keep their fancy houses! Give me a newly built one any day!”
Prudence soaked in the warm bath, the fire roaring in the grate and let her herself relax for the first time in days. She would struggle to forget a pair of laughing green eyes, but sighing, she resigned herself to the fact that she had little choice.
After bathing and dressing, she entered the drawing room before sitting down to supper. Mr. Bamber greeted his daughter by handing her a glass of wine. “Was it really bad?”
Smiling Prudence took a sip of the rich, red liquid. “Perhaps we should have been honest about our situation. I have to take some responsibility that they were able to jump to their own conclusions because we were not truthful from the start.”
“I wanted them to see you as the lovely person you are, not as an amount of money. I wished for your viscount to fall in love with you before he found out you were an heiress.”
Prudence laughed. “There were no viscounts, Papa, and they would not have been interested in me if there had been. I get the distinct impression that they want their wives to be meek and mild. Except for the likes of Aunt Catherine. I am not sure she has ever been timid. She certainly tried to rule her household in exactly the way she considered best.”
“Sounds like a dragon. Thank goodness I did not marry her!”
“I don’t think there would have ever been any danger of that,” Prudence smiled.
“I wanted you to know your other family, as your mother would have wished. It was my greatest sadness that she died without reconciling with them. It was hard for her to be away from her social circle, but I shall be forever grateful that she was prepared to leave them for me,” Mr. Bamber said, his eyes a little misty.
“How did you know she was the one for you?” Prudence asked. She loved to hear about her parents’ romance, but she had other motives now.
“It is strange to say, but I think from almost the first time I met her, I knew there would be no other for me,” Mr. Bamber admitted. “She said she felt the pull just as much as I did.”
“Did you ever doubt your choice? You must have had a difficult time of it at the start.”
“It wasn’t easy, but we had each other, and that was all that was important. We could face the difficulties and censure because we were together.”
Prudence sighed. Her father was right, of course. A pair would always be stronger together. It is what should have happened between Colonel Fitzwilliam and herself, if there had been true feeling and understanding. Unfortunately for her bruised heart, any deep affection had been one-sided, and she was the one still suffering.
“Let’s have a party,” Mr. Bamber said, changing the subject.
“Why?”
“Because you have returned home. Why should I need an excuse? Plan a dinner and arrange some dancing.”
“As you wish, Papa,” Prudence said.
*
The evening of the party arrived three weeks after Prudence’s unexpected return home. She still awoke with a feeling of disquiet, and no matter what she did, she could not shake it off.
The house was fully prepared to receive its twenty guests for the evening. Mill owners very often socialised. Their working hours might be long, but they did not neglect opportunities for enjoying themselves either.
The long dining table had been set with additional leaves to extend it to its full length. The pristine white tablecloth could hardly be seen because of the range of cutlery, dishes, and glassware, glistening in the candlelight. The centre would be filled with every kind of delight from soups to venison, beef, mullet with cardinal sauce, turkey, lamb cutlets, marrow pate, and meringues a la crème, to name just a few of the twenty-five dishes to be served. Mr. Bamber enjoyed entertaining and always ensured his guests left his table feeling the need to dance some of the excesses away.
Prudence dressed with care, choosing a lemon-colored dress with the most delicate lace edging. The dress was embroidered with rich yellow and white flowers along the hem and the edges of the small puff sleeves. She wore pearls, feeling the delicate necklace was appropriate for the evening.
Busy with greeting guests and circulating in the drawing room where everyone gathered before being taken into the dining room, she could not help but wish that Fitzwilliam could be there. How he had become so important in such a