He looked up from the paper. “Yes, my dear, how might I be of assistance,” he asked, giving her his fullattention.
It was not easy to begin this conversation. Diana was unsure where to begin, so she just blurted out, “Father, I have very deep feelings for RobertDonnelly.”
“Feelings?”
“Romantic feelings,” Dianaclarified.
“Oh…”
“And he definitely has feelings forme.”
“And Adam? How do you feel about him… yourfiancé?”
Diana gave a little laugh. “Yes, now there is the crux of theissue.”
Father leaned back in his chair and appeared to consider what had been presented tohim.
“Are your feelings for the Earl stronger and more defined that your feelings forAdam?”
Diana was unsure, at first, what to say. “I do not know. This has all happened so recently… so suddenly. And then there is the matter of theengagement.”
“How obligated do you feel to Adam?” heasked.
“Very. There is the loan. The implication was that the loan would only be given if I agreed to marryAdam.”
“Ah, yes. The loan. And I can see how you might feelobligated.”
Father set his elbows on the table, folded his hands, and rested his chin on them as he thought about thissituation.
“Has the Earl expressed any intentions towardyou?”
“No, Father. We have not allowed ourselves to consider anything other than our professional relationship up to this point. Until yesterday, when we both succumbed to ourpassions.”
“Succumbed?” he asked with a raisedeyebrow.”
“A kiss,Father.”
He nodded. “And what do you feel forAdam?”
“I have a deep regard for him. I feel a warmth and affection but not a deeppassion.”
Father considered that. “Perhaps I might tell you a story,” he said. “Your mother and I had been discreetly set up by our families to meet at a dance at the college. It was a rather formal affair and our parents worked very hard to conceal that our meeting was arranged. But we both knew the facts. We danced as expected, and we chatted and socialized throughout the evening and formed a mildfriendship.
“Neither of us was passionate about the other. However, I learned through a fellow student, that your motherwaspassionate about a young man from another college—a rather handsome student of philosophy. He was definitely more striking physically than I was,andhe was the second son of a duke. I, however, tended toward the more mundane, as I was plainer looking and the son of a vicar. But in those days parents exercised much greater control over their children than we do today, and we were directed into an engagement that I was not eager about, and to which your mother was absolutelyantithetical.
“But you see, she was not considered marriage material for even the second son of a duke, so it was eventually necessary for her to reconcile to the fact that she would not be accepted by the duke’s family and we would bemarried.”
“Oh, Father, I never knew… It must have been devastating for you both,” Dianasaid.
“Perhaps at first. But over time we grew not only to accept the situation but to actually be very much in love with oneanother.”
“Isee.”
“Now, please do not repeat to your mother what I just told you. She would be most embarrassed for you to know. But I believe you are old enough and wise enough to understand why I am telling youthis.”
“A professor’s daughter is not to marry an Earl,” she said with a tone ofbitterness.
“That may be one aspect, but there is also your duty to Adam. You, in effect, gave him your promise of marriage in exchange for the loan. And I do not believe you are the sort of person who could break thattrust.”
