Edwina had never felt more determined not to like someone in all her life.
The three of them walked back to Feverton Estate. Edwina worried that the Duke might try to linger, but he bid them farewell with promises that he would see Edwina at the upcoming Pinery Ball. Edwina nodded, determined that she would force him to count that outing as the first of their five dates.
Back inside, she wanted nothing more than to be on her own, so she turned her back on Lavinia when her sister tried to speak. She went up the stairs to her bedroom to ponder everything that had happened, grateful for the solitude but anxious about what might await her in the future.
Why had the Duke been so intent on the idea that he would win her affection? He didn’t have any real interest in her, so why did he care?
Well, it wasn’t going to happen. It might be a victory for him, a feather in his cap, to be able to say he had wooed the unattainable spinster, but Edwina knew that she was called that for a reason. The moniker wasn’t just a joke. She was truly unattainable, and she vowed that that would hold true when it came to the Duke of Harbeck.
CHAPTER 4
The family gathered around the table for dinner that night. Matthew was dining with them as well, so the table was more laden with food than it ordinarily would have been, and the place felt warm and inviting. At least, it might have if Edwina had deigned to look her sister in the face.
“You don’t need to be so distant with me,” Lavinia said. “We’re still family, Edwina.”
“Of course, we are,” Edwina agreed. “But I don’t feel as if I can trust you right now, Lavinia. Not after you forced me into this predicament.”
“You make it sound as if I’ve done something horrid to you. You’ll be going on some dates with a perfectly nice gentleman.”
“He wasn’t nice today.”
Her father set down his fork. “You saw him today?”
“Yes, I did,” Edwina replied. “He came by during breakfast while Lavinia and I were eating. We all went for a walk together.”
“I see,” her father said slowly. “Well, how fortunate. Did you have a nice time?”
“No, I didn’t!” Edwina declared. “That’s what I’m trying to say, Father. He wasn’t nice to me at all.”
“What did he do that bothered you?”
“He…” Edwina hesitated. “…told me that he would make me like him.”
“And…that angered you?”
“It was the way he said it,” Edwina observed. “He didn’t sound like he was trying to build a friendship with me. It was more like a threat.”
“How could something like that be a threat?” her father wanted to know.
“No, I know what Edwina means, I think,” Matthew said. “This is why I wasn’t sure about Allan. I know that we know him well. He’s a family friend. But he isn’t the sort of man anyone wants for his sister.”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Edwina agreed. “He’s not trying to win me over because he wants to get to know me better. It’s because he wants to prove he can do it. He knows no other gentleman has ever been able to impress me, and he wants to be the first because in his mind, that will make him superior to all the others who have tried. It’s a game to him, nothing more.I’ma game to him.”
“That’s right,” Matthew agreed. “I don’t like that he might treat Edwina that way. She doesn’t deserve that.”
“Matthew, you must admit that she’s had a great deal of luck in attracting suitors lately,” Lavinia said. “Someone is at the house almost every day trying to spend time in her company. Everyone is so curious about her—so eager to see whether a bit of Allan’s good fortune might rub off on them. Edwina might not be interested in a courtship with Allan—and you’re right, perhaps she shouldn’t be. But this has put her in the public eye, and we’ll find the person shedoesbelong with.”
“I don’t think you should dismiss the idea of a match with the Duke,” their father argued. “Look at how happy you are with your duke, Lavinia.”
“That’s different,” Matthew interjected. “Seth is a very different sort of man, Father.”
“We didn’t always realize that,” their father pointed out. “We had reservations about him at first. Don’t you remember?”
“Only because he was so closed off and distant,” Edwina spoke up. “We thought he might not be a very kind person. But once he began to open up, once we all got to know him, we realized that he’s a good man and a good match for Lavinia. That’s not the case with the Duke of Harbeck at all. He has no hidden depths. He’s simply a scoundrel. That’s all there is to him and all there ever will be, and I want nothing to do with him.”
Lavinia was beginning to look uncomfortable. “Edwina, you know I made these arrangements out of a desire to help you,” she said.
“You didn’t even ask me if I wanted to be helped.”
