“I must take my leave now. Enjoy the rest of your night!” Her sentences came out in a rush, and she took off in a running gait with skirts hiked up in her hands before she was done speaking. Phillip had never before seen a lady act as such, but he thought perhaps he found it endearing.
He wanted to be able to find her again, and called after her, “But what is your name?”
Alas, his inquiry came too late, and she had gone before she could hear him. One corner of his mouth lifted in a pleasant smile. Who was this mystery girl, and how could he see her again?
The morning after the ball, Marina Linfield was feeling restless.
Her night was all but sleepless, tossing and turning in her bed. Not only had she received the horrible news of her impending engagement, but she’d nearly brought herself to her own ruination in her carelessness outside in the garden. It had occurred to her that she was fortunate that the Duke had not asked her name. If he had, she was sure that he would have thought she was a poor reflection of her entire family. A negative remark from him would have soiled both of her sisters’ chances at marriage. She shuddered to think of it.
Worse, she was glued to her seat in the drawing room next to her dear father awaiting her ill fate. Her dreams had been of a miserable, lonely existence away from her family and in the home of a man who could not possibly know her. She had thought better of protesting this morning though she deeply wished to convince her father that she was better off alone. After all, who would care for him when he grew old and frail? But even in her own mind, the argument seemed weak.
Tensions were high when, at last, a doorman brought in a tray with a guest’s card. Her father received it, glanced at it, thenglanced at it again, his back straightening suddenly. His eyes flickered toward Marina then to the doorman.
“Well, let him in,” he insisted, shooing the servant away.
Marina searched her father’s face, further chagrined by his behavior. Was the man she was to marry so powerful that it warranted such haste and fuss, or was he truly so desperate to see her wed that he felt the need to act as a man below his station?
The Earl rose from his seat to stand closer to the entrance of the room. Marina heard heavy footsteps, bracing herself for the conversation that was about to come. Her heart raced, but she reminded herself that there was nothing left to do but to accept the decision which had been made on her behalf.
A crop of inky black hair and a flash of green eyes appeared in the doorway. She concealed her gasp with her gloved hand.
What is the Duke doing here?
CHAPTER 4
Marina could not tear her eyes away from the man who had just appeared in her drawing room. The young Duke of Peterborough’s face was as steely and unreadable as it had been at the ball the night before. He nodded his head to her father with formality.
“How do you do, Carlisle?” Marina watched the two men remove their gloves and shake hands, wondering desperately when they had been formally introduced. Surely, at the ball, but by whom? And what was the manner of this meeting? Her heart raced, fearful that the Duke had come to tell her father of her impropriety the night before.
Then, shamefully, hopeful that if he did, she would not have to go through with the marriage her father had arranged.
“Very well. I hope the morning finds you in good spirits and health. Marina, come and meet His Grace, Duke of Peterborough. Your Grace, my eldest daughter, Lady Marina Linfield.”
Marina, who had stepped forward for the introduction, curtsied. As she rose again, her eyes met Phillip’s, and she felt that same thrill which had been present the night before. She thought that under different circumstances, were they meeting on another morning, the way she felt might have pulled her to pursue the Duke’s company. If she were not minutes from becoming betrothed to someone else, she might have thought him quite handsome.
“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Marina. How do you do?”
“Yours as well,” she breathed, her astonishment evident no matter her attempts to hide it. “I am very well, Your Grace, thank you.”
“I have come to call upon your father,” he told her. Something about the look in his eye held Marina captive, and she wondered for a moment if there was something else for her to glean from his simple, innocuous statement.
Then, turning to Richard, “It is a business inquiry. Shall we remove ourselves from the Lady’s company to discuss these matters which she must find remarkably dull?” Phillip’s lighthearted, charming tone might have regaled the Earl but burned Marina like a hot pan against her hand. Why had he come? And why was he being so secretive?
She nodded to both men, in turn, and retired to her seat to fret. A few seconds later, Olivia—who must have been waiting for heropportunity—appeared to sit beside her. Marina reached out to clutch one of her sister’s hands.
“What is it, Marina? You look troubled. And pale. What’s happened?”
“Olivia, the Duke of Peterborough is here. He’s come to call on Father. They are now speaking in his office.”
“His Grace?Here?” Marina was comforted to see that her sister was just as confused as she was. It made her feel less as though she were going mad to know that she was not the only one who saw the absurdity of this situation.
“Yes. And he and Papa had been introduced already. Do you know when?”
“At the ball,” Olivia answered, knowingly. “It must have been. I did see them speaking, but I do not know who introduced them. Did he say why he is here? What he wants?”
“To make a business inquiry,” Marina huffed. “Where are Emily and Nicholas?”
“With their governess, playing in the garden. I’ve just left them. But, Marina, it cannot be the Duke’s sudden appearance that has you in such a state. You’ve been beside yourself since we returned here last night.”
