“Anthony, you have one of the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen. It transforms your face.”
“Pardon?”
“You must know. Your face—it is like it was born to be serious. So a smile on it . . . I don’t know. It changes your features into something beautiful.”
“Like a duck.”
Sophia burst out laughing, and Harry and Augusta stopped in the middle of their bows. Their hands, which had been linked, dropped to their sides as they stared at their mother. Sophia didn’t stop. Her hand went to Anthony’s shoulder. “That is what they meant.” She patted him softly. “All week they have been asking me about ways to make you smile because Miss Patience had told them you smile like a duck. I’ve been worried about having them near you for fear they would hurt your feelings.” She wiped a tear from the side of her eye. He hadn’t seen Sophia laugh for a long time. Perhaps not since their brother Howard had died. “Here I was trying to protect your feelings when, actually, they were being quite sweet.” Sophia walked over to her children and wrapped them in her arms. “It was a good play. I loved it.”
Augusta put both her hands on Sophia’s face and patted her cheeks. “You smile like a duck too, Mama.”
“Thank you, Augusta. That means the world to me.”
Patience was tiptoeing toward the door, her head down and her shoulders up. Anthony jumped up and crossed to that side of the room. He carefully placed a hand at her elbow, not wanting to startle her.
“You were the one who first said I smiled like a duck, weren’t you?”
She didn’t answer. Nor did she look up at him, but she didn’t pull away either.
“Do you think my smile makes me beautiful?”
The graceful curve of her neck didn’t turn. She had only been here a few days when she had said that about him. He shouldn’t be so happy about a woman saying he was beautiful. It was a strange thing to say and a strange way to say it. Without looking up, she turned her body towards him. “I have told you that you should smile more often.”
He took her chin in his hands and pulled her face upwards. He was smiling now, and he wanted her to see it. “Because it makes me beautiful?” he asked just before their eyes met.
“Because it means you are happy.” Her eyes were stormy, more grey than green, and wet with unshed tears.
He dropped his hand from her face. Where was her smile? This was all a game, wasn’t it? He couldn’t see past the wetness on her lashes without wanting to wipe it away.
“And happy people are beautiful. Or I suppose, in your case, handsome. Now may I leave?” She looked pointedly down at his arm. He had forgotten it was there. He pulled his hand away.
He didn’t want her to go. He had so many questions. No one save his mother had ever called him handsome. But he wouldn’t keep her here against her will. He had touched her again. This time on her chin, and so soon after she had asked him not to. He was a dolt. “Of course you may leave.”
She nodded, the slightest tinge of pink garnishing her neck. She was embarrassed. She shouldn’t be. Now that the children had cleared up what she had meant, he was quite pleased with himself. It wasn’t every man’s smile that put a tinge of pink at a lovely young lady’s neck. “But thank you. That is one of the nicest compliments I have ever received.”
Rather than answer him, Patience ducked around him and surged through the doorway and out of the nursery. It was just as well. He had embarrassed her enough for one afternoon. He rubbed the sides of his mouth.
He smiled like a duck.
If that were the case, he supposed he would have to smile more often.
Chapter 14
Anthony checked his pocket watch for the fourth time. It was 2:30. He was precisely on time, but if he didn’t march across the street and up the steps to the Morgans’ door, he would be late. Miss Morgan had assured him in a note that her parents would be out of the house, and they would have a chance to speak alone.
What he wouldn’t have given a month ago for an opportunity like this. And yet, as he stood now, he couldn’t make his feet move. His watch was still in his hand, open and ticking. The second the minute hand reached 2:31, his feet moved forward of their own accord. He was late, and he was never late.
He knocked on the door, and a maid opened it. Despite his two-year courtship of Miss Morgan, he had only been to their home a handful of times. He had never seen this maid before. The butler had always been the one to answer. She smiled and ushered him into the home without taking his card.
“Miss Morgan is waiting for you in the drawing room, Mr. Woodsworth. I will show you there.”
She must be Miss Morgan’s informant. The one who knew the location of Miss Paynter at all times.
Miss Morgan was sitting in the drawing room alone, a fire crackling in the ornate Rococo-style fireplace directly in front of him. The Morgans’ drawing room was decorated with the express purpose of allowing visitors to converse. Chairs were placed opposite each other and the long settee. Miss Morgan stood from the settee as he entered. She nodded to the maid behind him, and the door clicked shut.
Anthony was alone with Miss Morgan. If word of their meeting in such a way met with society’s ears, they would need to marry swiftly.
“Would you like me to open the door?” He stepped toward it. After two years of courtship, he didn’t want to force Miss Morgan’s hand.
“No.” She shook her head. Her perfectly styled hair didn’t stir with the movement. Her hair was parted down the middle and pulled back, completely smooth and flawless, unlike a certain maid’s who had called him beautiful just two days ago. “Bertha is the only servant in the house, so we shouldn’t run into any problems. I need to speak to you about something.”
Anthony took a deep, calming breath. The moment he thought she had come into his drawing room alone weeks ago flashed into his mind. She hadn’t come to visit him but had invited him instead to her home. Why had she invited him here? Had their plan actually worked? Was it time to propose? He coughed into his hand. He didn’t feel the same excitement and triumph he had felt when he’d thought it was her behind the curtain.
“I wanted to speak to you in private. As you are aware, I went to a card party three days ago. You weren’t there.”
“I didn’t see the need for us to always attend the same events when our purpose is to look as if we are naturally growing apart.” And he hadn’t thought Patience should attend another function so soon. Not when he knew Lord Bryant would be there. She had told him she was fine to walk alone with him while they were in Green Park, but it had been obvious that she was nervous about it. He didn’t want to put her in another situation where she felt she had to comply with a man’s wishes just because of his station in life. Especially if that man was Lord Bryant.