Chapter 2 #2
Lord Ellingham eyed the interaction with a coy smirk.
Madeline hurried forward to meet Lord Ellingham at the door before her father could interject, at which point she gestured for him to walk ahead. He continued to look amused but sighed loudly and stepped outside.
Madeline was right behind him.
“I do not know what my father has promised you,” Madeline began as soon as they were in the hallway. “But I am here to tell you –”
“I do not care what you tell me,” he cut her off without looking back. If anything, his pace only increased.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me well enough.” He laughed to himself. “Do not think that I am so daft that I fail to see what is going on here.” He glanced over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. “It is admirable, the way that you care for you sister. Truly, it is to be admired. I might even be impressed.”
“I do not… I am not trying to impress you,” she said sharply. “I am –”
“I care not for what you want or what you are trying to do,” he cut over her again. “It is your father who I am dealing with, not you. So please, do us all a favor and mind your own business.” He shook his head and strode forward, through the foyer and toward the door.
Madeline stared blankly as he powered away.
She had expected argument. She had expected anger. But disinterest? A complete lack of care for what she wished to say? It proved well that he was not the man for her sister, and it fueled the anger inside of her beyond comprehension.
“You will not marry her!” Madeline hurried forward. “Do you hear me?”
He was at the front door, but he stopped before walking through. There, he sighed as if with boredom, shook his head to himself, and turned to face her. “And you mean to stop me, do you?”
“If I have to.” She stood up to him, refusing to back down. “But it will be far easier for both of us if you do the right thing and leave my sister alone. She does not want you. Nobody does.”
He laughed. “Easier for you, perhaps. But for me…” He flicked back the blonde locks of his hair. “I take it that you have heard of me? Of course you have. Why else would you be so objectionable, otherwise.”
“I have,” she sneered. “And while I hoped that rumors were exaggerated, five seconds in your slimy presence proves otherwise. You will not marry my sister.”
“As you have heard of me, then I take that to mean that you know one thing about me to be true.” He stood tall so that he was bearing over her.
Madeline tried not to back down, but he was a little too close for her to be comfortable.
And when he dropped his voice, it sent a cold shudder through her bones.
“I always get what I want, and in this, I want your sister.”
“You will not –”
“I will, Lady Madeline. In fact, I already have.” He flashed his eyes at her and another cold shudder ran through her bones. “Now, I suggest you make your peace with it and move on. Or do not, I really could care less. This marriage is happening and there is nothing that you can do.”
“And what of my sister? What about what she wants?”
He laughed. “You ask the question as if I should care.”
With those words said, Lord Ellingham turned on his heel and strode from the house, giving Madeline no chance to argue or say anything.
She shook with rage. She was flushed with anger. She wanted to scream, to shout, to go after him! But she knew that would do her no good.
Lord Ellingham was committed to this marriage, and despite her best efforts, Madeline had no idea what she could do to stop it.
“I can’t marry him!” Nerissa’s words came out thickly, as her head was shoved into her pillow and her throat was clogged with tears. “He is awful.”
“Maybe it won’t be so bad…” Madeline sat beside her weeping sister, stroking her back in comfort. “He might be nicer than he first seemed.”
“You don’t mean that! How could you possibly think such a thing!”
She was right, of course, and Madeline knew that no words of comfort would be enough to ease her sister’s suffering. They had both met Lord Ellingham, they had seen the type of man that he was, and they knew as they knew anything that as bad as he had seemed, that had hardly scratched the surface.
He is repellent. He is repugnant. He is… not worthy of my sister!
As sorrowful as Nerissa must have felt, Madeline was equally shattered.
Since she was twelve, she had made it her mission in life to look after Nerissa as if she was her mother, and to think that all of that would be for naught…
it left her feeling ill and pitiful and just plain disgusted in herself.
“I won’t let him hurt you,” Madeline said. “I promise it, Nerissa.”
“But how?” her sister wailed. “What can you do? Father has agreed, and he won’t change his mind.”
“He might…”
She knew too that this was less than likely.
Her father had not made this deal on a whim. It was done with a purpose, and whatever that purpose was, she doubted that she could convince him to change his mind. As stubborn as he could be, he would see this marriage through to the end out of spite, if nothing else.
If Madeline wanted to stop this marriage in its tracks, she would need to think outside of the box. She would need to convince Lord Ellingham to change his mind.
But how can I do such a thing? Whatever deal he has struck with my father, he needs it to happen. I doubt the King himself could change his mind.
As her sister wept, Madeline set her mind to the task at hand – there had to be a way to stop this from happening!
Her father was not an option, so she turned her mind to Lord Ellingham and what she knew of him. He was a Marquess, a shrewd businessman, and a gambler if rumors were to be believed. Was there something that she could use there?
What she needed was to strong-arm him somehow. What she needed was a powerful ally to force him to change his mind…
She considered Rose and Josephine’s husbands. Both men were dukes, and both could likely speak to him. Perhaps even offer him money, if that’s what this was all about. But it was as she considered this path that another figure drifted through her mind’s eye.
The room turned cold suddenly, and dark, and Madeline shivered.
The Duke of Hawcrest… she could not say why he came to mind, only that the moment he did, a sense of resolve flooded through her.
She remembered clearly when she had seen him at the garden party, the feelings of power and influence that seeped from his body like cologne.
Strange, considering his upbringing… but that only made things more interesting.
If he was to speak to Lord Ellingham for her, she was certain that he could change the man’s mind. Likely, he could scare the man into submission. But would he do such a thing? And could Madeline even ask it of him?
She tried to push the thought away as ridiculous, but her sister’s tears flooded the room and drowned her. Everything that Madeline had done in this life was for her sister, all the risks she had taken, the way she had put her own life on hold. What was one more thing…
Madeline spent an hour considering what to do, even if she knew the answer almost as soon as she began.
At the end of the day, I have no choice. I must be brave.
Once her father retired to bed, and her sister asked to be left alone, Madeline sneaked from the manor, stole a horse from the stables, and rode it along the dark road toward Hawcrest Manor on the outskirts of London.
In all her life, she had never dared to do something so bold, but that just told of how desperate her situation was. For her sister, there was nothing she would not do, and it was time that she proved it.