Almost A Spinster (8 page)

Felicity smiled. “I would tell him he was a hopeless romantic and that I was not prepared to give
anyone
everything.”

Jane shifted. “But what if you
were
prepared?”

Her friend’s eyes suddenly focused on her face with sharp recognition. “
Wesley
told you he wanted everything?”

She swallowed hard. She had to tell someone the truth. She needed to hear some good advice and she trusted Felicity.

“Yes.” Her voice was little more than a whisper. “At his grandmother’s home yesterday morning. He told me if he cannot have everything, he wants nothing at all. I’m to give him an answer by midnight tonight.”

She sighed. She hadn’t even seen him this evening. If he intended to come to Madeline and David’s engagement party, he was more than fashionably late. Had he changed his mind?

No, Wesley couldn’t be so cruel. She knew that, if nothing else. He would be here. And he would find her.

Felicity rocked back on her heels, shock reflected in every expression. “We wondered what you said to each other.”

“
We
?” Jane repeated, eyes narrowing. “Who?”

Her friend waved her hand in the air dismissively. “It doesn’t matter. My goodness, Jane, whatever did you say?”

“I-I didn’t know what to say! Wesley and I have been friends, we’ve perpetrated a trick on the
ton
together for our mutual benefit, he-he’s even kissed me, but I never thought, never dared to believe, that he could feel anything for me other than friendly affection. Sometimes I thought I saw something more, but I never trusted it.”

“What of your own heart?” Felicity asked. “Do you feel something more for
him
than mere friendly affection?”

Jane hesitated. That was the question, wasn’t it? The one that had haunted her for a long time, the one she’d been able to ignore until she struck her bargain with Wesley. The one she’d been too cowardly to answer, even for her own benefit.

Her hands shook as she moved away from Felicity. She leaned on the terrace railing and looked out over the dark park in the distance.

“I do care for him. More than a friend.” She sucked in a wavering breath. “I believe I may be in love with him.”

In the next moment, Felicity’s arms were around her and she was squeezing Jane until she could scarce draw breath.

“I’m so happy for you!” her friend whispered as she released her. “Oh, you’ll be very good together. Wait…” Felicity tilted her head. “You don’t look pleased. What’s wrong?”

Jane sighed. “Just a short time ago, I was making plans to be another man’s wife. There were times I thought myself in love with David, even. At least… I liked him a great deal. What if I am simply a fickle debutante? And what of Wesley? His reputation does not show him to be the kind of man who would truly settle down with one woman alone. What if I’m simply a challenge to him and once he has won me, he bores of me.”

Felicity leaned back and her mouth twisted. “Pardon me for speaking plainly, but you are being a complete ninny.”

“What?” Jane sputtered.

“Honestly!” Her friend threw up her hands. “Did you really
love
David? Or did you just convince yourself that he would have you despite your lack of fortune? I’m sure you cared for him, but did you ever get a thrill when you looked at him? Did you ever lay awake at night thinking about him? Did you ever kiss him?”

Jane folded her arms as blood warmed her cheeks. “No,” she admitted softly.

“And do you feel that thrill, that ache for Wesley?”

She thought of all the sleepless nights she had spent lately. The anticipation that filled her when she knew he would be at a party or ball. She had felt that way for a long time… even before they struck their bargain.

Jane thought of all the times she
had
turned to Wesley. When she needed help after David’s engagement, she hadn’t once thought to turn to her family or even Felicity. It had been Wes that she had sought out. Trusted.

“Yes.”

“Then it sounds like what you feel is based on something real.” Felicity smiled. “A foundation of friendship and respect is far better than what many society marriages build upon.”

“But what about him?” Jane asked. “What about his temperament? His reputation?”

“Bah!” Felicity shook her head. “Anyone who isn’t blind can see he’s only had eyes for you for a long time. I somehow doubt he was running around town asking any woman he flirted with for ‘everything’. Jane, you know him. Better than I. Better than David. Better than anyone, I would wager. Do you truly think he would ask you for something so serious without genuine intentions?”

Wesley’s image, so clear that it was almost like he was really there, came into her mind. His smile. The comfort of his touch as he guided her through a crowd. The sound of his laughter. No matter what, he would never hurt her. Unlike David, he actually had some consideration for the feelings of others. For her.

And he always had.

“He would not hurt me. He would rather hurt himself, I think,” she whispered, tears beginning to gather and tingle in her eyes.

“Then I don’t see what kind of advice you need, Jane.” Felicity shrugged. “You know what you want. You know what you need. It is nearly eleven o’clock. Why don’t you find Wesley? I’m sure he’s here by now.”

Jane met her best friend’s stare as hope and excitement unlike any she’d experienced before blossomed inside of her. Felicity was right. There wasn’t a choice to make. There was only a wonderful life to accept. A life with Wesley.

“Do you think he is?” she asked, turning to look inside. She searched the buzzing crowd, but didn’t find him in her first sweep of the room.

“Yes. Go! Go!” Felicity laughed as she gave her a push toward the doors. “And tomorrow I expect you to come to my house and tell me all about your engagement.”

Jane’s heart leapt as she waved to her friend and made her way into the ballroom. She weaved through the crowd, moving past friends and acquaintances. People said her name, but if it wasn’t Wesley’s voice, she didn’t hear it. This was not the time to be waylaid. Not the time to be distracted by petty-

“Jane!”

As she rounded her way toward the opposite side of the stuffy room, she was brought to a sharp halt as David stepped in her path. His face, still handsome, though somehow softer now that she compared it to Welsey’s, lit up.

“I have been searching for you all evening.”

She forced a smile. This was the last interruption she needed. Although Wes had encouraged her to speak to David, she didn’t want to. Now she knew what she desired. She could let David go without ever saying a word to him.

David shrugged. “He’s been lurking about in the billiard room all night. Said he was waiting for something. A moment or some such rot.”

She dipped her head as a blush crept to her face. Wesley was waiting for
her
. The feelings she had been denying swelled in her chest.

Without waiting for her answer, he pressed her hand into his elbow and guided her across the room and down the hallway to the library.

Her thoughts of Wesley faded for the moment as Jane looked at David. He truly did look troubled and her heart melted a tiny fraction. As Lady Stanton had said, he wasn’t a bad man, he just wasn’t aware of the consequences of his actions. If they didn’t cause
him
pain, he could not fathom how someone else could be hurt by them.

She smiled. “Thank you, David. I appreciate that more than you’ll probably ever realize. But I’ve come to understand that whatever… hopes I had for a future that included you were perhaps best left unrealized. I wish you happiness with Madeline.”

David let out his breath in a sound of relief. “I’m glad of that, Jane. That you appreciate a marriage between us could not have occurred.”

She wrinkled her brow. That wasn’t exactly what she’d said, but there was no use arguing. Now that he’d said his piece, she could go. Just a few steps down the hallway and she would be with Wesley.

But instead of saying his farewells, David pushed away from the table and took a step toward her. “But that does not mean that I didn’t care for you. That I don’t still care for you.”

She tilted her head. He was moving forward, tiny step by step. “We shall always be friends, I’m sure.”

“I hoped for more than that, Jane.” He cleared his throat. “You see, once I am married, I’ll have the means to maintain a mistress.”

He took another step but Jane held up her hands and he stopped. “Listen here. I would
never
be your mistress, David! I would never have considered that under any circumstance. And I cannot believe you would approach me with such a notion, especially at the ball celebrating your own engagement!”

The expression on his face was more confused than angry. “Jane, your family position is precarious. Certainly, you must know how difficult it will be for you to marry well. If you took my offer, you would have money, pretty clothes-”

“Stop!” Jane stomped her foot and David shut his mouth. “I will not hear another word. I do
not
accept your vulgar offer.”

She spun around to leave and found herself face to face with Madeline’s father. The Duke’s expression left very little of his anger to the imagination. He did not look at her, but past her to David. She glanced over her shoulder. David was standing in the middle of the room, his face ashen as he realized his future father-in-law had heard enough of his offer to Jane to ruin his plans. To ruin everything.

She nodded once, then ran from the room. She shut the door behind her, leaving David to whatever fate awaited him and then hurried down the hallway toward the lady’s retiring room. She needed Wesley, now more than ever. But when she went to him, it wouldn’t be because of David. Not ever again. When she went to him, it would be to reveal her heart. And once she calmed down, she was ready to do just that.

#

Wesley glanced at the little clock that was on the mantelpiece in the billiard room. Eleven-thirty. Almost time. His heart rate doubled at the thought.

“Are you going to take your shot, Stanton?”

He looked at Lord Greyson. The young Earl was staring at him, head cocked and brow wrinkled.

“Sorry, yes.” Wes lined up his shot carefully. The game was just beginning. Greyson had only just come in from the party for a short match.

“Very nice,” Greyson said as one of the billiard balls rolled into the pocket. “Too bad the party will be cut short tonight. I’d forgotten what a worthy opponent you are, Stanton.”

Wesley straightened up. “Why would the party end early?”

“Well, with the engagement being called off…” Greyson stopped at Wesley’s blank expression. “Oh, yes. You’ve been in here all evening. It just happened a few moments ago. David took off in his carriage like the hounds of hell were at his heels. Poor Maddie ran up to her room crying and the Duke looked ready to kill.”

Wesley’s grip tightened on his cue stick, even as he tried to keep reaction from his face. “The engagement is off? Any idea why?”

The other man shrugged as he stooped to take his shot. “No one can say for sure. But I did hear a rumor that Lady Jane Davenport was seen going into the library with David a while before. Some say he’s renewing his addresses to her, but you know how women talk.” He let out a curse when he missed his shot and straightened up. “Pretty thing, that. A shame about her family connections.”

The room began to swim as Wesley’s vision clouded. He set his cue stick aside and gripped the table with both hands. Jane had seen David alone… just as he had told her to do the day before. And now David was no longer marrying Madeline Reynolds.