carriages for a certain young lady.”
“Why is the Duke of Harrington throwing you a ball?”
“He served under me for two years. It isn’t as though I don’t know him.”
“And you have met with him recently?”
Father finally turned completely around. “Yes.” His face was bland as if the news shouldn’t have affected Anthony at all.
What had the two of them talked about? There was no chance Anthony’s name hadn’t come up. “Did he ask about me?”
“He asked much about you.”
The foyer was quiet for a moment. Did Anthony want to know what was coming next? He stepped closer to his father. “And what did you say?”
Father stepped forward and put one hand on his shoulder. His hand was heavy and warm, the weight of it there unfamiliar. “I told him the truth. That there is no better man in England than my son. Even if he didn’t recognize a lady when she was right under his nose.”
With a squeeze, Father dropped his hand from Anthony’s shoulder, turned, and left.
Anthony’s foot fell backward a step, and he fought the urge to sink to the ground. The house was silent enough for him to hear the clock ticking in his study even though the door was closed. He took in its steady beat.
Anthony hadn’t joined the army, nor had he managed to marry a woman with a title that could elevate the Woodsworth name. He hadn’t truthfully cared about those things for a long time. But his father still did, didn’t he?
He was no longer certain.
In his hands he still held the invitation and the sealed correspondence that had come with it. He took them both to his study, laid the invitation down on his desk, and then turned the note over in his hands.
What if, after this note, he was forbidden to write the duke any longer? Making those plans was the one bright moment of his day. Each one gave him a spark of hope. If he had to live without that, how would he survive?
He sat in his chair, remembering—as he did every time he sat there—how Patience had read over his proposal while sitting in this same spot.
He took a deep breath and broke open the seal.
It was short.
Very short.
Mr. Woodsworth,
I have read over your multitude of detailed proposals. If you are interested in courting my sister, the proper channel would be to wait until you are introduced (I believe the posted invitation should be a good opportunity for that) and then ask permission to come to call. No need to send further correspondence.
H.
The clock on his mantle ticked away the seconds as he scanned the note a second time.
Perhaps he shouldn’t have sent the duke quite so many letters.
He shook his head. It didn’t matter what the duke thought of him. Well, perhaps it did, but the most important piece of information from the letter was this: he was finally going to see Patience again. He had followed the papers and had not seen her name listed in connection with any gentleman, but in the time she had been gone, she very well could have formed an attachment to someone else. She had liked him, but she hadn’t really known anyone else but Anthony. Now that the world was at her feet, would she even want to remember the man who had dressed her up, ruined her soft hands, and made her take care of Sophia’s children?
He was finally going to be able to find out.
Chapter 21
Patience held the card in her hand. Was she reading it correctly? Sixteen similar cards stood in a pile on the table in the foyer, waiting to be opened. She assumed they would say the same thing. She grabbed the lot of them and ran to Nicholas’s study.
She threw open the door, nearly out of breath. “What are these?”
Nicholas looked up from whatever paper he had been looking over. “From here it looks as if they are cards.”
“Lady Shirley has accepted our invitation to the ball in honor of General Woodsworth in two weeks’ time.”
“Oh, that is good news. I rather enjoy Lady Shirley’s company, even if all she ever speaks of is her cat.”
“Nicholas, you know full well that is not what I am talking about. Since when are we hosting a ball honoring General Woodsworth?”
“The truth is I’ve wanted to host a ball in his honor ever since becoming the Duke of Harrington. But we have been in mourning.”
“Mr. Anthony Woodsworth will be attending this ball.”
“I should hope so.”
“Nicholas,