Rising from the desk, her father schooled his features into his usual stern expression. She steeled her spine while she watched him sort through the two pages of the marriage contract. Then he offered her his quill.
Sign it or else. But what is the other option?
There was a voice in the back of her mind screaming. This wasn’t what she wanted. Surely, there was another path for her to take. But as Georgiana scrambled for ideas, she found her mind going blank.
Feeling a lump forming in her throat, Georgiana slowly accepted the proffered quill. She glanced at the papers. The numbers she saw there proved that she was a fine catch. They were bigger than she last recalled him mentioning two years ago. She tried not to think about why he had raised the number.
“You are paying to be rid of me,” she whispered, a shaky breath escaping her. “I have done my best to run this house, to raise Emma, and to stay out of your way. But it never mattered how much I attempted to prove myself. You always make decisions for me. You ignore everything I do. Why?”
“Georgiana, you are still young. You will learn the ways of the world. The sooner you marry, the better. Don’t you wish to set a good example for your sister? Your mother would have wanted the same.”
She pursed her lips. “Then you never knew Mother.”
His nostrils flared, a sure sign she’d upset him. “Don’t you––”
“Mother never would have wanted any of us trapped in a loveless marriage,” Georgiana pressed. Her heart pounded as she forced herself to meet her father’s gaze. If he could be stubborn, then so could she. Remembering her mother’s joy from the early days, she found her strength. “You only want to make me as unhappy as you are.”
“That’s enough!”
Even though her father raised his voice, it wasn’t a shout. Flinching, Georgiana rose from her seat and took a step back, before she caught herself. She lifted her chin and met her father’s gaze.
“Sign the contract, Georgiana.”
“I didn’t ask for this.” Her voice hardly shook. “Did you even think of what I wanted? Or did you just take the first offer that came along?”
He shook his head, just as frustrated as she felt. “I waited until there was an acceptable offer. Didn’t I mention Lord Humphries? Or shall I bring him here for you instead?”
“No!”
“Then you’re marrying Egerton,” he announced.
While Georgiana wouldn’t call it a growl, she wasn’t exactly confident about what sound it was that came out of her mouth. She suppressed the urge to stomp her foot. “Father, no. I––”
“Or you’re no longer welcome here.”
“Mother left me some funds. I will––”
“And I’ll send Emma away.”
She gasped in horror. Staring at him, seeing the way he turned away so he would not look at her, she wondered if she had heard him right. She must have. And yet he would not be so cruel as that. He couldn’t be.
That school he talked about sending me to, that’s where he would send her. Or to the old family property in Scotland. Good Lord. I would never see her again. Never find her.
“Father?”
“Do as I say,” he ordered. His voice rang out loud and clear in the room. Still, he wouldn’t look at her.
Strong and proud, Ernest Honeyfield, Earl of Lincoln, could command his daughter to do as he liked––he just couldn’t look her in the eye with his threats.
He doesn’t mean it. Not really. He can’t. Father is strict, but he is not cruel. If I don’t sign the contract, then… then he’ll have to let me stay. Emma needs me. He needs me to run the house, doesn’t he? And yet… If I do stay, what then?
The tightness in her throat loosened, only for a heavy weight to settle in her stomach. Discomfort as her fate slowly sank in. There was no option but this. For Emma’s sake, Georgiana understood she could only take so many risks.
“You don’t care,” she whispered. “A gentleman never wants daughters. And you have two.”
“I do care,” he countered. “I am doing what I must to protect you.”
The idea made her scoff. “Protection, yes, by throwing me at the first man that comes along. Or second. I don’t care. It hardly matters. I should have known. Ever since Mother passed––”
