Virginia did not answer. Her breath had been stolen away. There was the proof she hadn’t wanted. Her family had planned on never letting her back in their lives.
Lady Beatrice’s eyes widened, as though taking in every aspect of Virginia’s person. The freckles that ran in the family. The same cheekbones, the same red-brown hair. There could be no doubt.
“You’re alive?” she asked in confusion. “What in the world is going on? Why are you tucked away up here with—” Her cheeks flushed scarlet. “Oh. I see.”
“No,” Virginia said quickly. “It isn’t what you think.”
It was, in a way, much worse than what Lady Beatrice thought. Virginia wasn’t Theodore’s secret lover. He wanted her to be his wife. Or so he’d said.
If the idea of marrying Theodore had sounded like a dream come true, Lady Beatrice’s presence had just awoken Virginia from her slumber. She was not the wicked witch of a fairy story, but a polite, pretty young lady who had traveled cross country to retrieve what was hers.
Not only had Lady Beatrice spent her entire life expecting to wed Theodore, she had been bred from birth to be the perfect wife, the perfect hostess, the perfect marchioness. Lady Beatrice wasn’t some vague promise Theodore’s father had made. She was the sort of lady a future marquess needed by his side. The exact opposite of Virginia.
Lady Beatrice wasn’t just the better choice. She was theonlychoice. One look at her, and Theodore would realize how close he’d come to a terrible mistake.
“I’m sorry I tried to…” Virginia’s heart was breaking too much to continue.
Even though walking away was the right path—theinevitablepath—she hated to give up a single moment with Theodore. And yet they all knew a man like him could never choose a woman like her. She was too strange, too different, too embarrassing. It was better to leave of her own free will than to wait to be tossed aside.
Legs shaking, she stumbled around elegant Lady Beatrice and her equally elegant maids toward the door.
Lady Beatrice’s gaze jerked up and her face blanched. “Ormondton, yourface… Oh, and your leg!”
“Virginia,” Theodore’s voice growled. “Wait. I will not—”
“No.” The words scratched from her throat as she spun around to face him. “It is I who will not. I cannot, and neither can you. Lady Beatrice is welcome in Society, and I am not. She belongs in your world, and I do not.Sheis your intended.” Virginia swallowed the lump in her throat. “Not me.”
“His…” Lady Beatrice’s jaw dropped. “You were going to marryher?What about your reputation? What aboutme?”
“Don’t worry.” Virginia reached for the door. “You win.”
Theodore limped forward. “I’m not a thing that can be won or lost. This isn’t a game.”
“Of course ‘High Society’ is a game,” she said with a sigh. “You’re both players. I am not. Marrying each other is how you win. That’s why your fathers made the match. They wanted to ensure you made the right decision.”
“My life is not his to run.” Theodore stepped forward. “Perhaps I’ll be fighting for his approval the rest of eternity, but I—”
“You’re not eveninthat war.” Virginia wished he could see the truth. “Your father is fighting himself. He doesn’t hate you. He’s just scared.”
Theodore scoffed. “Scared of what?”
“Losing his worth.” She curled her trembling fingers into fists. “Admitting you’re ready means acknowledging his son doesn’t need him anymore. Of course he’s terrified. Nothing is worse than being disposable.”
Chapter 13
Nothing is worse than being disposable.
When Virginia’s voice cracked, so did Theo’s heart. His stomach roiled. Misery was etched into every inch of Virginia’s face.
He reached for her. “You have never been disposable.”
“I have always been disposable,” she corrected with a humorless laugh. “Dreams only last until morning. I knew better than to fill my head with fantasies for this very reason. I’m not ‘goodton.’ I don’t fit in. And I can never beher. We had our make-believe. This is good-bye.”
Virginia shoved open the door and walked out.
“Wait.” Theo hurried down the front step, wincing at the impact on his knee. “Virginia!”
Lady Beatrice grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”
