Chapter 5
“Sue, you look beautiful,” Marina breathed.
Susan smiled at her reflection in the looking glass.
Now that she and the Duke had made their plan, now that she knew she wasn’t going to have to go through with the marriage, it was much easier to enjoy the little moments.
She could appreciate this pale blue gown that had been purchased specially for the occasion, which she had never worn before and hadn’t been passed down to her from her elder sister.
She ran her hands over her skirts. “Do you really think so?” she asked.
“Oh, yes,” Marina assured her. “I can’t wait for the Duke to see you. You’re going to take his breath away! And you’re going to impress everyone else at the party, too. Everyone is going to be thrilled to meet the new Duchess of Heathmare, and you look exactly the part.”
Susan nodded, but her pulse was fluttering.
It was daunting, knowing that she was going to be going down and facing all of the ton.
She and Norman had barely had a chance to practice their story on their own families.
How was everyone else going to react? Would they be able to sell their story successfully?
There’s no point in worrying about it. After all, what is anyone going to do, accuse us of fabricating our engagement? This is one of those times when the truth is so strange that people will be more likely to believe the lie.
At least, she’d have to hope for that. Things had been going so well thus far, and Susan was beginning to have real hope that she would escape this situation, having gotten everything she wanted.
If she could keep her father convinced that she and the Duke were on their way to marriage, she would be able to get Marina married to Gilbert.
And once that was done, it wouldn’t matter if Father discovered that she had been deceiving him.
He would be angry, but she didn’t care. Marina was the only thing that mattered.
Marina took Susan’s hand. “You’re really falling in love with him,” she enthused.
“I can tell by the way the two of you are around each other. I thought you were going to be unhappy here, and I didn’t know if I would be able to make my peace with the fact that you were marrying the Duke.
It was so awful to think that you might be stuck in a situation you didn’t like because of me.
But if you’re in love with him… no, don’t say anything.
I know it isn’t love yet. I know that. But it will happen.
I believe in it. And when it does, you’re going to be so happy. ”
Susan hadn’t been going to argue. She liked that her sister believed she was falling in love with the Duke.
It meant that Marina would move on with her life, and that she wouldn’t be caught up in feeling guilty about what Susan was doing here.
And when she learned the truth, she wouldn’t feel betrayed.
She would be proud of Susan for having come up with a way to escape her fate. She would be pleased.
At least, Susan hoped she would.
The manor was crowded with guests, most of whom Susan didn’t know. Because she had been so averse to the idea of marriage for so long, she hadn’t bothered to take the time to get to know the gentlemen of the ton.
Now she was aware that she was a curiosity. People were staring at her. They were watching her every move.
“They’re jealous,” her father whispered in her ear.
“The gentlemen see how lovely you look and wish they had gotten to know you. And as for the ladies, they know that you’re going to be Duchess of Heathmare, and they wish they had gotten the chance.
You and I have been very clever, Susan, to make this arrangement quickly.
You should be grateful that I was able to anticipate that His Grace would want to marry quickly! ”
Susan forced herself to smile at her father. “I’m very grateful,” she said. “Thank you, Father.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You had reservations about all this when we first arrived,” he said. “But you seem to have changed your tune very quickly.”
“Yes,” Susan said, widening her eyes in an attempt to look innocent.
Her heart raced. Was Father about to figure it out?
“Once I got here, I realized that you had been right all along! I should have listened to you instead of arguing. I should have realized that you knew what was best. And to think—I’m going to be a duchess.
It’s the perfect outcome, and you were wonderful to have thought of it and made all the arrangements for me.
I’m just sorry I wasn’t more appreciative. ”
She held her breath, wondering whether she might have overdone it—but Father looked mollified. “At least you’re able to admit it,” he said. “I worried that you might hold yourself apart from the man who is to be your husband out of stubbornness—that you might ruin this for no good reason.”
“I would never do that,” Susan assured him, relieved to be saying something that was at least somewhat true. It allowed her to relax a bit. It was difficult, convincing people of a lie. It required her to be constantly on the alert. “You know how much it means to me to see Marina be able to marry.”
“Yes,” her father said, permitting himself a rare smile. “Well, now that your marriage is all but secure, your sister can begin to be courted.”
Susan’s heart leapt. So he was going to allow Marina to move forward with her courtship! It was the only goal she had had in all of this, and here was concrete evidence that it was going to happen. She couldn’t have been any more delighted if she had tried.
But what about the Duke? He wants things out of this, too—I should be seeing that he gets them.
“You know,” she said carefully, “the Duke is a very successful businessman.” She winced internally. That had been clumsy. Surely she could do better. “I’m excited for all of us that he’s going to be a part of the family,” she went on. “I think it will be good for everyone.”
“Oh, you give him a bit more credit than he deserves, I think,” her father said mildly. “You must remember that he’s new to this world, Susan.”
“I do remember that. I just know from speaking to him that he has some interesting ideas about investments.”
“And what would you know about investments?” Father asked her.
“Nothing, but he has a way of describing them that makes me feel as if I do know,” she said. “You should talk to him, Father. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. I think His Grace will be good at this, and I’m glad our family will benefit from his wisdom.”
Her father pressed his lips together thoughtfully. “Well, some men do have an aptitude for financial affairs,” he said slowly. “Perhaps he is one of them. I’ll have a word with him and see if he can describe his business to me to my satisfaction.”
Merriment sparked unexpectedly within Susan.
Everything was going so well! She could hardly believe the success they were having.
She and the Duke had established some very simple goals, but even so, she hadn’t expected that they would come to fruition so easily.
But it really looked as if everything was on the right track.
Marina would be able to marry. Father would take an interest in the Duke’s business ideas.
And then the two of them would be able to go their separate ways, and everyone would be happier.
“Lady Susan, would you do me the honor of a dance?”
It was the Duke. He had appeared as if from nowhere and was holding out a hand to her from behind, and Susan knew that she couldn’t tell him no.
The truth was, she didn’t especially want to say no to him. The idea of a dance was sort of nice. It would be a way to celebrate how well everything was going.
And he was looking particularly handsome today, in his well-tailored clothes, with his hair neatly styled. She felt drawn to him in a way she hadn’t yet experienced.
She allowed the Duke to take her by the arm and lead her to the dance floor. He took her in his arms, and as the musicians began to play, he set the pace of a graceful movement, guiding her along with him.
The movements came easily. It didn’t seem to require thought on her part, and her heart raced in time with the music.
She looked up at him in surprise. “You’re a good dancer.”
“You didn’t think I would be?”
“I didn’t know. I mean… I know you weren’t always a member of society. Do commoners learn how to dance?” She cursed herself for speaking so ineloquently. He seemed to have done something to her ability to form a cogent sentence.
He snorted. “You must think nobody can do anything if they don’t have a title.”
That cleared her head. “Don’t accuse me of that.
If someone has treated you that way, it wasn’t me,” she told him firmly.
“I just didn’t know you’d know how to dance.
And you’re the one who didn’t think ladies could read, by the way, so don’t act as if I make all kinds of baseless assumptions and you don’t make any at all. ”
He huffed out a frustrated breath of air. “All right, all right.”
And just like that, they were fighting again. Susan closed her eyes briefly.
What was maddening was that she could have envisioned herself actually enjoying this dance. He had big, strong hands. He knew the moves and led her well. She could feel his strength and the warmth of him as they danced together, and she liked it.
The trouble came every time he opened his mouth. Every word he said seemed designed to anger her, or to show her that she had angered him. It felt as if it was impossible for the two of them to have a conversation unless they were putting on a show for someone else’s benefit.
We simply don’t like each other very much. It was easy to forget about that in the wake of all the pleasant conversations they’d had. But none of those conversations had been real, and now they were alone. Now it was real between them.
But when she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see that he was grinning at her.
“Night and day, aren’t we?” he asked.
She was forced to laugh. “This would have been a nightmare if we had gone through with it, wouldn’t it?”
“I think it might have been,” he agreed. “And I mean no offense in saying that, by the way.”
“You mean you aren’t trying to tell me that you find me totally unsuitable to be your wife?”
“To be my wife? Certainly I do. You’re all wrong for me.
And I’m all wrong for you,” he added with a smirk.
“But I don’t think you should take that to mean you would never be able to make any man happy.
There are plenty who would find you engaging, who would enjoy having a wife who has something to say at every turn.
” He smiled. “And you’re pretty besides. ”
Her heart fluttered traitorously at the thought that he found her attractive. Why should she care about that?
“I need someone more cooperative,” he went on. “Someone who wants this to be a partnership, not an adversarial relationship. But if you want to marry, I don’t doubt you’ll find someone.”
She lifted her chin. “I don’t want to marry. I’ve never wanted to marry. Not you, and not anyone else either.”
“You don’t want to marry at all? Not ever?” He raised his eyebrows appraisingly.
She wasn’t going to explain this to him. They weren’t close enough for that. “No,” she said simply, though her heart raced at being asked such a personal question.
He chuckled, but his blue eyes were serious and seemed to penetrate right to the core of her being. “Well,” he said, “if that’s what you really want, I don’t imagine you’ll have much trouble making that come true either.”