“I am pleased to meet you, Lord Bramwell,” Elinor said.
He did not return the courtesy. He circled her, boots creaking on the floor. Elinor held still, hands clasped, jaw set. Rebecca sat by the fire in composed approval. Belinda watched from the settee with bright interest. Joanna was absent.
“Your stepmother tells me you are bookish.” He stopped before her, his pale eyes lingering on her spectacles with distaste. “I trust that will not be an issue. I have no use for a wife who fills her head with nonsense. My household runs on order.”
“I enjoy the sciences, my lord,” Elinor said evenly. “Astronomy in particular. My father and I?—”
“Women have no business with the sciences.” His tone was flat, absolute. “The female mind is not equipped for such matters. Indulgence breeds willfulness, and I will not have willfulness in my home.”
Elinor’s nails pressed into her palms. She glanced at Rebecca. Nothing. Not a flicker.
“If we might?—”
A hiss cut through the room.
Newton slipped from beneath the settee, body low, ears flat, tail bristling. He placed himself between Elinor and Bramwell, green eyes fixed, a low growl rising from his chest.
Bramwell looked down. “What is this?”
Newton hissed again. When Bramwell stepped forward, the cat struck. His claws scored the back of the man’s hand, three sharp lines.
Bramwell jerked back, face darkening. “I will not have a vicious animal in my household. If you bring it, it will be disposed of.”
Elinor went taut. “Newton is not vicious. He is protective, and he is mine. He goes where I go.”
“Elinor.” Rebecca’s voice snapped. “Apologize. The cat will be dealt with.”
Elinor said nothing. Newton wound around her ankles, still growling.
Bramwell pressed a handkerchief to his hand, studying her with cool recalculation. “I will obtain a special license. The marriage will take place within the fortnight. I prefer the matter settled before I return north.”
“I look forward to it,” Rebecca said smoothly. “Elinor, do thank Lord Bramwell for his generosity.”
Elinor’s throat tightened. She looked at the man who would be her husband, at the thin mouth, the flat eyes, the handkerchief pressed to Newton’s scratches, the only honest thing in the room.
“Thank you,” she said through clenched teeth.
He inclined his head, took up his hat, and left without another glance.
“Please.” The word left Elinor’s mouth before the front door had finished closing.
She turned to Rebecca, her composure fracturing, her hands shaking at her sides.
“Please do not do this. I will do anything you ask. I will attend every event, I will be silent, and I will never mention the sciences again. I will leave London if you wish. I will go to the country and live as a spinster and never trouble you or your family again. Just please do not make me marry that man.”
Rebecca rose from her chair. Her expression held the patience she used when she wished to communicate that Elinor was testing the very last of her tolerance.
“You brought this upon yourself.”
“I brought nothing. I taught children. I gave them lessons because nobody else would, and I did it at night because you would never have permitted it. That is not a crime, Stepmother. That is kindness.”
“It is degradation.” Rebecca’s voice hardened. “And it is finished. Lord Bramwell is a respectable man with a fine estate. You will be provided for. Your father will be relieved.”
The invocation of her father hit Elinor in the chest like a fist. “My father would never want this for me.”
“Your father is a sick man who worries about his daughter’s future!” Rebecca stepped closer, her voice dropping into the intimate register she used when she wanted her words to wound beneath the surface. “Do you think he rests well knowing you are unmarried, unattached, and notorious? Do you think it helps his health to know that his daughter lost a duke and has nothing to show for it? You will break his heart if you refuse this match, Elinor. What little strength he has left will not survive the shame.”
The tears Elinor had been holding rose and burned. She blinked them back, her jaw aching from the effort of clenching it.
