“So he chatted with her for a minute at most. It is clear, Theo, that we made some inaccurate assumptions about the duke and will have to correct our strategy.”
“It does appear so,” Theo agreed.
“Do not blame Emilia if he was not agreeable to your last one,” Clara said. “Expecting him to marry someone from our family was a flawed strategy from the start. I told you that.”
Her grandmother stood. In a swish of lace she moved until she sat beside Clara on the divan. “A flawed strategy?” She chortled into the lace at her neck. “Not in principle, it appears. He may have found Emilia lacking, true. However, it appears he findsyouinteresting. I am not a rigid woman. If success means substituting sisters, so be it.”
Theo appeared confused. “Stratton wantsher?”
“It seems he went out of his way to have her company at that party.”
Theo came close to laughing. “Hell, that is rich.”
“Your language, Theo. As for the duke’s preference, there is no accounting for taste.”
“I am sorry, Grandmother. It is just that Emilia is so perfect, and Clara is . . .” He shrugged, then cast out an arm in Clara’s direction, as if to saywell, that is what she is.
“She is not the wife I would advise for a duke, but since he did not listen to me on the subject, we will accommodate his peculiar decision.”
Theo shook his head. “I don’t see the match making him friendly to us. Within six months of the wedding he will be sure he was hoodwinked and be out for blood for sure.”
“Should I leave so that the two of you can discuss me forthrightly? I would not want my presence to interfere,” Clara said sharply.
Her grandmother patted her hand. “We have vexed her, Theo. Calm yourself, dear.”
“I am quite calm, thank you. However, I regret to tell you that you have completely misjudged the duke’s interest. He finds it amusing to goad me, nothing more.”
“That is just a boy pulling the hair of a girl he likes,” her grandmother said.
“I do not like having my hair pulled. You seem to have forgotten that no matter what the duke prefers, I will not be marrying him or anyone else.”
Theo groaned. “Not this again.”
“Yes, this again. And again. And again. I fail to understand why you persist in thinking my decision is some passing fancy, when I have held firm to it all these years.”
“Decisions can be changed, as this one must be.” Her grandmother patted her hand again. “For the family’s sake, for your brother’s sake, for my sake, you will marry him.”
So agitated that she feared she would scream, Clara stood. How dare they interfere at this late stage of her life?Because Papa is gone and not here to stop them.
“If this is the important news, I have heard it. I will go now. I encourage you to find some other solution to whatever threat you think the duke presents. Theo, if you keep your wits and do not insult him or his family, he will never challenge you, so all of this plotting is unnecessary anyway.”
“If he proposes and you refuse, you will be the one insulting him,” Theo snapped.
“I am leaving. I refuse to listen to more of this madness.”
“You will not leave. You will stay right here while we plan how you reel him in now that he has been hooked,” Grandmamma said.
“Good heavens, Stratton isn’t some dumb fish. There will be no reeling. Good day to you.”
She got as far as the staircase before the shaking started. She did not know if it resulted from her anger and shock or from the inexplicable desire to laugh.
Halfway down the stairs the last impulse disappeared in a blink. What if Stratton told Theo and her grandmother that he had already proposed? They would be relentless in coercing her to agree. She would have to move to Brazil to save her sanity.
* * *
“I am always happy to watch the auctions, but are we here for a reason, Stratton?” Langford asked.
“I intend to buy a horse. What other reason would bring me here?”
