There was no mistaking the malice in her words. Benjamin knew that Lady Kent loathed a scandal more than anyone he knew. He had to imagine that she was more than a little upset at the Earl’s behavior tonight. Benjamin hated that he had played any part in it, even if he was only trying to help Felicity.
He stood back as three finely dressed manservants walked the Earl out of the ballroom and down the hall. When he spun back around, he jumped a bit, finding Lady Kent right by his side.
“My Lady, you startled me,” he said, putting a hand to his chest.
“She will be waiting for you. Follow me.”
CHAPTER17
Lord Stephen Kent and Lady Edith Kent request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter, Felicity Kent, to His Grace, Benjamin Chapman, Duke of Ferndown, Sunday, the first of September current, 10 in the morning at St. Helena Cathedral. Reception at Windham Hall.
* * *
A rush of skirts whispered across the floor as Felicity was led down the hall and into her mother’s sitting room. Delilah and Hope talked rapidly, asking hundreds of questions, but Felicity had no words. The full weight of the night’s events settled in as she sank into the settee.
“Felicity? Darling? Felicity?”
Hope’s soothing voice sounded like it was miles away. Felicity couldn’t seem to bring herself to answer the call. She was too lost in a daze as she rubbed her still sore arm, thinking about everything that had happened.
She started the evening miserably numb and engaged to Lord Roberts. Then Benjamin appeared, like something out of a dream, declaring that he not only loved her but also had the affluence and nobility to persuade her parents to end her engagement to Lord Roberts. And then he disappeared with her father, only to appear again at exactly the wrong moment, sparking madness in the Earl. She had met his mother and decided very quickly that she would grow to love the woman. And then her own mother apologized, admitting her mistakes. That would have been the most shocking thing that occurred tonight had Lord Roberts not caused such a scandal with his shouting and dragging her around. For a moment, she had truly been afraid that he would hurt her. Yet another reason to hope her father would dissolve her engagement to the Earl.
She had just begun to wrap her mind around it all when three sharp knocks sounded at the door. The door was nudged open, and her mother peered around the corner, finding Felicity.
“My dear,” she said from her perch, “I have someone here who would like to speak with you. Are you up for receiving visitors?”
Felicity, her patience wearing thin, wanted to tell her mother that she was not actually feeling faint or ill or whatever excuse had been given for her absence. But curiosity won; she wanted to know who her mother was talking about, sure that her mother would never allow Benjamin into the private salon. Yet, when Felicity nodded her consent, and the door pushed open wider, he was the exact person standing there.
“Benjamin,” she whispered his name, letting all the relief and adoration she felt for him soak into the word.
“That is the first thing she had said since we left the ballroom. We should have fetched you sooner,” her sister teased.
Neither Felicity nor Benjamin minded the joke. They were too focused on watching each other to notice much else.
“Delilah, Hope, might I interest you in my latest embroidery project?”
It was an obvious distraction, so Felicity could talk to Benjamin in the little privacy they could be afforded without raising eyebrows, but Felicity was grateful, nonetheless. In a flurry of activity, Hope and Delilah went to her mother’s sewing table across the room while Benjamin made his way towards her. He sat gingerly on the settee beside her, pulling one of her hands out of her lap and up to his lips for a soft kiss. For a moment, they said nothing, waiting until the others were engaged fully in their conversation before speaking.
“Did he hurt you?”
His question came out gruff as if the idea of her being injured by Lord Roberts caused him anguish. The way he searched her face and arms for signs of pain made her think that perhaps it did.
“My arm is a little sore, but it is nothing. I am fine,” she reassured him.
“I am grateful your mother stepped in when she did. I am so very sorry, Felicity,” he said, his words thick with emotion, “that I could not get to you fast enough, that I could not stop him from hurting you.”
“It is not your fault,” she soothed, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand. “You did not know Lord Roberts would behave the way he did. None of us did. You have nothing to apologize for.”
“As your future husband, I should protect you. I should —”
“Husband?” she whispered, cutting him off with the awe in her voice.
A slow smile spread across his face, tension leaving his shoulders as he took in the excited expression she now wore.
“Did I not say?” he teased. “Your father agreed to call off your engagement to Lord Roberts.”
Felicity almost fell into Benjamin’s lap as she slumped in relief. At the last moment, she pulled herself back and leaned partly on the back of the furniture and partly on Benjamin’s arm.
“He also said,” Benjamin said while softly clutching her chin, turning her face to look at his once more, “that he will give us his blessing if you agree to marry me.”