He sat up in surprise. “Daisy?”
“We have to talk,” Daisy began. She strode toward him and stopped right in front of him. “I know.”
He tried to stand, but she pushed him down.
“You know?” he asked.
“I heard everything Mr. Chase said. I know you’re betrothed.”
The way his features blanked and then etched with pain made her heart ache for him. She wanted to help him, to heal him.
“I didn’t have a choice. Amelia signed as my proxy. She agreed that in exchange for the services of the doctor provided by Mrs. Dove-Lyon, I would marry a woman of her choosing.” He shook his head. “I don’t know who that person is. She is a stranger to me.”
So Amelia had forced his hand. For good reason, but still. Daisy had had most of her life to come to terms with marrying Cliffton. She knew who he was and who his family were, but Alston had woken up from the worst ordeal of his life to the news.
“It’s all right, Alston.”
“It’s not all right. I should have said something long before I kissed you. I’m despicable and selfish.”
“Then so am I.”
“You couldn’t be. I took advantage of you and your—”
“If you mention my age and inexperience, I will scream.”
He clamped his mouth shut.
“Good. Now listen.” Her stomach roiled, but she was going to blurt it out and let the cards fall where they may. He’d understand. She was sure of that. They’d both withheld information to protect each other and themselves from hurt. To pretend, for at least a little while, that they could have what they wanted. Live the life they’d chosen. Maybe even fall in love. She swallowed. “I’m engaged to Lord Cliffton. I have been since infancy.”
He frowned angrily. “That sweaty-faced blackguard? No, Blakewood would have said something to me at some point.”
“It wasn’t public knowledge. Not until the marriage contract was signed last month.”
“I’m not the public.”
“I asked him not to speak of it. It’s humiliating to have a fiancé who avoids you. Fewer people knowing meant I received fewer questions about it. Which became even more importantto me lately since the assumption was that we would marry last year when I turned eighteen.”
Alston stood again, and she stumbled back, but he did not stop and she fell back into the other chair. He braced his hands on the armrests and leaned over her.
“Tell me everything.”
“That’s all there is. Our mothers came to an arrangement, and I’ve not come out because it was deemed irrelevant. I wait for his return to England. Though apparently he is already in England. I haven’t seen him in months.”
Alston wiped a hand over his face. “So, this fiancé of yours could have you, and yet here you are, nineteen and unwed, and he is where?”
“He’s on his way home. That is what Lady Claystone said at the park.” The way he was looking at her, like he wanted to devour her, made her stomach flutter and her thighs clench.
“Does he write to you?”
“No.”
“He can’t even bother to write to his own fiancé. At all? When is the last time you’ve spoken in person?”
Daisy bit her lip and thought back. “We had dinner together at Summer Creek last spring.”
“That long? He does you great disservice, letting his mother fill his boots for him.”
“She’s educating me on how to be the next Lady Claystone.”
