“Do you not? Tell me, Lady Margaret, has she always looked over you in favor of your sisters?”
The question pained her.
“Not always. There was a time where she considered us almost equal, but I suppose now that she considers me on the shelf, she cannot fathom that a gentleman might take an interest in me. I dread to think what she will do when this comes to an end.”
“Then I will find someone for you, too.”
“Your Grace, I appreciate your offer, but you cannot offer to do that much. You have already promised to find matches for my sisters. Three ladies is too much.”
“Gentlemen have their ways. Believe me, Lady Margaret, I can do it. In any case, I will not allow your mother to send you away. After what you are going to do for your family, she shall be in your debt. We can do this.”
There was a conviction in his voice that she envied to no end. She wished that she possessed such a thing, and she supposed that she once had, but she had changed. Her life revolved around Emily and Poppy, and ensuring that they had beautiful lives in which they got everything they had ever wanted.
She would take what was left, and it was becoming more apparent that that would end up being her mother. She supposed that caring for her in her later years would not be theworst thing, especially if her sisters married well and they could afford to have a full staff once more.
“I promise you, Lady Margaret,” he pressed. “I am going to help you.”
And, perhaps foolishly, she believed him.
CHAPTER 7
Nathaniel could not stand Lady Fairleigh.
He had known so many mothers like her, ones that chose the children they liked and discarded the rest. He knew many fathers that were the same, but they always had the same reasons for it; their sons were not the heir, their heirs were not what they considered a good heir to be, and their daughters were daughters. It was rarely more difficult than that.
But he could not understand what was wrong with Lady Margaret. She was an excellent daughter, a self-sacrificing one that would have moved mountains for her sisters, but that was not enough for her mother. She would have rather he courted her eighteen year old instead, and he hated that. He had come to visit Lady Margaret, had asked to speak with her with Lady Margaret in the room, andstillshe had assumed he had meant someone else.
“Are you alright?” Eliza asked as he paced her drawing room floor.
“Yes, quite.”
“Then why are you wearing down the hardwood?”
He paused, looking at his sister. She knew him, and he wondered if she knew what he was thinking whether he expressed it or not.
“Did Mother love you?” he asked.
“I would have thought so, given that she was my mother.”
“And Father?”
“Given that he was my father, yes. Why do you ask?”
“Because you are not an heir.”
Her eyebrows practically raised to her hairline, and after a moment he realized what he had said. She did not know why he had been thinking about it all, and so for all she knew he had gone to visit her with renewed values.
“No!” he added. “No, it is not like that. You see, the lady that I am courting– her mother, she–”
But Eliza was already laughing softly. She knew that he had been in thought, and that in truth it had nothing to do with her.
“You are not fond of your new mother-in-law, then?”
“She is not my new mother-in-law. This is not to be a real courtship, and so I need not concern myself with her.”
“But you will have to spend time with her. You cannot avoid her, especially if you are to be believed. Part of me wishes that I could return to London to watch it all unfold before me.”
“You are of no help.”
