Louisa took a step closer. “I know also,” she said as quietly as she could, “because my friends are terrible gossips, that there are others in society like you. It’s not my place to disclose their secrets, and I can’t know your specific circumstance, but there’s no reason I can see why you and, say, Lieutenant Hanley could not live a perfectly satisfactory life away from the social swirl of London.”
“Satisfactory,” Daniel spat. “You know nothing, Louisa.”
“Perhaps not about that, you’re right. But the truth under everything is that I know I cannot marry you and I do not want to. I know that if we end our engagement, Fletcher will have me, and I know that, if a wife is truly what you want, there is another woman out there who will have you. And I think Fletcher’s right. It is better to quietly end things away from the gaze of our peers, rather than waiting for me to publicly jilt you.”
Daniel frowned, but then he nodded slowly. “You talk a great deal, did you know that?”
“People have mentioned.”
“When Fletcher is done, I will speak with your parents. If you agree that this is what you want, I will end the engagement.”
Louisa tried not to let triumph show too much on her face. Her relief was palpable. “Thank you.”
“I do like you, Louisa. I think we could have made something of our lives. Although perhaps not if you are in love with Greystone.”
“As I said, he and I were fools not to recognize it sooner, and if we had it would have saved a lot of grief, but here we are. I’m sorry, Daniel, that things did not work out, and I truly hope you find happiness in the future, but it cannot be with me.”
“Well, thank you for that. I am sorry, too, for what it’s worth.”
She didn’t believe his sincerity, but she asked, “What made you change your mind?”
Daniel just shook his head. “Your Greystone can be quite persuasive when he wants to be. I believe I underestimated him. He is rather more…cunning than I expected.”
Louisa couldn’t help but smile at that. Fletcher often played like he was a happy-go-lucky, idle member of theton, but he could be ruthless when the occasion called for it. Louisa had witnessed it herself in all the ways he’d defended her when she’d gotten herself into trouble as a child. And it seemed he’d done it again.
Fletcher always came through for her. She didn’t need to know what he’d said to Daniel, just that whatever he’d done, it had persuaded Daniel, finally, to let this go. And for that, Louisa would always be grateful to Fletcher.
“I should…I should go speak with your father,” Daniel said, beginning to back out of the room.
“Good-bye, Daniel.”
He waved his hand but then left the room.
Louisa spent the next period of time—it could have been twenty minutes, it could have been three hours, she was too nervous to find out—mostly pacing or sitting on her hands or stabbing at her embroider project.
When at least Fletcher appeared in the doorway, she felt such an immense relief that she launched off the sofa and into his arms. He let out a huff of laughter as he caught her but then, with his hands firmly on her waist, he picked her up and placed her a foot away from himself.
Louisa’s parents arrived a moment later.
“The Duke of Rotherfeld has departed,” said Father.
“This is quite a turn of events,” said Mother. “He’s aduke.”
“Yes,” said Father, “but we’ve known Fletcher his entire life, and we know him to be kind and trustworthy, and I am not at all certain Rotherfeld shares those same traits. And I’d much rather our Louisa be safe and happy than to worry about her status.”
“Yes, but…aduke.”
“And Fletcher is a wealthy marquess.”
“Is he less wealthy now?” Louisa asked. She worried he’d had to make a big financial sacrifice to free Father from the commitment to Daniel, and she hated that possibility and hated Daniel a bit for engineering it.
But then Father said, “No. I sold my share of the farm back to Rotherfeld for a good price. It took some persuasion, but he finally agreed. We left Fletcher out of the transaction entirely.”
Louisa wondered what that persuasion entailed; she wondered if Fletcher had found some evidence of wrongdoingon Daniel’s part to use as leverage. She couldn’t imagine Daniel would so easily part with his money otherwise.
“I hope,” Fletcher said, “that you do not need a big wedding, because part of the agreement was that you and I shall marry in a small ceremony at the end of the season so as to not draw an exclamation point at the end of the broken engagement with Rotherfeld.”
“I care not at all as long as we marry,” Louisa said.
