How could she begin to explain things to her mother? They weren’t two strangers—a rake and his target—but they weren’t courting either.
“I don’t know.”
“How could you not know?” Rosamund leaned in close, lowering her voice. “Did you or did you not persuade that scoundrel to ruin you in front of your father?”
“I never asked him to kiss me, but…” Anna couldn’t blame Philip for her fall from grace. In some twisted way, she suspected he had been trying to help. “It’s not his fault. He is a good man.”
Rosamund laughed. “A good man would not ruin your life—likely ruin his own, too. I should not be surprised. I know as much about his family as the rest of the ton. The things they used to say about his father… George was foolish to befriend him. But I did not think you were at risk of meeting him and being compromised by him, too. He is a colonel, for heaven’s sake! Does he have no honor, no shame? They will be speaking about this for years to come.”
Anna clenched her jaw. “Philip is nothing like his father.”
“You don’t know anything about either of them! The moral decay that has infected the Wilmington family cannot be healed. Back in my day, all the young girls were warned about the Duke of Wells—The Duke of Darkness. He was a blight on London society. We should have expected that his heir would assume his own reign of terror. You should be disgusted with him…”
“How do you know that I’m not?” Anna regretted the words as soon as she said them, not sure what to believe. She ignored Rosamund’s glower. “I am angry at him. He should have said something. I don’t know why he kissed me… But that doesn’t mean he is a monster like you say his father was.”
“If I had known that calling on him with that accursed snuffbox would result in this, I would never have allowed you to go. He must have thought you were an easy target and chose tonight to make his move. Do you see now why we have been so strict with you? This is what men do. This is how they treat young ladies with stars in their eyes. You think you know so much about the world, but you know nothing.”
Anna leaned onto her elbows, her head spinning. “I know more than you think.”
“Oh, do enlighten me.”
“I know that you’ve never listened to a word I’ve said. I’ve begged you for enough time to find the right husband, and you ignored me. I know you wish I was more like Rebecca, but I’m not like her, and I never will be.” She straightened in her seat. “I know that I would rather die than marry a man like Lord Ashwicken and that Philip—Iwillsay his name—was only trying to help me cancel the betrothal. He was being a friend to me, and that was all.”
As she said the words, Philip’s kiss, the feel of his hand on hers, ghosted over her skin. Calling him a friend was a lie. They weren’t friends and never had been. That much, Anna now knew for certain.
“You will forgive me if I do not thank him for his help.” Rosamund sighed, clasping her hands in front of her in prayer. “Your father will never forgive you for this. His deal with Ashwicken had been months in the making…”
“What deal?” Anna asked. Her fingernails had left crescents in the palm of her hand. “What exactly did Father stand to gain?”
Her mother dropped her hands, muttering under her breath. “You will not understand even if I explain it to you. Suffice it to say that your father had the connections and Ashwicken the capital for a joint venture in a place called Pennsylvania. Ashwicken would give your father shares in the operation in exchange for your hand—their new fortune would remain in the family when one or the other died first.”
“I was a means to an end. A human bank account they could use to ensure that their wealth was not divided,” Anna murmured, feeling more disgusted with her father than ever. “And youagreedto this?”
“It is my duty as your mother to find you a suitable husband. But you were too irrational to see that Ashwickenwassuitable.” Her mother took a moment to calm herself. “I scarcely know what to do with you now. I suppose there is only one thing we can hope for. And it is a vain, hopeless hope.”
Anna gritted her teeth. “I will not beg Ashwicken for his forgiveness.”
“Ashwicken? Your betrothal to Lord Ashwicken is broken beyond repair. He will not accept you after you have shamed him so publicly, not even for the sake of their venture. No, I am not speaking of Lord Ashwicken. I am speaking of the duke.”
Rosamund grabbed Anna’s face, forcing her to look her in the eye.
“You danced with the devil tonight, Anna. Now, you must hope that he is willing to marry you.”
* * *
Philip slammed the door of his carriage and signaled for his driver to leave—and drive fast. He needed to put as much distance between himself and the Ratley house as possible before the Earl of Bristol and his cronies found him.
The carriage rolled forward a few yards before coming to an abrupt halt. Philip tore his hands from his face and yanked open the carriage curtains to see what had happened.
Before he could question his driver, the door opposite him flew open. George appeared behind it, shouting at his footman to keep his distance. His face was red and damp with sweat. How long had he been running after Philip?
“If you are here on the order of your uncle—” Philip began.
“Oh, shut up and let me in.” George cast a dark look at the footman approaching him. “I’ll thank you for not throwing me to the wolves. I am, after all, the only one connecting you and Anna—and my uncle knows it.”
Philip nodded curly and waved his men. “Continue toward Westminster,” he ordered, watching George slip inside.
George settled on the bench beside him, his eyes boring into the side of Philip’s face as he slowed his breathing. The carriage rattled beneath them, each rotation of its wheels ticking like the hands of a clock.
