“The Marquess of Worcester’s carriage is outside,” Rosy noted while Joanna rubbed Rudy’s ears.
“Indeed, it is,” their mother said without looking up from her embroidery.
Sally sat on the chaise beside Joanna, while Rosy perched on the edge of the armchair.
“Mother, is the Marquess here for dinner? I heard the maids talking about having to polish the silver for a guest,” Rosy asked eagerly, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
The Countess exchanged a meaningful look with Joanna before answering, “No, my dear. The Marquess will not be dining with us. In fact, he is only here briefly. We will have a guest, however. Your father has agreed to extend an invitation to the Duke of Wells.”
Rosy and Sally exchanged perplexed glances, their confusion palpable. Joanna froze, her hands stilling on her puppy’s ears.
“The Duke of Wells?” Sally echoed, her brow furrowing.
The Countess nodded, a serious expression on her face. “Yes, the Duke of Wells. Joanna has expressed her desire to court him, and I believe it’s in our best interest to extend our hospitality. Thus, I asked your father to invite him for dinner tonight.”
“The Duke of Wells?” Rosy’s high-pitched voice rang across the room. “But you were to marry the Marquess!”
“Why is the Marquess here if the Duke is coming to dinner? What is the meaning of this?” Sally asked, her eyes on Joanna, whose cheeks flushed red.
The room continued to buzz with questions, and Joanna struggled to find her voice amid the sudden chaos. She was stunned as she suddenly realized that her mother had orchestrated this dinner to deepen the connection between the Duke of Wells andher, not her father.
“Joanna can explain,” the Countess said.
However, as Sally and Rosy bombarded Joanna with questions, a figure approached the doorway. Rudy jumped off Joanna’s lap and ran to the door, letting out a small bark.
“No!” Joanna got up but stopped at once when she realized that the person standing in the doorway was not her father, but the Marquess of Worcester.
“My Lady,” he greeted, his voice low and thick.
“My Lord,” she returned and curtsied.
The Marquess’s stare lingered on Joanna for a moment. Hurt flickered in his eyes, and Joanna suddenly felt a chill in her chest. She understood the pain she had caused him—the abrupt change in plans and the rejection. She wetted her lips, wanting to say something, but no words came out.
Her mother rose up from her seat then and stepped to the door while he turned away without uttering a single word. She escorted him to the front door, chatter only rising once they were out of sight.
Joanna’s heart sank, realizing the consequences of her choices. The hurt in the Marquess’s eyes mirrored the conflict in her own heart. Despite the necessity of her actions, she couldn’t shake the cold feeling of having inflicted pain on someone she had always considered a decent man. At that moment, she grappled with the responsibility and the cost of pursuing her own desires.
Alas, there was nothing she could do now but continue the charade she and Kenneth had started, and hope for the best.
After the Marquess’s departure, Joanna felt pressed to explain the change to her sisters in the privacy of her bedchamber. But she knew she could not tell them the whole truth and thus stuck with a most basic explanation that she’d already given their father—She and Kenneth had found out they had shared interests while at Hyde Park.
Sally and Rosy, still caught up in the whirlwind of discovery and sudden changes, couldn’t contain their chatter about the unexpected turn of events as they helped her get ready for dinner.
Sally, her gaze thoughtful, added, “It’s truly remarkable how swiftly things have shifted. A courtship with the Duke of Wells, who would have thought?”
“At least you got rid of that old man,” Rosy commented cheerfully as she looked through Joanna’s jewelry box.
Joanna offered a tight-lipped smile, masking the unease that settled in her heart. However, the image of the Marquess of Worcester in the doorway flashed in her mind, the hurt in his eyes etched into her memory. The joyous atmosphere surrounding her preparations couldn’t entirely dispel the twinge of guilt she felt for altering the course of his expectations.
“Oh, you must dress in your finest gown for the Duke,” Rosy said and then rushed to the armoire, abandoning the jewelry box.
“Yes, you will want to look good for the man you are suddenly interested in marrying,” Sally agreed, not bothering to hide the suspicion in her voice.
“I know him as well as I know Lord Worcester,” Joanna argued.
“Yes, but you hated him, did you not? You quarreled. I do not mean to make you feel bad, it is just that it is strange how you’ve gone from being so upset with him to courting him.”
Joanna wetted her lips. “I was angry that day because of Father’s decision to marry me off to Lord Worcester, and His Grace was upset about other matters. We resolved it and realized how much we are alike.”
