His gray eyes softened. “With your mother’s death, her inheritance passes to you. Do you understand now why you must be careful? Why you must trust my counsel?” He placed a protective hand on her shoulder. “I will guard you against fortune seekers.”
Elizabeth struggled to grasp this startling news. “Mother had an inheritance?”
“Through your grandmother. The inheritance passes from mother to daughter, provided certain conditions are met.”
“What conditions?”
“The heiress must marry a man approved by the family.”
Elizabeth’s spirits sank. Rourke would never meet with the family’s approval. “Do you mean Grandmama, Aunt Virginia, and Uncle Jonathan? They are the only ones left on Mother’s side.”
“Correct. They make the decision.”
She swallowed, but the knot would not leave. “Is that the only requirement?”
“It is.” His cheek ticked, a sign that this conversation bothered him. “Surely you now understand why you needed to stay in Charleston. There is no one of sufficient quality in Key West.”
Her emotions twisted and tumbled like a sheet in the wind. “There are many fine gentlemen here.”
“No, Elizabeth. There are at most one or two. If you will not have them, you must return to Charleston.”
“But you and Charlie are all the family I have. I couldn’t bear to be parted from you.”
He turned away, but not before she saw him blink back a tear. “Do you know the risk you took coming here? You could have drowned. You nearly did.”
“If not for Captain O’Malley, I might have.” This was her opportunity to demonstrate that he was one of the few in Key West capable of meeting Father’s expectations. “He braved the seas to rescue both Aunt Virginia and me. The wreck was breaking up and the waves were dragging me down, yet he brought me to safety.”
Father stiffened. “I will not hear any talk of wreckers, do you understand?”
“But he saved our lives.”
“Lives you put in jeopardy through your rash actions.” He strode across the room, unstopped the decanter, and poured brandy into a glass.
“But Papa, how could I stay in Charleston? How could I stay when Mama is gone?”
“If you love her, you will obey her wishes.” He lifted the glass to his lips and drained it.
Elizabeth tried to hide her shock. She remembered him sipping brandy from time to time after supper, but she had never seen him gulp an entire glassful before a meal.
His piercing gray eyes looked black in the dim light. “Tell me why you turned down every suitor.”
Elizabeth had not expected such direct examination. She again tried to swallow the knot in her throat. “None were suitable.” It was the response she had rehearsed in her mind the entire voyage, yet it sounded pitiable when spoken aloud.
“Not suitable?” Father punctuated each word with disbelief. “Society’s elite are not suitable for the daughter of an attorney? Your great-aunt tells me that many prominent men presented themselves, yet you turned them all away. Do not presume to think you can put off such men without repercussions. Thankfully Mr. Finch is a generous and forgiving man. He tells me that his affections have not changed.”
Elizabeth could think of no response to this unwelcome news.
“You are fortunate,” Father continued. “Most men would not risk rejection a second time. Mr. Finch is a man of uncommon courage. I expect you to treat him with all the courtesy that his position demands.”
“Is he not employed as a clerk in your office?”
“I am not referring to his current employment,” Father snapped. “Mr. Finch is the son of a highly respected plantation owner.”
She had missed that bit of information somehow. “Why would an heir to a distinguished estate work as a clerk at a Key West law office?”
“As the youngest son, he does not stand to inherit. However, he is rising rapidly under my tutelage. Given his excellent academic record at law school, I expect to make him a partner soon.” His gray eyes bored into her. “He would make a fine husband.”
Shallow breaths would not still the pounding in her ears. “But I am in mourning.”
“I am aware of that. However, Key West is not Charleston. Your great-aunt notwithstanding, few here care about convention. No one will look askance at a man under my employ calling at the house on occasion. I expect you to receive him, not run to your room. Do I make myself clear?”
Elizabeth choked back the panic churning up her throat. “Yes, sir.”
She would obey the letter of Father’s law, but she could not grant her heart to Percival Finch. Not when a man the caliber of Rourke O’Malley was within reach.
7
Three nights later Elizabeth sat at her vanity, waiting for her maid to appear. The day had been long and filled with the aggravations of taking on new responsibilities, but at least Percival Finch had yet to pay a call. That blessing would not last.
If only Rourke would return.