“What do you want?” she spat, the intensity of her gaze locking onto Leonard’s figure. Under normal circumstances, she might had admired his handsome visage. The moonlight cast a particularly favorable light onto his sharp features and his blue eyes sparkled as they reflected the candle in the lamp above him. Alas, right now there was no such time. Right now, she was livid with him.
“If my presence is unwelcome, I can leave.” He shrugged and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black pantaloons.
Sally’s eyes flashed with frustration. “Unwelcome? How could your presence be welcome after what you did?”
“I thought we had established that I did nothing, neither did you,” he replied. She noted the change in his demeanor, his face grew harder.
“I mean after refusing to marry me in front of everyone as though I had a case of leprosy?” She had to control her volume, lest she attract more attention but right now she did not care.
“I understand your anger, but marrying you is not a solution. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us. Nor is it something you or I want, or am I wrong?”
Her resentment boiling over, Sally shot back, “Fair? What do you know about fairness? You are a Duke. Everyone will simply chalk this up as another of your rakish conquests, but me? I am ruined. My sister is ruined, nobody will marry her now. And Joanna and Kenneth? They too are implicated.” She curled her hands into fits, grateful for the long satin gloves which protected palms from being bloodied by her nails digging into them.
Leonard’s gaze held a hint of empathy, though his words remained measured. “I rejected the idea of a forced marriage, not you, Lady Sally. Our circumstances are unfortunate, but I did not mean to wound you.”
Sally scoffed, her frustration reaching its peak. “Wound me? Is that how you see it? You’ve shattered any hope I had of a respectable marriage, and now you pretend to be concerned about my feelings?”
Leonard’s response was steady, his tone measured. “That is not fair. I was doing you a favor, nothing more.”
Sally, her anger mingling with hurt, retorted, “Some favor,” she muttered even though she knew that she had been unkind. He truly was as innocent in all of this as she was. Her words, her rage was born out of hurt and desperation, nothing else. Indeed, she didn’t want to marry him either, she’d been shocked by the suggestion as well.
“I know you did not do anything wrong,’ she said, forcing herself to calm down as she released her fingers. “I never wanted a marriage forced upon me, either, especially not to a man I do not know well.”
Leonard’s expression remained composed. “I understand and I regret any pain this has caused. But we must find a way forward that preserves what dignity we can salvage.”
“There is nothing to salvage. Even if we tell the truth and it is believed, I am afraid my mother is quite right. Ruination will certainly follow.” She scoffed. “I suspect she planned all of this, not figuring your reluctance into her actions. Now she’s ruined me. It is ironic, is it not?”
He said nothing but looked at her wistfully.
“Do not worry yourself, we will manage. I know it.” Sally watched him intently, aware of the sincerity in his tone and yet uncertain that what he was saying would come to pass.
“Your Grace, you are gullible if you believe the ton will be kind to us. To me. You will face certain judgments, I know. But that will pass. With time, they will forget especially since you have a reputation already as a rake – ”she raised a hand as he was about to protest. “Deserved or not, it is what people are saying about you. In this case it will help you recover quickly. You will even have gentlemen pat your back and congratulate you on your conquest of an Earl’s daughter. But I? I shall never recover from this.”
His lips parted but he said nothing. He knew it was true, he had to know.
“My family will be affected, my sister and I will have no chance of finding a match. I do not seek validation, Your Grace, I only tell you the truth. Nobody touches a lady who has been scandalized in such a manner. There is no mercy in our society for women, even if they are aristocratic.”
She took a deep breath. It felt good to get this off her chest. He had to understand what she was facing. “I would only ask that if anyone should ask why you would not marry me after this that you do not say ‘I could never marry her’ as you did in that room for it will make things infinitely worse for me. Invent a lover, invent a … I do not know. Anything but that. Although perhaps it makes no difference.”
As the tension lingered in the air, Sally grappled with the harsh reality before her. She usually liked sitting out here at night to count the stars, alas tonight was different. This night held no promise of solace, only the daunting prospect of navigating a future that was most uncertain.
To think this morning, I worried about becoming a spinster because I could not find a husband – it is now all but a certainty. I will be a spinster but because I was rejected which is even worse.
His voice drew Sally out of her thoughts, gentle and almost undyeable as he spoke her name.
“Very well, I shall marry you,” he said, and she stared at him as if she’d been burned by a flickering candle. It was a searing shock that ran through her, and she could do nothing but allow her mouth to drop open, though she knew she’d likely look like a fish drawn from the waters.
“What in the world do you mean?” she demanded incredulously. “Do not play tricks on me, I beg of you.”
Leonard met her gaze, his tone staunch. “You heard me. I will marry you if that is what you truly want.”
Sally blinked, forcing herself to swallow though she could not reply. The shock was too deep. He’d marry her? But why the sudden change? Why this mercurial behavior?
“I … I …” the words refused to exit her mouth for the truth was, Sally did not know what to say, think, or even feel. What she did know was this:
Life as she’d known it was over.
CHAPTER4
