Page 55 of A Deal for the Duke’s Virgin

Not as well as you think. Besides, all of this is a ploy. A convincing one.

“I should like you to be married,” Augusta continued firmly. “Marriage, when done correctly, is a source of great happiness. I hardly need tell you that when one chooses one’s partner poorly, it brings only misery.”

Thalia bit the inside of her cheek.

I ought to tell Augusta the truth. That there can never be anything serious between the Duke and me. It’s all pretense. All of it.

But as much as Augusta deserved the truth, the possibility of her telling Jonathan always loomed. She loved him. She loved them both as if they were her own children. She’d said as much.

Perhaps in her mind, Jonathan was still the serious, earnest, gawky young boy she’d met when she first married their father. Perhaps she thought that boy was still in there.

I could tell her that he’s been lying to me. Withholding my future from me. But then she would go straight to him and demand an answer. He’d lie, and she could never tell when a person is lying. And then Jonathan would know that I know.

No, it was no good. Thalia couldn’t tell Augusta, even if the woman deserved to hear the truth.

She concentrated on smoothing out her expression and waiting patiently for her stepmother to speak again.

“Do you like him?” Augusta asked abruptly.

Thalia flinched. “I… I don’t know.”

Trust Augusta to get the truth out of me.

Augusta nodded, as if this was more or less what she had expected to hear. “In our world, girls are told to think of nothing else but marriage, but thinking of gentlemen, romance, and love is highly discouraged,” she remarked wryly. “It’s rather conflicting, I think. But never mind. Now, you know that the Duke has an interest in you. He’s made that plain. He is said to be a man who goes his own way more often than not. I cannot disagree with the idea of a man securing the woman’s consent first before going to her parents or guardians.”

Thalia cleared her throat. “I… I did not notice his attentions.”

“But now, you should think about it. I won’t deny that a rake like the Duke of Thornhill is not the man I would have imagined for you. However, he is rich, powerful, and I daresay he can be charming. Your brother worries about your future. If you don’t marry, you know your life can be bleak. When Jonathan marries, it’s ten to one that his wife will want you out of the house.” Augusta leaned forward, dropping her voice. “That happened to me, you know. I lived with my younger brother before I married your father. When he married, my sister-in-law and I did not get along. I considered it my house still, but she knew that it was hers. We quarreled, I’m sorry to say, and our relationship never quite recovered. My point is that you should think of your future now.”

Thalia glanced down, picking at her gloves. The paper crackled loudly, and she bit back a wince.

“I had never really thought about marriage,” she murmured. “I am not sure that it would suit me.”

Augusta glanced away, biting her lip. “I had not meant to tell you this, but I had thought about retiring from London myself.”

Thalia stiffened, eyes going wide. “You are leaving us?”

“No, my dear. I thought that you might like to come with me. I have a dower house in the north, and I thought we could live comfortably there. I know you would miss St. Sarah’s, but there will be other orphanages in need of your help. You could buy all the books you like. You could study… ahem. But it does not matter. I broached the subject with Jonathan, and he was quite adamant that you stay.”

Thalia swallowed. She was not sure what she would have done had Augusta asked her about leaving London. But it didn’t matter, because Jonathan had made that decision for her.

“Oh,” she murmured.

Of course, she was of age. She could legally do as she liked, but she had not a single penny to her name. If Jonathan wanted, he could throw her out of his house without even the clothes on her back. Nothing was hers, so she had better obey her brother or else. But when she turned three-and-twenty, things would be different. Until then, until she had some money, she was stuck. If he said she wasn’t leaving London, she wasn’t.

“But if you were to marry a duke,” Augusta continued eagerly, “you would have so much more power. You would be free. If you could marry, my dear, you might have a chance at happiness.”

A chance that I won’t have as long as I’m under Jonathan’s thumb. She understands that at least.

“I… I am thinking about it,” Thalia managed. “The Duke confuses me, I will admit that.”

Interest flashed in Augusta’s eyes. “Oh? You like him?”

“I don’t know,” Thalia repeated, honestly enough. “I don’t know how to feel.”

“Well, do you like his company? His face? Do you like the way you feel when you are around him?”

These questions were making Thalia uncomfortable. What was the point of thinking seriously about Christian? Why think about how handsome he was or how exhilarated she felt when they were together?