’s gaze head on. “If Mr. Ramsgate has decided he does not want you, that does not mean you are wanting in any way. You are an intelligent, bold, and exceedingly lovely young woman who is worthy of all good things. If Mr. Ramsgate cannot see that, he’s a simpleton. And rejection does not mean that every young man you esteem will reject you, poppet. It also doesn’t mean you should yolk yourself to a man you do not love simply because you believe you cannot do any better.”
Beth gasped, clutching her hands over her mouth. “Do you think that’s why I agreed to Mr. Newell’s suit? Simply because he wanted me?”
Phillip shook his head. “Only you can answer that question.”
Worrying her lip, Beth stared at the floor for a long, tense moment. “I think…that is, I’m certain I do not want to marry Silas.”
Jerking his head back, Phillip stared at Beth before darting his gaze to Annalise. She stared back at him with a relieved smile. He barely restrained himself from whooping in delight.
“If it’s not too much trouble, of course.” Beth winced, looking first at her mother and then at him. “I know you spent a great deal of money for the wedding and my trousseau—”
“Hush now, darling.” Annalise patted her back. “Your father and I will handle the details of canceling the arrangements. They are inconsequential in comparison to your future happiness.”
Beth’s dark eyes, so much like her mother’s, filled with tears. “Thank you. I suppose I thought after Henry Ramsgate that Silas would be the only man that would ever want me.”
“You’re young, my dear. So very young.” Swallowing, Phillip finally took the ch
ance and brushed his knuckles over her cheek. “I promise that there is ample time for you to meet an estimable young man who is deserving of you, and until that time comes, do not feel you have to settle.”
“And marrying Mr. Newell would have been settling because your heart is engaged elsewhere.” Annalise hugged their girl to her side. “Marriages of convenience have their place, but if you can marry for love, never settle.”
Not like she had. Annalise had not said the words, yet Phillip heard them just the same. He met his wife’s gaze, his heart thudding loudly in his ears. Would he ever feel deserving of her? He suspected that if she accompanied him to Wales, she’d simply be settling once again. Acquiescing to the man she thought saved her from ruin, even whilst his family robbed her of her inheritance. He would not let that happen. Annalise was finally in a position to dictate the course of her future, and he was not going to stand in her way.
Even if it hurt like hell when she chose a future without him.
Chapter Eight
“Mr. Newell and his mother have come to collect Miss Dalton for a ride, ma’am.”
Annalise jerked her head up from the letters she had been writing to various wedding vendors, canceling their orders, and blinked for a long moment at the manservant, Brandon. When the full meaning of the man’s words came to her, she looked to Phillip, who sat in the armchair nearby reading the newspaper. His expression darkened for only a moment, then he folded the paper and laid it on the table next to him.
“Please tell the Newells we’ll join them in the parlor instead. Thank you, Brandon.”
Rising to his feet with easy grace, he plucked the pen from her hand and tossed it onto the table. Extending a hand, he flashed a quick smile. “Let us collect Beth and end this engagement once and for all.”
Swallowing, Annalise nodded. “They’re not going to take the news well.”
Folding her arm over his, he dipped his head to whisper in her ear. “I honestly don’t give a damn.”
The feel of his breath coasting over her sensitive skin sent a thread of desire skipping down her spine. Just that morning, he had done wicked things to her with his sinful mouth, and her body yearned to experience those things again. Her mind flashed through all the possibilities until Phillip’s dark chuckle brought her up short.
“Now is not the time for such thoughts, Mrs. Dalton. We have important business to see to.” Leaning down, he nipped at her earlobe. “But perhaps after we have rid ourselves of our guests, we can take a lovely afternoon nap together. I find the thought very bracing.”
Annalise chuckled as she looked into his dear face. His expression remained stoic, but laughter lit his eyes. “Very bracing, indeed.”
Their good moods were tempered when they knocked on Beth’s chamber door. She was subdued when she learned of her visitors, and Annalise tried to give her encouraging platitudes as they walked to the sitting room. With her mother’s presence by her side, and Phillip’s protective stance behind her, Beth seemed to relax. When they arrived outside the sitting room door, Beth braced her shoulders and lifted her chin, reminiscent of her old self, and sailed into the room.
“Mr. Newell, Mrs. Newell,” she said, sinking into a polite curtsy. “How good of you to visit today.”
Annalise settled onto the settee next to her daughter after greeting their guests, while Phillip opted to stand by the roaring fireplace, rolling the holly berries decorating the mantle between his long fingers. He looked every inch the officer he had been, his impossibly broad shoulders seeming strong enough to withstand any threat. She longed to stand next to him, desperate for his strength as they endured the confrontation ahead.
“A visit before our ride is just the thing. Mother and I were just commenting that with the wedding next week, there are still several details to settle.” Mr. Newell unbuttoned a portion of his coat before sinking into the chair opposite Beth. “Aside from finalizing the settlements, there is still the matter of the wedding trip and whether we plan to take it before or after Christmas. And who will we spend Christmas Day with? Naturally, my mother would prefer for us to spend the evening with her.”
Leaning forward to interrupt, Beth placed a hand on top of Annalise’s, suffocating any words that lay on her tongue.
“I don’t think that will be necessary.”
Mr. Newell and his mother both blinked in unison.
“What won’t be necessary, dear?” Mrs. Newell asked, recovering first.
“Any of it. Most especially the wedding.”
While Mr. Newell stuttered an incoherent response, Mrs. Newell fixed Beth with a gimlet-eyed stare. “I beg your pardon, Miss Dalton. Whatever do you mean?”
Beth discreetly inhaled, and Annalise squeezed her hand for added encouragement. “I’m afraid I’ve changed my mind. I no longer wish to marry Mr. Newell.”
Silence suffocated the room. Annalise fought the urge to fidget, wishing the blasted visit was over so she could eject the Newells from her home and retire with Phillip to her chamber.
She was eager to finally have Beth freed from this engagement that had morphed into so much more than they had anticipated.
“But why not?” Mr. Newell’s mouth gaped. “I don’t understand what is happening.”
Smiling kindly, Beth said, “I have realized over the last several days that we are not a good match. You are keen on having a political career, and I have never desired to be a political wife.”
“But Lady Jersey was to select a tutor for you,” Mrs. Newell interjected. “She is not the sort of lady you turn down.”
“The countess has been very kind, and I hope to become her friend,” Beth said, sliding her gaze to Phillip, as if seeking his permission to exaggerate the details of her supposed relationship with Lady Jersey. He offered a brief nod. “Lady Jersey may not be assisting me to become a political wife, but I know I can count on her goodwill any time I seek it.”
Mr. Newell shook his head rapidly back and forth, as if such actions would aid him in grasping the meaning of Beth’s words. “We’re to wed. Next week. You cannot possibly back out now.”
“Indeed, I can.” Beth’s voice was soothing, as if to take any sting out of her rejection. “We do not suit. I should have noticed as much long before now.”
“And why didn’t you?” Mrs. Newell demanded in a biting tone.
Her tone was excusable, Annalise decided, considering how Beth was throwing over her son.
Swallowing, Beth was quiet for a moment, weighing her words. “Mr. Newell was attentive and kind. His positive attributes blinded me to all the reasons a future between us would not be ideal.”
“The two of you seemed to suit just fine until Captain Dalton returned.” Mrs. Newell directed a glare down her nose at Phillip. “Convenient, that.”
Annalise opened her mouth to pummel the impertinent woman with a stinging verbal assault, but a quelling glance from Phillip stayed her tongue.
“What you call convenient, I deem fortuitous. As an officer in Her Majesty’s Navy, my father’s safe return was never a guaranteed thing.” Beth smiled widely at Phillip. “I count myself lucky that he is home to provide me support and counsel.”
Phillip’s jaw slackened, and his delighted surprise made Annalise press her lips together to withstand the emotions that coursed through her as she watched Beth beam at her father.
“I’m sure we are all relieved Captain Dalton returned to English shores healthy and hale,” Mrs. Newell began, “but his lengthy absence means he is not aware of how things are done here in Bristol.”
Annalise could no longer keep quiet. “I have lived in Bristol the entirety of my life. Pray tell, Mrs. Newell, how are things done here?”
Her tone was altogether harsh, yet she did not feel guilty about it. If Mrs. Newell was comfortable tossing about baseless assertions, she should have expected to be challenged on such nonsense.
Based on her pinched expression, it was obvious she hadn’t.
The older woman tugged on her glove
s, the better to showcase the fact they were made of the finest kid leather. “It is not well done for a proper young woman to toss over her a gentleman of good breeding. People will talk.”
“Then let them talk.” Phillip crossed his arms over his chest. “A young woman is perfectly within her rights to call off an engagement, if she so chooses. And unfortunately for Mr. Newell, Beth has decided she no longer wishes to marry him.”
“Was it something I did?” the younger man blurted out, jumping to his feet and prowling back and forth across the carpet. “Did I not show you attention and offer you compliments?”
Annalise did not believe Beth owed the man any explanation, but her daughter was much more gracious than she was.
“I just do not believe we suit, Mr. Newell.” She folded her hands in her lap, all unflappable grace. “Better to realize it now before we are forced to spend the rest of our lives unhappy in our marriage.”
“What does happiness have to do with marriage?” Mrs. Newell growled. “Silas has already made financial decisions assuming he would be in possession of your dowry. They are decisions that cannot be undone, you ungrateful chit.”
Clamping her mouth closed, a blush crept over the older woman’s cheeks. Annalise suspected she hadn’t meant to reveal such a bald detail.
Before she could respond, Phillip’s gaze bore into her. She bit her tongue grudgingly.
Pacing away from the fireplace, her husband sank into the armchair next to Beth’s seat, and looked at Mr. Newell with a placid expression. His mien was one of boredom, but Annalise knew better. Phillip’s reserve disguised a fiercely loyal man who loved their daughter and would not allow her to be mistreated by anyone.
“Tell me, Mr. Newell,” he began politely, “why do you want to marry Beth? Aside from her dowry, that is.”
Ignoring his mother’s indignant gasp, Annalise watched Mr. Newell as his eyes darted about the room. Smoothing his hands over his lapels, he cleared his throat. “She’s a pretty, lively girl who would make an excellent political wife—with the proper mentoring, of course.”
The Captain's Midwinter Bride (Holiday Novella) Page 9