Prologue
London 1748
As the violinists paused with their song, the chinking of a wine glass rang out over the heads of the guests attending the ball. Laura turned her head with surprise to see her father, Sir Hamilton, tapping a small silver spoon against his wine glass.
“Friends, loved ones! If you would lend me your ears for a while, I have some good news to share,” he declared with a great smile as all eyes turned toward him. He affected a charming countenance, something he rarely bothered to use with Laura. “I know our ball tonight is to celebrate my birthday, but the news I wish to impart concerns the happiness of my daughter rather than myself. Laura,” he held out an arm toward her, beckoning her forward. “Would you join me here?”
Laura felt nerves tighten in her stomach as she approached, wary of what announcement was to be made.
He has been plotting something—I just know it!
She felt all eyes turn to her as she walked across the candlelit ballroom, heading for her father’s side. Under their watchful gaze, Laura was even more aware of her stature. Small and slight in figure, she never stood out from a crowd, and with all the guests standing so tall above her, it made her twist her hands in the skirt of her fine dress with nerves. She lifted her gaze to her father to see him flick his eyes down to her skirt, a silent order across the room to desist with the old habit of hers. He detested it so. She released her hold on the dark blue skirt as she reached his side, placing her hand in his.
“Now I must ask another to join us here,” he lifted his head again, turning his coifed dark hair toward another in the crowd. “Lord Moore.”
There was a ripple through the crowd at the gentleman’s name. Laura felt a dead weight drop in her stomach as she turned to see the gentleman in question. Slipping between the white-wigged and ornately dressed guests, the Earl appeared, striding forward with confidence. The dark glares that followed him perfectly summarized the man’s reputation.
He is a rake!
Though nobility with distant blue blood in his veins, the man had nothing noble in his countenance. Scandal followed him wherever he went. Ladies’ beds and reputations that he had ruined, debts he had run up at gambling halls, and tales of fraud amongst the gentry all followed him. The worst tales talked of the Earl’s particular vices…tastes he had in the bedchamber that were not suitable for anyone’s ears! Laura had blushed greatly when she had first heard the rumors.
Laura’s gaze flicked from the Earl toward her father.
Please tell me it is not what I fear…
The Earl was tall, slim, with black hair and equally black eyes. As he reached their side, he stood particularly close to Laura, making her fears grow tenfold. She clutched her father’s hand a little tighter, hoping it would offer her some safety from the nobleman, even though she knew expecting any protection from her father was a foolish hope.
“I am delighted to announce that our two great families are to become one,” Sir Hamilton lifted his glass into the air. “If you will all raise your glasses, a toast! To my daughter and her betrothed, Lord Moore!”
A polite clap rippled around the crowd, followed by a chinking of glasses and hurried whispers.
Laura dropped her father’s hand instantly.
He cannot do this to me…he would truly marry me to such an odious man!?
She felt the Earl move closer toward her. With every fiber in her body, she wished to run away from him, but with so many eyes turned on her, she could not escape. She felt the Earl place a hand on her back. Even through the fine blue dress and the corset, she could feel the heavy weight of it. It made her shiver with fear.
“I look forward to the wedding night, my Lady.” At his whispered words, she lifted her gaze to her father, trying to communicate silently how much she despised his decision.
I will not marry that man!
Chapter One
“You cannot make me do it!” Laura’s voice echoed back off the study walls.
“You will not raise your voice to me, child,” her father followed her around the room. She tried to escape him and put the study desk between them, knowing well the feel of his anger from her childhood. He had never been afraid to strike her in reprimand. “We have guests. Do you wish the entire ball to hear you behaving so insolently?”
“Maybe I do wish it? What would you say to that?” She came to a stop on the other side of the desk as he stopped too. “If I disgrace our family’s reputation enough with my ‘insolence’, as you call it, perhaps this wedding will not happen.”
“This wedding is happening no matter how great your objections are!” His voice was filled with menace as he slammed his hands down on the desk. She jumped back away from the desk, nearly colliding with a nearby armchair in her desperation to escape Sir Hamilton.
“You would do this to me? I am your daughter,” she scrambled around the armchair as her father pursued her, his face turning redder with each exchanged shout between them.
“I am your father, and you will obey me,” he grabbed hold of her skirt, pulling her back before she could escape.
“No! Let me go!”
“You will make this alliance, you will make this marriage,” he adjusted his hold, taking hold of her arms and shaking her, “with this connection, our family will be noble! Do you think I would sacrifice that just because you have no liking for the man? You act as though he is the devil himself!” Laura knew her father was an ambitious man. Though he possessed a good fortune, they had no noble connections. If Laura were to marry the Earl, their family would be connected with a noble bloodline.
