For Your Arms Only by Linden, Caroline (best fiction books to read .TXT) 📗

of anger at her father. She put her arm around her sister’s shoulders. “Then you should—”

“Cressida, you don’t understand!” Callie sprang to her feet and almost tripped over the bench in her haste to scramble away. “You can stand up to Papa. He—He terrifies me. When he looks at me with that stern air, like he expects me to say or do just the right thing or lose his regard forever, I seem to freeze inside. And when I disappoint him, it’s dreadful; just the look on his face makes me want to cry.”

“That’s why Papa bullies you. He likes having command after being in the army, I suppose, and he’s not much used to having daughters around.” Even as she said it, Cressida knew it was no excuse. She thought again of Alec swinging his nieces in the air at his mother’s party, grinning at their squeals of delight. He could hardly be used to little girls, either, but his affection was obvious.

Callie shook her head, looking helpless. “It doesn’t matter. I crumble inside when he scolds me.”

“But he’s not here now, is he?” Callie bit her lip and looked at the floor. “Tom wants to leave.” Her sister’s gaze shot up. “And why not? We have no money, and just lost our home. A man would have to be a bit slow not to realize his chances were better elsewhere. But for some reason, he’s still here.” She got up and took her sister’s hands. “Do you care for Tom?”

Color flooded Callie’s face. “Yes,” she whispered.

Cressida squeezed her fingers. “You might let the poor man know of your regard. I fear Papa made his disapproval known to Tom as well, and now he doesn’t dare look at you the way he did tonight, when he thought no one was watching.”

Callie’s blush deepened. “How did he look at me?”

She thought for a minute. “As though he would be happy never to look away.”

“But Papa—when he returns—”

“Carpe diem, Callandra Phillips,” said Cressida firmly. “Together you and Tom can tell Papa to bugger off.” Callie started, then burst out laughing. Cressida joined her, until the two of them were laughing so hard they had to hold each other up.

“What would I do without you?” gasped Callie.

“You’d have to brush your own hair.”

“Oh, name the one thing that would make me better off.” Cressida caught a pillow from the bed and smacked her with it. Callie threw up her hands. “Stop! Unfair!”

Cressida stuck out her tongue. “Unfair that you got Mama’s lovely curls!”

Callie flung the pillow back at her. “Unfair that you got Papa’s courage!”

Cressida caught the pillow with one hand and tossed it back onto the bed. “I did, and I’m giving some to you now.” She shook her finger at her sister. “I mean it. Or I will tell Tom myself.”

“You wouldn’t!”

She smirked. “Do you really want to take that chance?”

Callie glared at her, but more in exasperation than anger. “Good night.”

Cressida laughed, and began getting ready for bed herself. Her fury at Papa’s actions was significantly tempered by the thought of Callie finding happiness—and with Tom, of all people. If Papa really had left them for good, it might at least lead to something good.

It was almost enough to distract her from wondering what might happen the next time she saw Alec.

Chapter 20

Callie found her an hour after luncheon the next day, her eyes shining and her face flushed. “I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?” Cressida laughed. “It must be very happy news.”

“It is.” Callie took both her hands, her fingers trembling. “Mr. Webb—Tom has asked me to marry him. And I have said yes.”

Cressida’s mouth fell open. “He—You—So soon? But you only just knew!”

“Don’t look so surprised,” her sister cried. “You yourself told me he has been like family for so long you were considering marrying him!”

“Well, I never did! I knew he loved you, not me, and I wanted to make you see it, too.” Cressida felt a flicker of alarm, but Callie burst out laughing.

“You must know I’m teasing you. He…he told me of your conversation last night. How it gave him hope. How it gave him the boldness to speak to me when he never would have dared before.” Callie’s eyes were moist. “Cressida, I am forever in your debt. Without you, I might have never believed he cared for me, and I never would have had the courage to tell him I cared for him so, knowing how Papa—”

“Papa won’t dare interfere,” she said when Callie stopped abruptly. “I won’t let him.”

Her sister drew a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “No. I won’t,” she said firmly. “Not anymore.”

“Good.” She gave a stout nod. “And I am very happy for you and Tom both.”

Callie’s smile bloomed again, so bright with joy Cressida couldn’t help smiling back even though her heart was pounding. “We’re returning to Portsmouth,” Callie said. “We both felt more at home there, and want to return. Now that Brighampton is gone, we neither of us want to burden the Hayes family any longer than necessary. And we want you and Granny to come with us. I shall ask Major Hayes to tell Papa, if—when—he locates him, to send word to us there.”

“Oh. Of—Of course.”

Callie looked at her closely, but Cressida smiled quickly, and her sister let it go. “I am going to Granny now. I do hope she’ll be happy—oh, Cressida, do you think she’ll fret that he’s…?” Callie fluttered her hands nervously.

“That he’s a soldier like Papa? A decent man? Madly in love with you? Why on earth would she?”

Her sister flushed. “She always wanted us to marry well.”

“Callie,” said Cressida quietly, “if you marry Tom, you will marry very well indeed.”

“I know.” Callie seemed unable to contain herself any longer, and she embraced Cressida before hurrying off to tell Granny the news.

Cressida pushed aside Papa’s journal and the sketch