Read Online Don't Look Back by Amanda Quick - Free Book Online Page B

Priscilla and her mama will be here shortly. I promised that I would accompany them on a shopping expedition this morning."
    "Emeline, wait," Lavinia said quickly. "About this notion of a career—"
    "I will discuss it with you later." Emeline gave her a jaunty wave from the doorway. "I must hurry. Wouldn't want to keep Lady Wortham waiting."
    She disappeared down the hall before Lavinia could argue the matter.
    Silence descended on the breakfast room.
    Left with no other target, Lavinia turned back to Tobias. She pushed aside her plate and folded her arms on the table.
    "This business of Anthony wanting to follow in your footsteps has obviously put some extremely misguided notions into Emeline's head."
    Tobias set down his knife and fork and looked at her. The amusement was gone from his eyes, she noticed. It had been replaced by a far more serious expression, one that was not devoid of sympathy and understanding.
    "Believe it or not, Lavinia, I comprehend your concerns more deeply than you can imagine. I am no more eager for Anthony to pursue a career as an investigator than you are for Emeline to do so."
    "What are we to do to change their minds?"
    "I haven't the foggiest notion." Tobias swallowed some coffee. "And I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the matter is out of our hands, in any event. We can guide but we cannot control them."
    "This is dreadful. Just dreadful. She will ruin herself if she is not careful."
    "Come now, Lavinia. You overstate the case. This situation may not be to your liking, but there is no need to resort to theatrics. It is hardly a tragedy."
    "Perhaps not in your opinion, but it certainly is in mine. I had so hoped to see Emeline safely established in a home of her own with a husband who cared for her, one who could support her in a suitable fashion. No gentleman of the ton will even consider marrying a lady who works at this investigation business."
    Tobias watched her with enigmatic eyes. "Do you dream of such a fine marriage for yourself also, madam?"
    She was utterly floored by that wholly unexpected question. For a second or two, she could not think of what to say.
    "Of course not," she finally got out quite brusquely. "I have no interest whatsoever in marrying again."
    "Is it because you loved your first husband so deeply that you cannot bring yourself to even consider a second marriage?"
    An odd panic assailed her. This was a truly dangerous topic of discussion. She did not want to even start down this road, she thought, because it would inevitably lead to painful speculation on the depth of Tobias's love for the wife he had lost in childbirth. She doubted very much that she would ever be able to compete with Ann's beautiful, gentle ghost. Anthony had described his sister as an angel.
    Whatever else I am, Lavinia thought, including a so-called paragon of the sort of female who can live by her wits, I am no angel.
    "Really, sir," she said briskly, "it is not my opinions of marriage that we are discussing. This is about Emeline's future."
    "And Anthony's as well."
    She sighed. "I know. They have developed a tendre for each other, haven't they?"
    "Yes."
    "Emeline is so young."
    "So is Anthony."
    "I fear neither of them can possibly know their own heart at such a tender age."
    "You could not have been any older than Emeline when you married. Did you know your own heart?"
    She straightened in her chair. "Of course I did. I wouldn't have married John if I had been the least uncertain of my feelings on the matter."
    She had, indeed, been sure of herself, but looking back she knew that her feelings for John had been the sweet, pale sentiments of an innocent and very romantic young woman. If John had lived, no doubt their love would have matured into something stronger and deeper and more substantial. But as it was, her memories of her gentle husband were wispy, thin mementos that she kept tucked away in a pink-and-white keepsake box somewhere near her heart.
    Tobias's mouth curved in a wry