The Duchess’ Ultimatum (The Brides of Elderglen #5)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

“There you are!” Sweeping toward the young women came Her Grace, the Duchess of Dunmore. But seeing as she was also her oldest sister, Penelope thought of her simply as Evelina. “What are you doing back here?”

“Clearly we are hiding,” Miss Penelope Balfour responded simply. She was the youngest of her sisters, always seen as the one who needed looking after. Even if such a title primarily created resentment in her. “And just as clearly, we are not doing a very good job of it.”

“Hiding from whom?”

“Everyone.” Penelope could not help but keep the smirk from her lips—she couldn’t help teasing her older sister in that way younger siblings often did.

“You, especially. I ask that you not take it personally, Evelina, as I still enjoy your company as a sister and a friend. But only in settings removed from this one.”

“I told you this was not such a wonderful idea.” Standing with Penelope was her close friend, Lady Eliza Jones, who also happened to be Penelope’s stepdaughter. “Did I not say?”

“And did I not say that as uncomfortable as she would find it, it was just as necessary,” Evelina responded.

“Still unsurprising,” Eliza argued. “Clearly, she is not ready.”

“She never will be, unless we force the issue.”

“Oh yes, because that always works.”

“What then? Do nothing?” Evelina crossed her arms and cocked a dismissive eyebrow at her stepdaughter, who was just shy of thirteen years younger than her. “I have tried that – for two years now, I have tried. She is twenty years old, Eliza, and desperate times do call for desperate measures.”

“I would hardly call the situation desperate,” Eliza snorted.

“It will be if the Season ends and she finds herself without a single lord courting her. Or showing any interest! Another year of this and the word ‘spinster’ will start being thrown around like rice at a wedding.”

“That is absurd.”

“A sad truth,” Evelina sighed. “And encouraging her as you are doing is not helping.”

“Nor is badgering her!” Eliza accused.

“I do it because I care, that is all.”

“And I don’t?”

As mother and stepdaughter argued about her as if she was invisible, Penelope took a small step back, happy to be ignored because it meant that for a few minutes longer she would be able to pretend as if she was not there.

The way they talk about me suggests that this is not the first time they’ve had such a discussion. And where a part of me appreciates how much they want to help… a larger part wishes they would just leave me be. Save us all the headache.

No need to say that Penelope was not having as delightful a time as might be expected for one her age attending a Seasonal Ball. Indeed, a quick glance beyond the corner where she was hidden and Penelope saw clearly the throngs of partygoers enraptured in the revelry of the evening.

The event in question was the Westchester Ball, the first ball of the Season, attended by nearly every lord and lady of the ton.

There were hundreds of guests present, dressed in their colorful gowns and smart suits, drinking wine and brandy, chatting merrily, dancing and laughing and enjoying themselves because this was what being a member of the peerage was all about.

At least that was the case most. Penelope, as she’d learned time and again, thought differently. And for good reason.

“Penelope.” Evelina turned on her, an exasperated sigh escaping her lips. “Please, if you would just give it a chance. Thirty minutes is all I ask, and I know you’ll see things my way.”

“And what way is that?” Penelope responded dryly.

“You know very well what,” her sister said sharply, frustration showing. “This is not a night to shy away from or… or to be scared of –”

“I am not scared.”

“Wary then,” she pivoted. “I know why you do not wish to be here. Just as I know your feelings concerning courtship and marriage.” A rolling of the eyes next and a shaking of the head.

“But you are not a little girl anymore, and you cannot hide yourself away and just hope that will solve everything. The world continues to move on, and I worry that do you not move with it, you will be left behind and then, when you are finally ready to join it as I know you secretly wish, it will be too late.”

“And I think you are being far too pessimistic,” Eliza defended. As she did, she stepped beside Penelope in support. “When she is ready, that is when such things need to be worried over. Not before.”

“By the time she is ready it will be too late!”

“Which is her decision to make,” Eliza pressed. “All this fussing and it only makes things worse.”

Again, mother and stepdaughter started to bicker as if Penelope was not there, and again Penelope found herself grateful for the chance to be ignored.

Why did I even bother coming tonight? I knew it would turn out as it has done, just as I knew the moment I stepped into the ballroom I would want to go home. Which I will do, just as soon as my sister gives up… any minute now, if I am lucky.

Despite Evelina being the one who was so insistent that Penelope remove herself from the corners of the ballroom and begin to socialize, she was not the reason that Penelope had bothered coming to the ball tonight – she loved her oldest sister dearly, but not so much that she would do so tedious a thing as that.

No, no. Her reason for being here was on account of her father.

It was ironic that her father had requested that she attend when all Penelope wanted to do was stay home so she could watch over him, as she had been doing now for years.

He was just sixty-five but with failing health, the type where any day might be his last, and it pained her greatly to be away from him like this. Even if it was for just one night.

Penelope loved her father more than words could describe, which was the only reason she’d done as he asked.

However, she was also aware that where he might have asked her to attend the ball this evening, he did not say for how long, nor did he demand that she speak with anyone outside of her sister and friend.

I have done as he requested… why he did so, I cannot imagine. But the promise was kept, meaning that I am free to leave. Guiltless, and just glad to be free from here.

“Might I speak!” Penelope spoke loudly, cutting through the bickering of her sister and friend. They stopped their talking and looked at her. “Oh, so you do see me standing here.”

Evelina scoffed. “Unfortunately for you.”

“I appreciate what you are trying to do,” Penelope assured her sister.

“Truly, I know the reason, just as I know why you are doing it.” She reached out and touched her sister on the arm.

“But I did not come here tonight to be led around like a show pony so men twice my age can bid for the chance to trap me in a marriage as if I am some sort of prize.”

“It is not a trap,” Evelina said. “Marriage is not…” She clicked her tongue with frustration. “It is a wonderous thing, as natural as breathing, and I just wish you would understand that. That you would only give it a chance.”

“For you maybe,” Penelope said. “But not for me.”

“Penelope –”

“My mind is made up, Evelina,” Penelope cut over her. “And I would hope that you respect that.”

Evelina was twelve years older than Penelope, which made them sisters but not as close as they could be.

Penelope had been only twelve when Evelina married her husband and moved away, a marriage which was now happy and love-filled and the very reason that Evelina wanted the same for her youngest sister.

What she chose to forget was how painful the marriage had been when it started.

How hard Evelina and her husband had needed to work to make it what it was today.

For many, it was a story which proved that anyone could have their own happily ever after if they wished it, a perfect example of why one should choose to marry in the first place.

To me, it has always felt like more of a warning. Yes, there are those who aspire for such things, just as there are those who spurn them. Obviously, I am of the latter opinion.

One day, perhaps, Penelope would want to marry.

She could not imagine such a situation, but she wasn’t ready to write it off entirely.

But for now, such a state of being was as far from her reality as could be.

She had her own life, her own goals, things she would rather be doing than wasting time with courtship and the like.

Speaking of which…

“For that reason, I think it is time that I leave,” Penelope continued, her thoughts now focused on where she would much rather be. “I –”

“Penelope, no!” Evelina cried.

“Thank you for tonight,” she told her sister, meaning it. “I know you only meant the best.” A caring smile then, just to hammer the point home.

“Shall I come with you?” Eliza offered. “Outside, I mean. If you need the company?”

Eliza was one year younger than Penelope, which was the reason they were such good friends.

But just because they were close did not mean they shared all the same opinions.

Eliza understood why Penelope did not wish to marry, and she supported her fully.

However, unlike her best friend, Eliza was that breed of lady who wanted to marry more than anything.

“You stay here,” Penelope assured her with a soft smile. “There are many handsome men about, surely one will catch your eye.” She offered a wink. “It would be their loss, if they didn’t.”

A further five minutes followed of Eliza trying to convince her to stay.

But there would be no convincing. Some ladies spent their entire lives looking forward to nights like this one, desperate to meet the man of their dreams and live happily ever after.

But some ladies, or most, were not Penelope Balfour.

Thus she left her older sister and friend behind, soon arriving at her carriage which was parked and waiting. And when she climbed inside and closed the door, she allowed herself her first smile of the evening.