“You’d have the chance to see the world! Don’t you love this girl?” Della asked, incensed. She’d thought that’s what the tears were for. “This might be the only way you can be with her now.”
But Annabelle snapped back, “Of course I don’t love her; I barely know her! This was a bit of harmless fun. I certainly didn’t expect to be caught.”
God help me. Why do I even try?
“Well, you’ve seduced her and ruined her,” Della reminded her sister. “Now you intend to abandon her as well? Really, Annabelle.”
“I wouldn’t be asking for your help if I intended to abandon her, now would I?” It must be witchcraft that allowed the author of such a scandal to look so superior. “There is another choice that would allow us all to continue on with our lives and cover up this unfortunate misunderstanding.”
She paused here while Della struggled to rein in her exasperation.
“Are you going to tell me what miracle you’ve contrived to save your skin?”
“Miss Greenwood must be married to the man who compromised her. It’s the only way to avoid total ruin. All we need to do is find the man.”
Della was so stunned she lost the power of speech for a full minute. This posed no hardship, for her sister kept right on talking.
“I was thinking of Peter. It’s not as though he’s likely to find himself a bride on the power of his own charm, and Miss Greenwood is terribly pretty. We’d be doing him a favor, really.”
“Peter?” Della echoed helplessly.
“Someone needs to carry on the family name and produce a few children, don’t they? We aren’t likely to do it.”
“I beg your pardon!”
“It’s a compliment,” Annabelle assured her. “You’ve always said you see no reason to marry too early, which I consider a rare showing of good sense.”
“You should watch your tongue if you still want my help in this fiasco.” Della might not have found the love of her life quite yet, but that didn’t mean she wasfirmlyon the shelf.
“Very well.” Annabelle sighed, as thoughshewere the one suffering ill-treatment. “But you must admit it’s the best option we’ve got.”
Della wasn’t convinced of that in the least. It was on the tip of her tongue to retort that sending Annabelle to the continent was still the better plan.
Perhaps then I could finally make some progress on my manuscript!
“Why do you keep sayingwe?” Della asked. “Surely you can persuade Peter to marry your ruined lover without my involvement.”
What a sentence.
“Alas, I cannot,” Annabelle said, with a note of regret. “He’ll refuse if I ask, but he always does favors for you.”
“That’s because I pay him for it.” Honestly, did Annabelle think these things just fell into her lap? No one had any regard for her hard work. “Though I think the going rate for a forced marriage will be far higher than my standard bottle of top-shelf champagne.”
“Oh.” This revelation seemed to put a stumbling block in her sister’s plans. “I didn’t realize.”
“You see? This is a ludicrous idea.”
“Come now,” Annabelle insisted. “I won’t let Eliza be exiled forever. Then I’ll have to feel awful about it. We must do something, and this is the only course that suits.”
“Does Miss Greenwood think it suits? Does she even fancymen?”
“She fancies some men, although I can’t say whether Peter will qualify. He is adrasticstep down from me.” Annabelle frowned into the distance for a moment, perhaps reflecting on their brother’s faults. “I suppose she might prefer the continent. Let’s focus on securing Peter’s consent first, shall we? If we get that far, we’ll smuggle Eliza a note to check her preference.”
How do I always get roped into these things?It was unfair. She had more important matters to attend to than convincing Peter to marry Annabelle’s lover. She hadtwoseparate business endeavors demanding her time. She should say no.
But without her expert touch, Annabelle would probably botch the whole thing and end up exposed to all of London, and then where would they be? As much as her sister might annoy her, Della didn’t want to see her exiled from society. No, she would have to help. There was nothing else for it.
And if she was going to be put to work, she would take her cut.
