Page 61 of Romancing the Artist

Though his mind filled with disappointment—another day without seeing Caroline—Edward couldn’t let his father know of that. Instead, he forced himself to chuckle as he cinched the belt of his robe and turned around. He hadn’t let his father harangue him like this in some time. He’d avoided all conversations that had even the chance of gaining such a heated response for months. This one he couldn’t avoid. Not if he wanted his plan to work.

And not if his father was going to turn up in his bedroom before Edward had even dressed for the day.

“Initials are a common way to sign a letter, Father. It doesn’t allude to anything clandestine. And everyone knows I have been at Inglewood, posing for that painting of hers. It isn’t a secret.” He gave his father an amused smile. “Given that Miss Clapham is a gentleman’s daughter, and the guest of a peer, I cannot imagine what people have to say about her or that note that would distress you this much. You have met her, Father. Several times. Grace adores her.”

His father opened and closed his mouth, then huffed and went to the window, glaring out of it. “She doesn’t distress me. Nor does this.” He dropped the card onto Edward’s bed before glowering at his son again. “It is that you are in her presence an exorbitant amount of time that distresses me. More than a month, Edward. You have called on her nearly every day for a month. Driven her about in a gig, directly through town. Everyone saw you. And this morning I learn you dined with her.”

“At the house of the vicar, where we were both guests.” Edward repeated the facts with a barely restrained grin. He folded his arms and leaned against the hearth. “Who told you of that, anyway? I didn’t know she would be a guest until I arrived.”

“You didn’t?” His father whirled toward him, startled.

“I have never lied to you, Father.” Though he had been keeping a great deal from his parents of late. Mariah’s secret, his own desire to travel again, his agreement with Caroline…. “I was pleased to see her there.”

The older man’s chest puffed up again. “Now see here, Edward. You cannot lose your senses over some…some artist. Gentleman’s daughter or not. She is likely a penniless woman destined for employment as a governess. I doubt a disinherited lord, who isn’t even her father, has provided a dowry for her. She isn’t the sort of woman you need as a wife.”

“Wife?” Edward repeated the last word with incredulity, even though his heart skipped a beat to hear it spoken aloud. “Father. I haven’t even begun courting her yet.”

“Be that as it may—” Mr. Everly interrupted himself with a sharp turn of his head. “Yet? You haven’t begun yet? Does that mean you intend to court her?”

Edward waited less than a second to reply. “Yes. I do.”

“I thought you didn’t wish to court anyone?”

Here came the tricky part of the conversation. Edward couldn’t say more than he felt. More than he and Caroline had agreed upon. “I didn’t wish to court Mariah Kimball. And she was the only option presented.”

His father walked slowly through the room, past Edward, and to a chair before the still-cold hearth. He settled himself into the cushions slowly. Heavily. He fixed his gaze on Edward. “You still refuse to wed Miss Kimball? Even though she is the most sensible choice?”

Edward gave a single nod in response.

“What of her feelings on this matter?”

Again, Edward reminded himself to tread carefully. One misspoken word would reveal too much of a secret not his own. “I have known Mariah Kimball since her infancy. We have been friends for nearly as long. I have no reason to believe she expected a courtship or offer of marriage from me. Despite what you and my mother have hoped for.”

For a long, sullen moment, his father merely stared at him. Saying nothing. Waiting, perhaps, for Edward to play more of his own hand or show some hint of what was in his thoughts. But Edward remained silent, his lips pressed together.

He was a terrible card player, after all.

At last, his father’s shoulders fell. “You will ask Miss Clapham for a courtship?”

Edward’s chin came up. “I already have.” A pretend courtship. But in the days since the picnic, since herding children about on the shoreline and watching the way Caroline’s smile lit the whole world around her, things had turned quite real for him. Even before the kiss, he’d begun considering what it would mean to do away with the pretense of their arrangement. To tell her he wanted to make things real between them.

Her initial return of their kiss had made him think he had a chance. Even if Caroline hadn’t spoken of it again.

“What did she say?” Mr. Everly asked, the twitch in his eye punctuating his question.

“She agreed to it.” Edward’s chest tightened. “I intend to ask Lord and Lady Inglewood for their permission, and I will seek out Caroline’s parents for theirs if things go well.” The moment he knew if Caroline could return his feelings, if she had interest in pursuing something more, he would go directly to her parents. In person. Without delay.

The word wait still echoed in his mind.

He had to be careful. For all that everyone made light of his propensity to leap into action or trouble without a plan, sometimes he knew better. This was one of those times. Kissing her as he had…it had almost ruined everything.

“An artist, Edward,” his father said, plaintively. “They are eccentric. Unreliable. What sort of wife would she be? What sort of mother?”

“Those aren’t things you need to worry over, Father.” Edward didn’t hide his smile, though his insides twisted with anxiety. He’d been raised to please his parents. To bend to their will and honor their decisions for him. To go against that training made him itch with discomfort. “Lady Inglewood is an artist, and the earl seems quite content with his life.”

Slowly, Mr. Everly rose from the chair. “You will exercise caution, Edward. Please. None of this jumping off a cliff without checking for rocks below.”

At this, Edward managed to laugh. “Those reckless days are behind me.” Even if he had worried over the same thing moments before. “I’m proceeding with utmost caution this time. I don’t want to make any hasty decisions and risk spoiling what could be a promising future.”