Susan took her sister firmly by the arm and led her away. “Good evening,” she said to Gilbert. “We’ll speak to you soon.”
As she led Marina through the crowd, she heard whispers, hushed and accusatory. So people had seen. The rumors were already beginning to spread. And there was nothing to do but to get Marina home as quickly as possible and try to mitigate the damage as much as they could.
Perhaps I was wrong to trust Gilbert,Susan thought ruefully.Perhaps all men really are the same, and love is never real.
She didn’t want to believe it. She’d wanted to think that her sister’s situation was different. Special. If love could ever be real for anyone in the world, surely it could be real for Marina.
But if the man who was supposed to love her couldn’t even be cautious when her reputation was on the line…
Well, how could anyone be trusted?
CHAPTER 11
“Look at this!” Father shouted, tossing the scandal sheets across the breakfast table.
Marina jumped as if she had been slapped. The sisters hadn’t mentioned anything about last night’s events to their father. They hadn’t even discussed it with one another after they’d arrived home. Susan had rather hoped the whole thing would dissipate overnight—perhaps something more scandalous would happen to take its place in people’s minds. After all, Marina hadn’t been on the patio with Gilbert for very long.
But she should have known better. The people of London society would do anything to feed a scandal. She rose to her feet, picked up the piece of paper, and scanned it.
“Father, this isn’t true,” she said, striving to keep her voice calm. “I was there all night. I saw exactly what happened. This says that Marina and Gilbert were found in a compromising position, but I saw what happened. The truth is that the two of them werealone on the patio for less than a minute. There was an embrace, and he held her hand. That’s all it was.”
“Do you think that matters?” her father snapped. “Are you planning to go door to door and explain it to everyone in London? Because if not, Susan, they’re going to believe what’s written here, not what you’re telling me.”
“Father, isn’t it more important what’s true?” Susan asked. “And not what people think? What matters is that we know Marina, and we know what happened. We trust her.”
“Of course that isn’t what’s important! Use your head, Susan. People are going to believe these terrible things about your sister—whether they’re true or not is utterly irrelevant! And where were you while all of this was going on, anyway?”
“It’s not Susan’s fault, Father,” Marina spoke up. Her voice trembled slightly, but she met her father’s eyes. “She was doing what she was supposed to be doing—dancing with the Duke.”
“Well, at least one of my daughters has some sense! To tell the truth, I wouldn’t have expected you to be the sensible one, Susan,” Father said. “You’ve always been the most difficult. But then, perhaps your engagement to the duke has done you more good than I realized.”
“I only took my eyes off of Marina for a moment, Father,” Susan said. “Truly there was only a short stretch of time when I wasn’t with her. I know you were joking about going door to door, ofcourse, but I do believe that if we put forth the true story of what happened, people will understand.”
“And how scandalous can this really be?” Marina asked. “It’s not as if I was out on the patio with a gentleman I hardly knew, Father. I was with Gilbert, who’s courting me. Even if people don’t find my behavior perfectly appropriate, surely they can understand that I just wanted a moment with the man I’m likely going to marry.”
“No one will understand that at all,” Father snapped. “It’s going to look as if you were trying to entrap him.”
“Gilbert will tell everyone that it wasn’t like that! He’ll speak for me!”
“And that will makehimlook as if he’s trying to distance himself from scandal,” their father said. He sighed heavily. “You need to realize, Marina, that once thetonhas decided what the story is going to be, there’s little chance of changing their minds. They have printed this tale about you—this is what people are going to believe. There’s very little chance of going back now.”
Marina lifted her chin. “Then we’ll just marry at once,” she said. “We’ll rob them of their ability to speculate about us—we’ll give them the truth, which is that we are in love.”
“No, you can’t marry now,” Father said. “Everyone will understand that you only did it to rid your names of scandal. You’ll look foolish.”
“I don’t care how I look! I want to marry the man I love,” Marina said, her voice shaking.
“Father, surely this will all blow over if there’s a wedding,” Susan said, but for the first time, she felt a prickle of doubt. What if Father was right? What if people continued to assume the worst of Marina? It would be all her fault for having taken her eyes off her sister.
“No, there’s only one thing to be done now,” Father said. “We’ll have to move forward with your wedding, Susan, as quickly as possible. It’s the only way we can regain control of the story. We have to make sure everyone sees that my daughters are still desired by high-ranking men.”
“Father, the Duke doesn’t wish to be married right away,” Susan said. “He told me he wanted to take his time.” Her heart raced. This wasn’t what was supposed to be happening. Father was supposed to have turned his focus to Marina’s wedding—he was supposed to have forgotten about Susan and Norman.
“That doesn’t matter,” Father snapped. “He’s going to change his mind, Susan. Because of your sister’s indiscretions, this whole family is now at risk.” He sighed. “Marina, you were supposed to be the easy one. You were the one who was going to be married with no fuss and no trouble.”
“I still can, Father,” Marina protested.
“No, you can’t. Not after this scandal. We need to see Susan married first.”
