“She started out by lying about you!”
“But I understand her reasons for doing it,” Arthur pointed out. “She’s trying to provide a future for her sister. I think…I think that life has been unfair to her, just as it was to me. I can relate to that. Her life isn’t about fulfilling selfish desires, the way the lives of so many seem to be. She has a mission, and so do I. I think we’re the same in that way, and I think that similarity will help us to understand each other and to make our lives together a bit easier than they might have been otherwise. She won’t expect grand romantic gestures. She wants my help providing a future for her sister. I can give her that, and I appreciate the honesty when she’s dealing with me. At least I know I’m not being misled. Miss Isabella might be willing to tell a lie to get what she wants, but if she can get it by honest means, then she will. And that makes her someone I can trust—someone I can trust enough to work with if nothing else.”
CHAPTER 7
“That gown would have looked much better on me,” Rosalind said. “You look silly, Isabella. Why didn’t you tell Father to let you wear the pink one I offered you? It would have been much better. You would have fit in it well, too.”
Isabella knew perfectly well that she wouldn’t have fit in the pink gown. She would have had to make alterations to it—and she’d have had to do that on her own because her father wouldn’t have provided a seamstress after having offered to buy her something new. This whole conversation was just another of Rosalind’s constant attempts to outshine her.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to take such a beautiful gown away from you, Rosalind,” Isabella said sweetly. “It was so kind of you to offer it, but I couldn’t have deprived you of it.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have minded,” Rosalind said. “I’d be happy to be rid of it because then maybe Father would buy me something new.”
Isabella had to turn away so that Rosalind wouldn’t see her roll her eyes. It was just so obvious that all she cared about was what she could get for herself—she wasn’t even good at pretending that other people mattered to her.
“I think this gown is nice,” she said. It was a pale blue with embroidery on the bodice, and Isabella thought it was the loveliest she had ever owned.
“It matches my eyes,” Rosalind pointed out, “not yours.”
“That’s all right.”
“You know, Father agrees that it ought to be me marrying the Duke and not you.”
“Does he?” Isabella asked mildly.
“Oh, yes. He’s sure the Duke will regret his choice and come back in a year’s time asking for an exchange. Of course, he won’t receive it.” Rosalind laughed. “Father would never give me in marriage to someone who didn’t have the sense to ask for me first! Even if he is a duke. Your duke will never have me now. I’d want nothing to do with him.”
She said all this very quietly so as not to be overheard because the Duke himself was sitting to Isabella’s other side, and no matter how disdainful Rosalind might want to act toward him, Isabella knew that she wouldn’t be willing to openly disrespect him. She would be too fearful of tarnishing her own reputation by acting that way—and she would be right to fear it. No one would think highly of a young lady who spoke ill of the Duke today, on his wedding day, even if he was the subject of gossip much of the time. People would expect that he should be treated with courtesy on this day at least.
Isabella had noticed that she was receiving similar treatment. Not many people would have come to her wedding breakfast, she thought, but of course, everyone wanted to attend the reclusive Duke’s and to see the lady he’d deemed worthy to be his wife. They knew of her, but now, she had become an object of curiosity to them. Now she was someone they wanted to stare at and whisper questions about.
But the questions would wait until later, behind the closed doors of their own homes. No one was whispering about her here. They were smiling respectfully, beaming at her as if she wasone of them. A cherished daughter, a member of society who had celebrated a debut with them and who everyone had watched grow up and wondered about her future. The whole thing was completely make-believe, of course. That wasn’t who she was to them at all. But for today, for one day, they would deal with her politely and respectfully.
Only the members of her own family couldn’t seem to do it. Rosalind had been making pointed comments all day, and while her father had been respectful and welcoming to his guests, hehad barely spared a glance for Isabella. It was clear to her that he wanted nothing more than to have this day over with.
Well, that was fine with her. She wanted the same.
She glanced over at the Duke, who sat to her other side. He hadn’t been particularly social today. He’d barely spoken to Isabella although he had told her at the church that she looked lovely in her gown. It hadn’t sounded like he meant it. Or rather, she hadn’t felt as though he had looked at her at all. It seemed to her more as if he was saying what he thought a gentleman was supposed to say to his wife on their wedding day, just as everyone else here was behaving the way they ought to and playing a part. She found herself wishing that he would look at her.
If only she had been seated next to Felicity! It was so hard to accept the fact that when this celebration ended, she would leave her sister behind and go off to Windhill Manor to live with the Duke. It had been her own plan to do this, but now she found herself questioning the decision. Was she really ready to go off and live with a man she hardly knew?
The answer was easy, of course. For Felicity, she would have done anything.
The meal came to an end, and the plates were cleared from the table. All the guests rose and made their way toward the ballroom where there would be several hours of drinks and dancing before the party came to an end. Isabella rather wished that it would just end now. As hard as it was to face the prospectof her new life, it was even harder to sit here waiting around for the inevitable to happen.
Felicity was at her side now, her arm linked through Isabella’s. “Are you and the Duke going to dance?” she asked eagerly.
“Perhaps. He hasn’t asked me,” Isabella said.
Rosalind appeared at her other side and sniffed. “He isn’t going to ask you to dance,” she huffed. “He’s marrying you for whatever reason—I can’t be sure—but it’s clear that he doesn’t want to dance with you. If he did, he would already be over here. He would already be asking you.”
That,Isabella had to concede,was likely true.
“Of course, he’s going to ask her,” Felicity said, but unfortunately, she sounded rather worried. “What sort of gentleman wouldn’t ask his wife to dance on their wedding day?”
“I don’t know, but it’s sure to bequitethe scandal.” Rosalind sounded positively delighted now. “I’m glad I didn’t marry him, Isabella, and I’m sorry for you! Who would want to be married to someone so heartless? I mean to say…I can see why a gentleman wouldn’t wish to dance with you, but it’s your wedding day, and I would have thought he would do it anyway, no matter how he might feel about it. How embarrassing.”
Isabella, who hadn’t felt embarrassed at all, was displeased to find that she suddenly did. How dreadful to discover that herhalf-sister’s words had gotten under her skin! She knew she couldn’t let Rosalind see the effect she’d had.
