CHAPTERTHREE
“What do you mean, you’ve made an arrangement for me to marry?” Lydia cried.
Her father raised an eyebrow. “Lydia, this can’t possibly come as a surprise to you. You knew that this was going to happen. Why are you reacting this way? You haven’t even met the gentleman.”
“That’s just it,” Lydia said. “How can you have arranged my marriage to someone I haven’t even met? What if I don’t like him?”
“You don’t seem to like anyone,” Lord Haddington pointed out.
He was much cannier and more aware of Lydia’s desires than her mother was, but that canniness had never manifested in any desire to give Lydia the things she wanted. If anything, he was simply cleverer at finding ways to manipulate her into the things shedidn’twant.
So, I suppose he’s right, in a way. I should have seen this coming. I should have expected my father to do exactly what he wanted to do without even considering how I might feel about it—without thinking of that as something that matters. That’s what he’s always done, and it’s what he always will do.
“You look all right,” Lord Haddington observed, gazing at her with a critical eye.
“What do you mean?”
“I want you to make a good first impression on your future husband. He’s on his way here now.”
“And this is how I’m finding out? Father!”
“You’ll do fine,” Lord Haddington said. “Make sure you’re polite to him, that’s all.”
If only she could get away with beingimpolite!
But Lydia knew better than to hope such a ploy would work. Her father would know at once what she was doing, and he would reveal her scheme. And once herfuture husband—just thinking the words made her feel rather ill—understood the motivation behind the rudeness, he would ignore it completely.
It wouldn’t work. Men decided everything.
“Who is this gentleman?” Lydia asked.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe he would be a decent gentleman—someone she could find a way to love. That was what she wanted, after all—a match with someone she could love.
“Now there, you’re in luck,” her father replied. “The gentleman happens to be the Duke of Westfrey.”
“The Duke of Westfrey?”
She was startled. She didn’t know the Duke, but she certainly knewofhim—his brother Colin was Nancy’s husband!
“Can you believe it?” Lord Haddington asked, not understanding the true reason behind her shock. “A marriage to a duke is more than I dared to dream of, and now it seems to be what’s happening—just as long as today’s meeting goes well and he doesn’t change his mind.” He gave her a firm stare. “You’ll do nothing to ruin this, I hope.”
She wasn’t sure whether her father was expressing a lack of faith in her or a lack of trust. If it was the former, she was bothered. Her experience with Michael hadn’t shaken her confidence—she knew she could keep a gentleman’s interest if she really wanted to. But she had to admit that if her father didn’t trust her to try to engage the Duke, he was right to have doubts. If she could think of any way to run him off, she would do it.
There was a knock at the door.
“Go into the sitting room,” Lord Haddington ordered. “I’ll bring His Grace in momentarily.”
Seeing nothing to do except obey, Lydia went into the sitting room and took a seat. A moment later, her father returned, a tall, dark-haired gentleman following behind him.
Lydia was startled at the gentleman’s appearance. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with bold facial features that commanded attention. She thought he might have been handsome, but it was difficult to say for certain because the expression he wore was so harsh. He looked as if he was examining their sitting room for dirt.
Lydia wondered whether he saw dirt when he looked at her.
This is why he’s not married.This is why Father was able to make a match like this for me. It’s not because I’ve done anything to make myself worthy of a duke. It’s because no one else wants to marry him because he’s so fearsome.
Well, she wasn’t afraid of him. If fear was something he had grown used to encountering, she would take him by surprise.
She rose to her feet. “Your Grace,” she said. “Thank you so much for coming today.”
