Lila turned her back on the portrait of the girl surrounded by sheep. “I understand you are displeased, Hattie. But I am not using you. You’ll just have to trust me when I say I am helping you.”
“Dear God,” Hattie muttered. “I don’t see how. And even if I could, I beg of you, please don’t help me, Lila.”
She turned and walked on to the next portrait, seething.
And a little heartbroken, quite honestly. She’d allowed herself to be swept up to attend the ball, but she didn’t think she could bear to see Teo with Flora one more time without her heart completely shattering.
WHILEHATTIEWASsuffering through an art gallery with Lady Aleksander, Mateo was suffering his mother. She was in a pique, annoyed with him for taking too long to choose a woman to be his wife. It baffled him that she seemed to think it was no harder than choosing a new hunting dog. Look them over, review their bloodlines, and voilà, here is the woman you will wake up next to for the rest of your life.
She was pacing before the hearth, her new petticoats rustling beneath her skirts. “Lila says you won’t say much at all, Teo.”
“What is there to say?” he asked her.
“There is everything to say! You could start by telling her which woman with whom you would like to begin negotiations!”
She made it sound so...transactional, as if he was buying a broodmare.
“Is it the Raney woman?”
Mateo looked at his mother. He could not finesse this like Sofia would, or please her like Roberto. But he could be honest. “It’s Miss Woodchurch.”
“Who?” she asked, before she realized who he meant.
“My scribe,” he said, to erase any doubt.
She stared at him. And then she attempted to laugh in the vain hope it was a joke.
Mateo didn’t laugh with her.
“Good God,” she said. “Don’t be ridiculous, Teo.”
“Is it ridiculous to follow one’s heart? Don’t you want happiness for me, Mami?”
His mother’s expression was turning a bit ashen. “She is no one.”
“She is someone to me. And she is a fully formed person, like you.”
“No, no, you won’t shame me. Of course she’s a person, and I’m sure she’s lovely. But she is no one to Santiava. We are talking about the future of the duchy,mijo. We must consider a marriage with a certain amount of wealth and connection. You know all the reasons why. There are those in the duchy who would like to see us absorbed into Spain. If they perceive you as weak, they will push for it. This marriage must be a strong one.”
He knew the reasons. But he was finding that he no longer cared. He could hear his father even now, after all this time, berating him for even entertaining such a pedestrian notion that he might marry for love. He stood and walked to the window. It was dark; he couldn’t see much.
“Mateo.” His mother came to the window. She put her arm around his waist and rested her head against his shoulder. “I understand you want to marry for love, but our reality is something completely different. Don’t you think you could come to love Miss Raney?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I suppose anything is possible. But I love Hattie.”
His mother rubbed his back the way she used to do when he was a child and fell ill. “Your position in this world is not easy, I know. You have enormous responsibilities.”
“And I’ve met them all.”
“You have, my love. But in this? This especially, you must choose carefully. Miss Raney’s father is influential in the English Parliament. She would be an excellent choice for our corner of the world.”
He said nothing. He knew what his mother thought. But he couldn’t see the logic to why it should matter. He was the duke. He knew that having an heir was necessary, and that was another responsibility he would meet. But what difference would it make who he chose to fulfill that obligation?
“It will be better,mijo,” she said. “You will have a wedding and you will have your bride. You will show her Santiava and delight in it, and then, when the children come, you can do as you please.”
Mateo turned his head to look at her. “Is that what Papa did?”
His mother shrugged indifferently. “I didn’t mind so much. I couldn’t account for your father’s whereabouts throughout our entire marriage, and I sincerely doubt he could account for mine. But we came together and had three beautiful children, and he gave me an extraordinary life. I don’t think either of us had any complaints, and I don’t think you will, either.”
