CHAPTER 10
Today was the last day of the house party and when they planned to announce her betrothal to Lord Montfort. She shuddered at the thought. If she allowed that to happen, it would be ten times worse to break the engagement later. And much more embarrassing.
No, she had to talk to her parents now. Put an end to this farce.
Her hands shook as she knocked on her mother’s bedroom door.
The maid opened it and promptly ushered her inside.
Her mother was sitting at the vanity in a state of dishabille.
She had just turned fifty but was still a handsome woman and very proud of her looks.
“Josephine. What brings you to my room so early? I’m not done with my toilette.”
“I know, Mother. I came early because I wish to speak to you before we go out in public today.” Her heart was beating like a caged bird inside her chest.
Maybe her mother had a premonition that what she wanted to speak about was serious because, forgetting her toilette, she turned on her bench and dismissed the maid.
“What is it, Josephine? Is there a problem?”
“I… well, I wished to speak to you about my betrothal to Lord Montfort.”
“Yes?” The one syllable contained all the warmth of an arctic night.
“I don’t want to go through with the engagement,” she blurted.
She had never seen her mother’s face distort with such fury. “What are you talking about, you ungrateful girl? Why on earth would you want to cry off such an advantageous marriage prospect?”
She was quaking in her shoes. If it wasn’t for the night of passion she had spent in Michael’s arms, she wouldn’t have found the courage to speak. “I am in love with another.”
Her mother shot up from the bench like an avenging fury. “Who? Who have you been seeing behind my back, you unmitigated hussy?”
Her mother’s gaze burned through her with such intensity she had to lower her eyes.
She had expected this conversation to be the most difficult thing she had ever done, and yet it was even worse than she could have ever imagined.
Her mother’s hand grabbed her chin and lifted her face so that she was forced to meet the woman’s full anger as she answered.
“Lord Michael. His brother,” she confessed. Tears streamed down her cheeks as her mother drew back her hand and slapped her across her cheek. It stung, but not as much as the disdain and disappointment in her mother’s eyes.
“You stupid harlot. I can’t believe I raised such a sorry excuse for a daughter.
A younger son, with no prospects other than a dubious military career?
You could be a duchess! Instead, you would rather be with a worthless younger son?
That is, assuming he has honorable intentions and not simply dallying with you. ”
“We are in love, Mama,” she replied between sobs. “He does have honorable intentions. He has wanted to speak with father from the beginning, but I begged him to wait.”
“From the beginning? How long has this been going on?”
“Just a week. I met him by accident the day we arrived.”
“Have you been sneaking off to meet him this whole time?”
She couldn’t say the words, so she just nodded.
The contempt in her mother’s face could have scorched her soul to cinders. The only thing that kept her going was the memory of Michael’s kisses. His supportive words. The comfort of his embrace.
“I must speak to your father. We need to put a stop to this immediately.”
Her mother blazed to the bell and rang for the maid.
“Please, Mother. We didn’t mean to. We met by accident.
At first, I mistook him for Lord Montfort.
Before we knew who we were, we…” What? Had kissed?
Had fallen in love? What could she possibly tell her mother that wouldn’t make her more angry than she already was?
“We found we had an affinity for each other.” God, how lame that sounded.
Her mother laughed. An ugly laugh, full of contempt. At that moment, the maid peeked her head into the room and her mother barked the order to fetch Lord Dunhaven and ask him to come to his wife’s room immediately.
Oh no. This was becoming more of a disaster by the moment.
Now it seemed they would join forces against her.
She had not expected her mother to be happy.
After all, her mother was very proud of the match they had secured for her.
But she had not expected such virulent opposition either.
After all, if alliances and connections were what they sought, she still wanted to marry into the same family.
Just a different brother. She had even hoped—foolishly, it now seemed—to have her mother’s support to talk to her father.
How naive she had been. It would be her and Michael against the world.
She had no doubt he would stoically withstand whatever came their way.
She must have the same strength. Taking a deep breath to draw in courage, she went to sit by the window bench as her mother huffed to the dressing room to don a dressing robe.
After a few long and tense minutes, a curt knock sounded on the door, and when her mother bid entrance, her father's stern figure crossed the threshold, closing it behind him.
“Did you wish to speak to me, milady?”
“Yes, my lord. It seems our ungrateful daughter has some foolish notion of dissolving the advantageous match we have arranged for her. It is my hope you can talk some sense into her, for I have lost patience.”
His father's response was as cold as her mother’s had been heated, but not less disapproving. A raised eyebrow was all he needed to convey his profound disapproval.
“Is this some ill-conceived jest?” He directed the question at her, the lack of emotion in his eyes freezing her in place.
“N-no, Father. As I told Mother, I don’t wish to marry Lord Montfort. I appreciate your efforts in arranging the engagement, but—”
“Silence! I don’t wish to hear another word from you.” He turned to her mother, dismissing her and her concerns. “How long has this been going on?”
“I just found out, but apparently this hussy has been running around meeting Lord Montfort’s younger brother in secret.”
“This is all your fault. You were supposed to be chaperoning her, and yet you just found out about this? God save me from incompetent females.” The insult, made even more cutting for being delivered in such even and precise tones, left her mother sputtering.
This was a great representation of their marriage.
Cold civility covering deep contempt and little tolerance, sprinkled with a fair amount of resentment.
As far as she knew, her parents had never had a loving marriage.
In her entire life, she had never seen a display of affection between them.
No wonder they placed little value on love and compatibility.
This was the type of marriage she would have if she married Lord Montfort.
With the added aggravation that she would have to keep seeing Michael and forever wonder what her life could have been instead.
It would be like dying of thirst next to a crystalline spring.
No. Unbearable. The bleak image bolstered her resolve.
There was no way on earth she would consent to marry Lord Montfort. She couldn’t.
“You both will leave today. Take her to the London house and keep her locked in until she comes to her senses. I’ll try to do some damage control here. Make our excuses to the duke and duchess. See if there’s any way to salvage this engagement.”
“There isn’t.” Her voice shook as she dared to contradict her father, but she had to make them understand there was no way she could marry Lord Montfort now. “I can’t marry—”
“I said silence!” The ferocity in her father’s voice iced her insides.
“But, Father—”
“You are a disgrace as a daughter. For your own sake, you better hope that Lord Montfort is still willing to take you. You wouldn’t like the second choice I have for your hand. The next time I see you, I hope you have come to your senses and are ready to do your duty.”
She shook her head, now more resolved than ever. “I won’t change my mind. I want to marry Lord Michael, and you can’t force me to marry his brother.”
The look on her father’s face was one she would never forget. A mixture of contempt and unholy rage that she had dared to contradict him. Her father had never been loving or particularly warm, but she had not known true rejection until now.
“You will do as I say or suffer the consequences.” Turning to her mother, who stood livid and motionless in the middle of the room, he spat.
“Start packing and leave the estate within an hour. Don’t let her out of your sight.
I’ll tell everybody that she came down with a virulent case of the ague and you chose to take her away to avoid infecting the rest of the guests. ”
With that, he turned and exited the room, locking the door after him.
“You stupid chit.” Her mother’s hand flew, connecting with her cheek in a stinging slap. “Look what you have caused.”
Good God. Everything had gone horribly wrong. And now she wouldn’t even be able to tell Michael that she was leaving.