“You look lovely,” he said.
Elle grimaced and her father nodded. “Can I have a moment?” he addressed Molly, who immediately dropped into a curtsey and rushed out of the room, closing the door behind her.
The duke exhaled and crossed to the window.
“Your mother told me about Drury Lane.” He looked smaller than usual, as though he hadn’t been eating. “I’m sorry leaving distressed you.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Conflict tore her inside. Because she was angry with her father, so very angry, and yet she loved him more than… almost anything. “Nothing matters.” She knew she was acting belligerently, but she couldn’t help it.
All her plans were ruined.
“When my daughter is distressed, it matters to me.” He did not turn around but continued staring out the window.
Elle pinched her lips together. If she spoke, she’d start crying all over again.
“You need to trust me. I realize…”
But Elle found some of her spirit. “How can I trust you when you refuse to listen to me?”
He turned his back to the window. “I thought Featherstone would make a good match for your sister. I never imagined… But Elle. She will never have to worry about being protected. She and the children she has will never lack for anything, and that might not seem important now, but you are young. You haven’t seen how cruel this world can be. You need to acknowledge that I’m not going to live forever.”
Elle couldn’t stop the small cry she made hearing him say that, but he held up his hand.
“I’m no longer a young man, and ensuring you’re provided for properly, as befitting your upbringing, is my top priority.”
“But—”
He cut her off with a single look and straightened his back. “The Marquess of Ashwood will arrive shortly, along with his son—your betrothed. I think you’ll be… pleased. Now, shall I escort you downstairs myself or can I trust you’ll join us shortly?”
She’d known this was coming.
“I won’t marry him.” Elle loved her father, but she needed to be quite clear about this.
“Meet him first, will you?” Her father tilted his head. “Please, Elle?”
Against her every conviction, she nodded. “I’ll meet him. I’m not totally unreasonable. But please remember I’m not likely to marry. If you decide to send me up north, then north I shall go.”
Her father scoffed, shaking his head. “I won’t send you up north.”
Elle dipped her chin, her throat thick and her eyes aching from all the tears she’d already shed that day. “Thank you. And I will not embarrass you. I promise. But I do need to put on my slippers and Molly hasn’t yet brought out my jewels. But I’ll meet your guests.” And then she held her father’s gaze. “I promise.”
“You’re a good girl, Elle.” On his way out, he stopped and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I know you’ll do what’s right.”
Of course, he fully expected she’d fall in line.
Once her father left, Elle fought the urge to pack her bags and run back to the theater. But she didn’t work there any longer. The empty sensation that followed that admission almost made her dizzy.
She was not giving up. She was not! She would merely delay her dreams.
Wearing matching emerald slippers and her grandmother’s pearls, Elle took one last glance in the mirror and laughed at the irony of her red eyes and blotchy skin. Despite the elaborate hairstyle, the gold ribbons, and the lovely gown, she… “I look terrible.”
And if she was lucky, the marquess’s son would take one look at her and break the betrothal.
“You look terribly unhappy.” Molly winced. “Do you want to try lying down with the damp cloth some more?” She hovered nervously behind Elle.
“Too late for that, Moll.” Elle met her maid’s stare in the mirror. “You can lead a girl to a suitor, but you can’t force her to be happy about it.”
“Oh, my lady…”
