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“That’s a poor way to win an argument,” Gabriel muttered after him.

Richard didn’t hear.

Gabriel’s eyes darted around the room, looking for Eleanor again, and he found some relief when he found her talking with Charlotte.

And then he felt a flash of anger when he spotted Sebastian looking directly at her, perhaps plotting how he might win her hand.

No, it won’t be he who wins her hand, but Eleanor who finally gives her hand to him.

For the first time in his life, Gabriel felt genuine panic.

CHAPTER 20

Margaret giggled as she walked down the staircase with Eleanor. They had just been introduced, and all eyes were on them.

When her mother giggled again, throwing her head back a little, Eleanor wanted to roll her eyes, but a part of her enjoyed her mother’s happiness. Eleanor feared becoming what her mother had become in marriage. She would love to share the joy her mother was experiencing.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the focus shifted away from them, and they became part of the crowd as the next guests were announced.

“Why does it feel so hard, mother?” Eleanor asked.

“What feels hard, my dear?”

They moved away from the stairs, and Margaret took her daughter’s arm to steer her toward a maid with a tray of champagne.

“Everything feels hard,” Eleanor admitted. “I’m supposed to be having fun and eating and dancing and everything else that goes along with it, but all I can think about is how I’m supposed to choose the right man to spend the rest of my life with. Did you know that Father was the right one?”

Margaret took two glasses of champagne from the tray and handed one to her daughter before guiding them to the far end of the room where there were fewer people. She took a sip of the drink before talking.

“I wish that I had some wisdom for you, my dear, but I don’t,” Margaret said.

Eleanor wished she hadn’t asked the question. For the first time since the Season started, her mother had stopped smiling. Eleanor didn’t want to drag her down.

“The truth is that we can never know what the future holds,” Margaret said. “Your father wasn’t the love of my life, not that I had one.” Margaret winked. “Not yet, anyway. Still, he wasn’t a bad choice by any means. He was a choice that I made, and I don’t regret it. Don’t think for one second that I regret it. It has made me who I am, and I wouldn’t change that for the world. I know I embarrass you at times, but⁠—”

“No, Mother,” Eleanor soothed. “You don’t…Sometimes I get uncomfortable, but we could all do with being a little more like you.”

“Aw, my dear.” Margaret smiled broadly. “That’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.”

“It’s true, Mother.”

“I had no idea what I was doing when I entered society, Eleanor. My mother wasn’t around, and I was chaperoned by my late aunt, who had some very conservative ideas about what a woman should be. I’m talking conservative for back then, not for now. I know I have been absent for⁠—”

“No,” Eleanor started.

Her mother raised a hand to stop her daughter.

“It’s true, and I own that,” Margaret said. “However, I trust that Nathaniel knows what’s best for you, and you have good people around you in His Grace and Charlotte. I don’t know how to guide you through this. Still, I know you are far more educated and mature than I was at your age. I trust you to make the best decision.”

Eleanor took a breath. She sipped her champagne, looking around at the other guests dressed up for the masquerade ball and feeling out of place. It felt odd to be having such a serious conversation while wearing such a fun costume.

She was dressed as the fairy queen Titania, with a long, pastel green dress, her hair in ringlets with ribbons tied throughout, and a dark green mask covering the upper half of her face. Her mother wore a Spanish noblewoman’s outfit.

“I don’t know if I can be trusted to make the right decision,” Eleanor complained. “I really don’t know.”

Margaret was silent for some time, studying Eleanor from behind her silver mask. There was a softness in her eyes, as if she was taking on her daughter’s pain.

“Would you have risked it all, Mother?” Eleanor asked, surprising herself. “Would you have rejected Father’s proposal for the chance to risk it all with a man who might hurt you far more?”