“If you do,” Louise told her father as she stepped out from behind Marcus, “I shall make such a scandal people will write stories about it, and you shall go down in history as being the cruelest father ever to walk the earth. Furthermore, I’ll have no reason not to tell Mama about Paris.”
Something akin to scorn gleamed in her father’seyes. “You’ll lose your dowry, your privilege, the place you have within Society. Damn it, Berkly. If you truly cared for her, you’d have heeded my warning and walked away.”
“What?” Louise looked at Marcus and instantly saw that he’d kept something from her. “Papa came to see you?”
“Not as honest and forthright as you expected, is he?” Papa asked with smug satisfaction.
“It was after you’d broken things off with Fairbanks.” A nerve ticked at the edge of Marcus’s brow. “Grasmere tried to dissuade me from pursuing you further, and considering what you stand to lose by aligning yourself with me, I considered it. For your sake. And then the letter from Von Gräfe arrived. It seemed like a good chance for us to think things through properly, only I didn’t anticipate your father’s attempt to marry you off to someone else again when you were supposed to become Lady Croft’s companion. I’m sorry.”
“You should have mentioned it,” Louise said. She took Marcus’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Just like I should have told you my real age from the beginning.”
“Yes, but—”
“I know you love me, Marcus, and I know you’ve struggled with your conscience where I am concerned, that all you’ve wanted to do was the right thing. But you needn’t worry, because I love you too, and you are all I need. Nothing matters more to me than for us to be together.” She smiled at him and turned to face her father. Something about his insistence to stop Marcus at every turn, his blatantly apparent resentment toward him, nagged her. “Why are you really trying to stop me from marrying him?”
“I believe I’ve made my reasoning perfectly clear,” Papa sputtered. “He’s been stripped of his titles and fortune because his father—”
“Yes. I know all of this, but it doesn’t explain your stubbornness.”
“Of course it does.”
“Not really,” Louise said as clarity hit her. “I am your youngest daughter - a wallflower no one has ever paid much attention to. Men never asked me to dance because I was viewed as defective.”
“Louise,” Marcus said in a firm voice intended to argue her point.
“It’s true,” she said. “In fact, if I were to vanish from Society altogether, I doubt anyone would notice. With time, my existence would in all likelihood be forgotten, which means that whatever scandal might arise from my marrying Marcus would be brief. And if Albert and his wife are willing to support me in this, then why not you? Why are you so against us being happy?”
A nerve ticked next to Papa’s left eye. He seemed to breathe like a bull preparing to charge its opponent. “Because he’s Hedgewick’s son and I’ll be damned if I let that murderous bastard become a relative of mine, even if he’s dead.”
Louise blinked. She tilted her head in thought. “You knew him, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did. He was a friend. The very best of friends until…” He turned away sharply and crossed to the window. “More importantly, Windham was like a brother to me, and the fact that Hedgewick killed him makes me wish I had the power to bring him back so I could run him through.”
Louise wasn’t quite sure what to say to this. As it turned out, she didn’t have to speak at all since Marcus said, “No one hates my father more than I, my lord. He lied to me my entire life and denied me my birthright. As it turns out, I might not even be his legitimate son, seeing as Mama pursued an affair with Windham before I was born.”
“So you could be the current duke’s brother?” Papa asked with a grim glance in Marcus’s direction. His posture remained rigid, his expression still angry.
“Maybe. Maybe not. There’s no way to know.” Regret was heavy in Marcus’ voice. “But if it’s my character you are concerned with, or my loyalty toward a murderer, perhaps it will ease your mind to know that Hedgewick wouldn’t have hanged had it not been for me. I helped convict him.”
Papa stared at Marcus with stony mistrust. “Why?”
“Because it was the right thing to do.”
“But you lost everything because of it,” Papa gritted.
“Only material things,” Marcus said. “Windham - the current duke, that is - was acquitted of the crime Hedgewick tried to have him convicted of. My sister therefore managed to marry the man she loved, and I am able to sleep at night, secure in the knowledge that I’ve a clean conscience. All of this is of far greater importance than protecting a parent who murdered another person in cold blood and left that man’s child to die.”
“So you gave up your title, your wealth, and estates willingly?” The angry lines faded from Papa’s face as he spoke. He sounded truly dumbfounded, as if the concept was nearly impossible for him to grasp.
Marcus nodded. “I did. Because when it comes down to it, I have a very clear sense of what’s right and what’s wrong, which is why I will never stop trying to win your daughter, no matter how much you may want to stop me.”
When her father didn’t respond, Louise said, “I think it would serve us all well if you were to go back downstairs, Papa, and secure a supper room for us. Hannah can help me dress properly and then we’ll all join you for a calmer discussion.”
Papa frowned, but to Louise’s relief, he didn’t protest this time. Instead he gave a curt nod. “All right. But Berkly comes with me.”
“Right,” Marcus said. “I’ll just put on my hose and shoes.”
“You may want to comb your hair too,” Papa said on his way to the door. To Louise he added, “I hope he’s worth the trouble, because once you’re married, you will be stuck with him forever.”
