Page 25 of The Earl She Once Saved

Aunt Cordelia’s expression changed. Pain entered it.

Verity did not stop. “Nor will I play Lady Thornlow for their comfort.”

She looked toward the invitation.

“Not for Roland.”

Her mother’s fortune rose between them. It always did.

“He took everything she left me,” Verity continued. “Everything. He poured it into that wretched scheme and left me to discover there was nothing beneath his promises but debt.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

Aunt Cordelia recoiled. The question had come before Verity could stop it. Perhaps she had been waiting years to ask it.

“Why did you do it?” Verity finally asked.

Her aunt stared at her. “Do what?”

“Push me toward him.”

Aunt Cordelia’s face went pale. That was the thing neither of them had ever named plainly.

“Why Roland?”

Verity’s voice was quieter now.

“Why were you so certain I had to marry him?”

Aunt Cordelia sat down. For a moment, she looked older than Verity had ever seen her.

“You had come home with nothing.”

Verity remained silent.

“Your father was dead. Your mother had been gone for years. You had no brother. No male relation willing to take responsibility for you.”

Verity could feel herself trembling. “I did not need taking responsibility for.”

“You were twenty-two.”

“I spent years with an army.”

“Yes.”

Aunt Cordelia looked at her then. “That was precisely the difficulty.”

Verity went still.

“You followed the drum. You worked beside your father among wounded men. You spoke too plainly. You had no proper household, no protector, no position anyone could easily explain.”

Each word landed cleanly, but not cruelly. Perhaps that made them worse.

“And Mama’s money?”

Aunt Cordelia closed her eyes briefly.