Chapter 7 #3
Both men were so interesting, and so willing to answer her questions. Arianna would have stayed longer, but Brownlee pointed out that they had been gone for nearly two hours. “Your Mama will need me to help her dress for dinner,” she said.
“We had better go back,” Arianna admitted. “Mr. Medlock, Captain Arkright, thank you so much. I have enjoyed myself enormously.”
Mr. Medlock insisted on escorting Arianna home, though she assured him she would be safe with Brownlee. Captain Arkwright came as far as the inn with them, but Mr. Medlock walked them all the way to Mrs. Peabody’s door.
Inside, Mama was awake, dressed, and angry.
“I have had enough, Arianna Westbrook. You turned down two perfectly respectable gentlemen to go walking with that… that… tradesman. You are trying to ruin yourself. Well, I won’t have it.
Do you hear? That nice Mr. Mills has made an offer for your hand, and I have accepted on your behalf. ”
“I refuse, Mama,” said Arianna. “I will continue to refuse. In private and in public. At the church itself, if need be. I shall not marry Mr. Mills.”
“We shall see about that,” said Mama, and suddenly she moved, giving Arianna an almighty shove so she stumbled backward into the visitor’s parlor.
Someone caught her before she could fall, wrapping his arms around her from the back.
She could feel him behind her, her body leaning against his, and when she looked over her shoulder, there was Mr. Mills, fake smile and all.
“Miss Westbrook, Arianna, at last!”
Arianna struggled to escape his embrace. “Unhand me, you villain!” It sounded like a line from a farce, but Arianna wasn’t finding any of this funny. Mama had slammed the door shut, trapping her alone with Mr. Mills. Furthermore, she had heard the key turn in the lock.
“Now, now, Arianna, no need for maidenly alarms,” said Mr. Mills. Perhaps he meant to sound soothing rather than patronizing. If so, he failed. “We are betrothed, dear, and betrothed couples are permitted time alone together.”
“I reject the betrothal,” Arianna told him. “I refuse to marry you.”
The nasty man sighed. “Then we shall have to make sure you have no choice.”
Before Arianna had time to guess what he meant, he spun her around, pushed her down on the sofa, and flung himself over her, capturing both her hands and holding them over her head in one of his.
The other was fumbling at his waist, and though she could not see what he was doing, she guessed that he was undoing the buttons on his breeches.
“Wait!” she said. “This won’t get you what you want. I’d rather be ruined than married to you, so there is no point in you assaulting me.”
“I expect to enjoy it,” Mr. Mills responded. “Besides, your mother will make you marry me.”
Arianna had been feverishly thinking, and had come up with the bones of a plan. “You would rather have the treasure that Mr. Medlock found, though. Easy money, and without the burden of proving yourself to my trustees in order to gain access to my dowry. Is that not right?”
Mr. Mills stopped his fumbling. “Proving myself to your trustees? What does that mean?”
“Did Mama not tell you? If I marry without the consent of my trustees, they can refuse to pay out my dowry. And nothing is more certain than that they will take their time over the decision. Mama should have told you that they take their time over every decision.” Mostly because they were delaying a response to frivolous or expensive requests from Mama.
The trustees Papa had chosen to oversee the fortune he had left in trust for his wife and daughter, Papa’s cousin and his former business partner, were inclined to trust Mama when it came to the marriage mart.
But where money was concerned, they had Mama’s measure, and were not inclined to sell assets or investments to make up the shortfall if Mama overspent her generous income.
Mr. Mills was looking thoughtful, but he shook his head.
“I’m sure Medlock and his partner have found what they are looking for.
There’s always one of them in their room, and why would they take turns at that if not to guard what they have?
But there is no way to get at it. I might have to give up on marrying you, Miss Westbrook, but if ruining you is to be my only compensation… ”
“I might be able to convince Mr. Medlock and Mr. Bennington that you have left Fenwick,” Arianna suggested, quickly. “Then, when they both leave their room, you can take the chance to search it.”
Mills stared into her eyes and then shook his head. “Why would you do that? Why should I trust you to do that?”
“So, you won’t assault me, of course,” said Arianna, doing her best to sound matter-of-fact and disinterested. “And why shouldn’t I help you burgle Mr. Medlock’s room? It isn’t my treasure, whatever it is.”
After a further searching look, Mills finally let go of her wrists and stood up, turning away to rebutton the flap of his breeches. “I’ll need some way to guarantee she doesn’t set me up,” he was murmuring to himself. “Now. What to do?”