Something in her words sent a chill down Marina’s spine. Her mother did not say ‘forgotten about Marina’s scandal’, or anything like that. Instead, she made it sound like her existence was to be completely erased. She stood up. “What do you mean, forget about me?”
Her mother looked at her like she was a dead bug on the tip of her favorite shoes. “You will be sent to finishing school, far away from London. Let us face the facts: you will never be good enough to find a husband. Perhaps I could have pawned you off onto a baron before today, but no one will touch you now. The best thing you can do for this family is leave and never return.”
With those words, she spun on her heel and swept out of the room. The three sisters gave each other alarmed looks before hurrying to follow her.
“Mama,” Amelia called after her. “Let us think this through. There is no need to be so hasty.”
“Yes,” Bethany said, hurrying to fall in step with her oldest sister. “The ton will forget soon enough. All Marina did was … try to save a dog. That is no reason for exile.”
Their mother entered the library, where their father was drinking tea and reading a newspaper. The older lady spun around to face her daughters. “Save a dog?” She screeched. “Do you honestly think that is all she did? She—she bared herself to the ton like some desperate courtesan!”
Marina’s cheeks flamed with humiliation as she remembered it. Perhaps finishing school would not be so bad after all, if it meant she never had to face any of those party goers again, let alone the Duke of Pemberton. His intense blue eyes were branded into her mind. She wondered if she would see them every time she closed her eyes for the rest of her life.
“She is our sister!” Amelia said desperately. “She will be so far away. We will hardly get to see her.”
“You will never get to see her again,” Lady Shirley hissed. “She will be sent far away, so she can no longer hurt us.”
“Where would you even send her?” Bethany asked. “Paris? Switzerland?”
“America.”
The announcement brought silence to the room. “America?” Marina finally said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “That is a whole ocean away.”
“Yes,” her mother said, looking triumphant. “I will find a finishing school in Boston or New York City. One of them will be sure to take you.”
Tears sprang to her eyes.I will never see my sisters again.“You don’t mean it,” she whispered. “You can send me to France or Switzerland. But please, do not make me go all the way to America.”
But her mother was not moved by her pleas or her tears. “You have caused too much harm,” she said. “America is where you will go.”
Her sisters gave her horrified looks. Desperately, Marina turned to her father, who had been silently watching the conversation over the top of his newspaper. “Papa, please,” she said.
He grunted and shook his head before turning his attention back to his paper.
Something inside Marina felt like it was breaking. She and her mother had never gotten along, but she never thought her mother would go so far as to banish her completely from their lives. She wrapped her arms around herself as she felt despair threaten to overwhelm her.
The heavy silence was only broken by footsteps echoing in the hall before the library door opened. Everyone turned to see the butler. The butler cleared his throat. “My Lord, my lady, the Duke of Pemberton,” he announced.
What is happening?
Instinct urged Marina to slip quietly toward the door behind her. She was certain she wouldn’t be noticed. She only had time to catch a single sentence from the duke’s lips.
“I am here to ask for Miss Shirley’s hand in marriage.”
Chapter Four
Evan waited for an answer. Then he waited for a reaction. Any reaction. But all he got were gaping mouths. He did not like being kept waiting. He did not like London. The sooner he left, the better.
However, like his butler, Carlson, liked to remind him, Evan needed a wife. His daughter, Lilly, needed a mother. And when he witnessed a young lady ruining herself at his neighbor’s garden party, he saw the perfect opportunity.
After that spectacle, she will need to be married off quickly, which means I will not have to waste time courting her. And marrying me can save her from ruin.
He felt satisfied by the mutually beneficial arrangement he would be proposing.
Lady Shirley finally curtsied. “Your Grace,” she said, giving him a simpering smile. “What a wonderful surprise.”
He inclined his head in greeting. “Good afternoon.”
“To what do we owe the honor, Your Grace?” Lady Shirley said.
