Eyes glistening, Felicity blinked hard and fast, obviously struggling to maintain her unnaturally cold demeanor. “No? You do not recall her? Then what about her friends, Lady Margaret Feathersby and Lady Delphia Morgbrouton? Both assured me you proposed to them as well after Lady Nedia spurned you, because you brought nothing to the union but a title and destitution.”
“I do not know what cruel game this is, my lady, but I swear to you upon my father’s grave, I have proposed to no one.” He leaned forward. “I have not even proposed to you, my lady, because you wished us to court for a while.”
“I do not believe you.”
He thumped the table. “Then bring those women here. I want theright to confront my accusers, whose faces I cannot even remember.” This was utter madness. Why would those women say such a thing? “Who told you this? Why in heaven’s name would they tell such lies?”
“Mrs. Caruthers and Mrs. Beatrice were warning me away from courting you when Lady Nedia came into the shop and swore you had proposed to every eligible woman of thetonpossessing an ample dowry. She found it quite amusing that you had finally worked your way down to me.”
He leaned back in the chair, scrubbing his face with both hands. “I have not proposed to anyone, my lady, and will swear that is the truth until my dying day. I did make discreet inquiries regarding dowries. Yes. I am guilty of that, and you are very well aware of why, but there was no list of women for me towork my way down.” With a heavy sigh, he let his hands drop to his lap. “I do not even remember those women. Could you describe them?”
“Three waspish harpies,” Merry said as she emerged from the depths of the maze of roses, “none of them aging well as they approach their third Season.”
“Blonde, tall, and striking,” Serendipity said as she came out from behind the ivy arbor. “However, Lady Nedia does look remarkably like a goose with her overly long neck. Lady Margaret wears entirely too much rouge on her cheeks and lips, and Lady Delphia laughs like a braying donkey.”
Drake thought long and hard about the parties he had intended. Indeed, he had come across three women fitting those descriptions, but as far as he could recall, he had steered clear of them. Dowries or not, he couldn’t imagine marriage to any of them. The very idea had made him shudder. “I do not believe I have ever spoken to those three. Why in heaven’s name would they claim I proposed to them?”
The Broadmere sisters remained silent, all of them staring at him as if tearing into his soul.
“I think he is telling the truth,” Merry said, her eyes narrowing tocritical squints.
“Perhaps,” Serendipity said while slowing drumming her fingers atop the table. She turned to Felicity. “Nedia is known to be the cruelest sort of liar.”
“And Margaret and Delphia are known to follow wherever she leads.” Merry arched a brow at Felicity. “It could be they are jealous of you.”
“Jealous of me, why?” Felicity kept her glare locked on Drake. He prayed she wouldn’t find him lacking.
“You said they are approaching their third Season out,” he said. “Perhaps they are jealous you have a man who adores you.”
“A man who adores my dowry. You know that is what everyone in Binnocksbourne believes.” She folded her hands on the table, clenching them so tightly her knuckles whitened. She huffed a humorless laugh. “Apparently, I am so utterly unmatchable that no one could want me for any other reason than my dowry.”
“You are not unmatchable.” What in heaven’s name had this poor, gentle creature been told? “The only way you might be unmatchable, Lady Felicity, is that no one deserves you. I, especially, do not deserve you, but providence granted me the opportunity to meet you and give you my heart.”
“Pretty words,” she said, but the coldness in her eyes seemed less icy. She flinched as though battling pain. “I want to believe you.”
“Then do,” he said, debating whether to drop to his knees and beg. Then the most obvious answer of all came to him. “Keep your dowry.” He almost choked on the words, knowing how badly he needed the money. “If the dowry is all you think I want, then keep it.”
She sat back and frowned in disbelief. “The Wakefield estate cannot survive without it.”
“Oh, we can survive, but it will be just that,” he said, feeling the hope of their future slipping away with every word he uttered. “It will take years and years to undo the damage my uncle left behind, and Ihave nearly ruined myself attempting to remedy it in a faster manner. I should have left it all alone and tended to what I knew best, taken care of my own land and holdings rather than risk them all because of a title that grows more meaningless each day.”
She stared at him, reminding him of a skittish deer, afraid and unsure whether to trust. Just as she seemed about to speak, Fipps hurried into the garden, clearing his throat to announce his presence. “Forgive me for interrupting, but there is a messenger at the door who appears quite agitated.” He bowed to Drake. “He has come to fetch you, my lord. It would appear there is a dire matter at Wakefield Manor that requires your immediate presence.”
Torn at ignoring the runner and staying to beg Felicity to believe his love for her, Drake held up a hand, waving Fipps away. “There is a dire matter here that requires my presence. Even if Wakefield is on fire, there is nothing I care about there as much as I care about Felicity.”
“The messenger said you might say that and asked that I tell you his name is John. He most heartily begs your forgiveness for the interruption, but it is quite necessary. He said the situation could be most dire for even more than those who reside at Wakefield.” For the first time since Drake had met the butler, the man looked pained.
“You said it was John?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Damn and blast,” Drake muttered, then jerked back to his senses. “Forgive my coarseness, ladies.”
“Go,” Felicity said with a tip of her head at the door.
“It would seem best that you do so,” Serendipity added.
“We are not done here,” he told Felicity. “I refuse to lose you.”
