The Bareknuckle Groom - Holly Bush Page 0,6

a deep breath and calmed herself as much as she was able, although she was nowhere near tears. “Family honor?”

Father began to bellow, but Aunt shushed him. “One of your dance partners made comments about your dance together. I watched you the entire time, and there was nothing, well, nothing that should invoke this level of hysteria.”

“Hysteria, Louisa? Hysteria? She is a Vermeal! Meant to partner in marriage with someone of status. There’s no royalty in America, more’s the pity, but there is a ruling class nonetheless. She is meant to carry the family name to a marriage with one of the sons of that class and raise children worthy of this family.”

“You’re making far too much of this, Henri,” Aunt said and dabbed her mouth with the linen serviette.

“Would someone please tell me what you believe I have done?” she asked.

Papa scorched her with a glare. “You danced with a man last night who is not worthy of your notice. A man Gauteau has told me is nothing more than a common street fighter, from a family with a secretive history, no doubt born of some shame. From Scotland, of all places!”

Her mind buzzed, noting that her father had called James Thompson the exact same thing she had called him, and that name had set him on edge. “I was introduced by Mr. Pendergast’s son. James Thompson is his wife’s brother.”

“Sad for that family, then, that they have aligned themselves with that sort. The Pendergasts, I understand, are a notable Philadelphia family. The son’s connection cheapens them.”

“Papa. We danced one dance.”

“And he held you very close, from what I’ve been told.”

“No more than any other young man I’ve partnered with,” she said. She would not share that she’d told him to loosen his hold on her. No use upsetting him more than he already was.

Papa slammed his fist down on the table, making the china jump. “But that is not all! He bandied your name about to other men there, bragging that he’d more than danced with you, implying something devious and not fit for a lady’s ears.”

“He what?”

“He spoke to some young people after your dance and said something to the effect of his winning your affections and that other men should stay away from you. He may have just been bragging, and he certainly looked like a man who was confident. It was also said that you enjoyed yourself very much while in his arms,” Aunt said.

“Must you be so crude, Louisa?”

“Crude? What was crude, Henri? My use of the word ‘arms’?”

“It is indelicate, especially in front of an unwed young woman to be speaking of . . . parts of one’s body.”

Louisa smiled at her brother. “I am to this day unwed. Having left behind a young man in Spain, to do my duty to my older brother and to my family. Not that I regret a moment of my time raising your daughter, but I assumed you would remarry shortly after Marie’s death and that I would be free to pursue my own life. And now, after these twenty years, you accuse me of crude behavior?” Aunt Louisa stood, picked up her teacup, and went to the door of the breakfast room. “You will miss me when I’m gone, Henri.”

The door closed softly as Lucinda looked at her father. “I just danced with him.”

“I brought you to this city to begin the extraordinary task of carrying on the next generation of Vermeals, even though your children will not carry our name. You will have incredible wealth when I am gone. And influence in European capitals. Your behavior must be beyond reproach. The choice of your partner, your husband, must be someone up to the task of international business and a wide range of philanthropic interests, meant to carry the name, Vermeal Industries, forward for generations. He must be well-bred and educated, nothing less than one of the British schools for college, although Harvard would do, I suppose.”

“You have planned this out? Will my inclinations be considered?”

“Young women have been doing their duty to their families since the beginning of time. This is not something new, Lucinda. If your personal inclinations coincide with the man best suited to be your husband, it would be for the better, although those inclinations cannot divert us from our ultimate goal. There is no reason to think that I won’t be here for many years to come, maintaining the family and fortune. Of course, I have written into my will