Page 51 of Snowed In with the Jilted Duke

Smiling, Penny shook her head. "He hated the situation. He hated that I was promised to Kendal and he could never speak up because of his honor and the loan to their father. But he never hated me. Ever."

Pippa felt as though her thoughts were a dozen mice racing through her head at once, all of them dashing in different directions as she tried to gather them together. She blurted out the first one that came to the front.

"Mama... Mama didn't want me to be a duchess. She wanted you to be the duchess. Because you're her favorite." The words burned in her throat, and Penny's face tightened at them.

“Did she tell you I tried to cry off the night before the wedding?”

“What?” Pippa’s jaw dropped.

Penny nodded. “I went to her before supper and told her I did not want to marry Kendal. She refused to hear me out and insisted that I must marry him.” She paused. “There is more.”

Her stomach clenching with nerves, Pippa nodded.

“She didn’t want you to ever marry at all, Pippa. She wanted to keep you tied to her apron strings for the rest of your life.”

Pippa let the words sink in. They felt… true. No wonder their mother had been so desperate to sabotage the budding romance between Pippa and Oliver.

"I never wanted to be her favorite. I never even wanted to be a duchess. I should have stood up for you more, put my foot down. I'm sorry, Pippa."

Pippa nodded. The hurt still remained, but her sister’s apology eased it, if only a little. “What are your plans? Where will you live?”

Penny grinned at her. “I wore Hugo down until he agreed to take me with him on his next assignment.”

Pippa gasped. “On his ship? A naval ship?”

“Yes!” Penny’s eyes grew dreamy. “He has been assigned to the West Indies. Bermuda. We shall depart as soon as the ship is provisioned next month.”

“But, Penny… what about your trousseau?”

Penny frowned. “Yes, I shall need to sort through my trousseau and see what of it I can fit into a single trunk. Hugo says that’s the most space I shall have on the ship. Everything else, you must keep for yourself.”

Pippa shrank back against the settee and shook her head. “It’s too much, Penny! It’s far too much.” To be told she could have everything she wanted, all in one conversation... it was overwhelming.

Penny shrugged. “There’s nothing else for it. A pretty figure I should look wearing a ball gown aboard a battleship.”

“But those clothes were made for you.”

“No, Pippa.” Her sister reached out and took her hands. “Those clothes were made for the future Duchess of Kendal. That’s you now, not me. As it should be.”

Her sister’s words settled around her like a warm blanket, but there was one more secret Pippa needed to tell. One more confession to make.

“Penny, I… it was my fault you almost died.”

Penny frowned at her. “What are you talking about? It was a putrid sore throat that turned into a fever.”

“No, but… that was the night I kissed Oliver. You got sick the very next day.”

Her sister stared at her for a long moment.

And then she began to laugh.

“Don’t be stupid, Pip.”

Oliver watched the two women disappear into the parlor and then turned to his brother, who looked apprehensive. “Come.”

Without a word, Hugo fell into step beside him, and they began to stroll the chilly, meandering streets of Gretna Green. The storm clouds were finally gone, and the sky was a pale, watery blue.

“You need to know,” Hugo said, “that I have loved Penny for a very long time. I was not called back to the Admiralty. I could not stand by and watch you marry the woman I love, so I planned to leave and never come back.”