Marianne gasped and looked on the verge of saying something, but she caught Rose’s eye; a warning to keep her mouth shut.
“Father…” Rose laughed softly and stepped between them. “That is a tad preemptive, is it not? I thought that you were still deciding if –”
“This is not something to be decided, Rosalind,” her father spoke over her. “It is done, and that is the end of the matter.” He then scowled at Rose, in his eyes a warning to keep her mouth shut. “Is that not right, Your Grace?”
The Duke looked at her father strangely. For a moment, it appeared as if he was furious with her father, and Rose braced herself for his anger. But he recovered quickly, and a forced smile reached his lips; it did not reach his eyes.
“Yes,” the Duke said. “It is done.”
“Wonderful!” Rose’s father clapped his hands together, seemingly unaware of the change in the Duke’s mood. “Just wonderful.”
The suddenness of this declaration should not have surprised Rose as it did. Nor should it have surprised Marianne. They knew that the Duke of Thornwall was coming to see them for this very reason, just as they knew their father was likely to accept the offer without hesitation.
And does he care at all about Marianne’s feelings? Why would he? He never has before, and he certainly wasn’t going to start now when marrying her to a Duke was on the line.
It was last week when their father called them into his office withgood news, as he had framed it. Delighted, he was to announce a marriage contract that he’d organized years earlier. He would not tell them how he managed such a thing. Nor would he tell them why it was agreed to in the first place. That it was happening was what mattered.
The girls had argued. They had pleaded. They had questioned the validity of such a contract. And their father, likely justwanting to stop Rose’s constant arguing, agreed to consider it before coming to a decision.
“Perhaps the Duke will try and break the contract?” he had offered them as an olive branch. “Stranger things have happened.”
Rose had known that to be unlikely. Just as she had known that if the Duke tried such a thing, their father would fight it. He was an ambitious social climber, and there was nothing that he would not do to advance himself.
Hope was all Rose had to hold onto.
“Father…” Marianne’s chin trembled. “Might we talk about…”
“As I told your sister, it is done,” their father spoke over her. “Nothing will change it. And please, Marianne, remember that we are in company. Try and control yourself.”
“Father, you promised that you would not sign anything without first speaking to me,” Rose said to their father, caring not for the presence of the Duke. “You promised me.”
Her father narrowed his eyes. “You forget yourself, Rosalind. You are my daughter, not my business partner.”
“I think you know that I am a little more than that.”
Rose’s father was not a savvy businessman, though that was how he thought of himself. The truth was that if Rose had not guided her father in his investments and business ventures from a young age, he would have lost everything they owned.
She had kept this family afloat; she believed that she had as much a right as anyone to decide who Marianne should marry as he did, and it was time that her father remembered it.
“Rosalind…” Her father cleared his throat and glanced quickly at the Duke. “We can talk about this later.”
Rose turned to face the Duke, making sure not to meet his eyes because she did not want a repeat of the last time. “I am sorry, Your Grace, but my father has gotten ahead of himself. We will need time to determine whether this marriage is in our best interests.”
“Rosalind!” her father barked.
The Duke’s expression filtered between amusement and confusion. “And you think it is that simple?”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“I can appreciate the concern one has for their siblings. And in ordinary circumstances, I might even agree with you. However, this is not a matter up for debate or decision making.”
“Of course it is.”
“No.” His voice was somehow both quiet and demanding of attention. And while she still refused to look at him, Rose could feel his eyes boring into her. “As I am certain you are aware, your father and I have a contract.” He clenched his jaw as if frustrated. “A legally binding agreement. I did not come here today to decide whether the marriage would go ahead or not. Rather, I came here to discusswhenit is happening.”
“As soon as is possible!” Rose’s father hurried, making sure to glare another warning at his daughter. “I will need to call in a few favors, but the next two weeks –”
“Father!” Rose cried. “There is no need –”
