Selena was at a loss, but Kyle understood and laughed; Selena’s hair was loose and flowing, framing her face in a silver halo. “Clever lad,” he murmured while his arm came around Selena’s shoulders, drawing her close.
His intimate gesture startled Selena, at the same time filling her with delight and pleasure. She didn’t want to place too great a construction on his casual embrace, but it buoyed her spirits after her unsettling conversation with Danielle.
She was able, therefore, to project a measure of equanimity when she said goodbye to their visitors. Danielle might be the mother of Kyle’s son, but she was his wife. She was the one who shared his life and home. If only, Selena found herself wishing as they walked back to the house together, she could share his nights. Kyle had committed himself to protecting Heaven’s Gate and would be returning there shortly.
He was explaining that it would likely be another three weeks before Angel’s cousin arrived from Nashville, when they entered the hall behind his younger sisters. The girls had been chattering happily, but they fell silent abruptly upon realizing Montrose had another caller.
A handsome, blond young man was standing at the door to the parlor, hat in hand, looking as if he had been waiting for some time. He wore the white broadcloth suit of a planter, and the intense way he was looking at Lydia made Selena suspect this was the young man who had been seen kissing her in the summerhouse.
Her suspicion was confirmed when she saw Kyle’s lips tighten. “Parkington,” Kyle said with a curt nod of greeting.
The young man cleared his throat, his fingers curling nervously over the wide brim of his hat. “Mr. Ramsey, sir, might I speak with you?”
Kyle glanced at Lydia, seeing her pleading eyes. “Very well,” he replied tersely. “I’ll see you in my study.” He ushered Tanner Parkington into the room, closing the door behind him.
Although curious as to why the young man had requested an audience, Selena followed Zoe and Felicity upstairs to freshen up. Lydia loitered in the hall, anxiously watching the study door. She was still there when Selena came down again.
Just as Selena was about to suggest they wait in the parlor, however, the door opened and Tanner Parkington emerged. His shoulders were slumped in defeat and disappointment flickered in his eyes. He met Lydia’s gaze with a despairing shake of his head, then tipped his hat to Selena with a quiet “Good evening, ma’am,” and let himself out of the house.
Lydia, her cheeks pale, marched directly into the study to confront her brother. “You said no, didn’t you?” she demanded of Kyle. “Tanner offered for me and you refused!”
Selena followed in time to see Kyle eye his sister narrowly. “I refused my permission for him to pay his addresses, yes,” Kyle acknowledged. “In the first place, you’re too young to be considering marriage—”
“I’m not too young! I’m sixteen!”
“And in the second, he doesn’t have the means to support a wife.”
“What does that matter?”
Kyle raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Lydia, that kind of irresponsible question just proves my point. What do you propose to live on? For that matter, where do you propose to live? Tanner’s father is losing his plantation.”
“I don’t know,” she declared stubbornly. “We’ll live in a slave cottage if we must.”
“Romantic,” Kyle responded wryly, “but hardly practical. You’d regret it the first time you had to prepare a meal or had to wash your own linen. And heaven forbid when you discovered you couldn’t purchase a new gown that caught your fancy.”
“I tell you, I don’t care about those things!”
“Well, I care about you living in poverty.” When Lydia didn’t reply, Kyle’s voice softened. “I told Parkington I would reconsider if he finds
gainful employment. If he can prove he’s willing to work to provide you with a secure future, I’ll allow him to call on you in the presence of Bea or Selena. Until then, I don’t want you associating with him.”
“Call on me? Call on me?” Lydia wailed. “But, Kyle, I love Tanner! I want to marry him.”
“Lydia, my beautiful little goose,” he said patiently, “you don’t know the first thing about love.”
“I know more about it than you do!”
Kyle’s gaze flicked to Selena, then back again. “That may be true. Very well,” he offered, “I’ll make a pact with you. In a year or two, if you’re still of the same mind and Tanner has a reasonably steady income, you may marry him with my blessing.”
Lydia’s bottom lip trembled. “How can you be so cruel? You don’t care if my heart is breaking! I wish you had never come home!” She burst into tears then, and whirling, ran from the room.
Kyle raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Females!” he muttered. When he caught sight of Selena watching him from the doorway, his gaze narrowed defensively. “Do you think I made the wrong decision?”
“No, I expect you were right,” she answered softly. “Young girls sometimes have difficulty being practical, though, when they’re in love.”
“I’ll wager you never found it hard to be practical.”
Selena winced. She wasn’t sure why she found his assessment so painful, except that it implied she wasn’t capable of letting her heart rule her head. Kyle thought her too reserved, too cool, she knew. She wanted to remind him that she was learning to shed some of her inhibitions, to tell him that she was willing to change in order to please him, to become the woman he wanted her to be, but she could see by the way Kyle was plowing his fingers through his hair that his mind was still on Lydia.