“He did arrange to pick me up from the Redcliff estate!” she protested. “I sent a letter for him to follow us, and hedid. He came for me. Herescuedme.”
In what was nothing less than a heroic effort, Phoebe did not roll her eyes at Hannah's characterization of Lyle retrieving her from a safe, comfortable duke’s estate as a “rescue.” The Duke of Redcliff was cold, stubborn, andextremelyhigh-handed, but Hannah hadn’t been in danger in his home.
Lord Turner was looking at his daughter with a disgusted expression on his face.
“You’ve really made a mess of things, Hannah,” he said. “What are we supposed to tell the Duke now? He won’t want a soiled dove. Who would?”
This was going a bit far.
“Father,” Phoebe protested, angling herself between Hannah and her father. “There’s no reason to be unkind. She made a mistake—in not handling things properly,” she added at Hannah’s noise of protest.
“He’s a good man,” Hannah muttered loyally. Phoebe ignored this.
“She made a mistake?” the Viscount echoed incredulously. “She has done nothing but make mistakes!”
“But perhaps,” Phoebe said meaningfully to her father, “this is not the right time to harp on all of those mistakes. Perhaps,” she went on in that same pointed tone, “now is the time to focus on solutions.”
Phoebe wouldn’t say that sheregrettedprotecting her sister. She had never regretted doing such a thing.
But Lord above, her father did love to try to make her regret it.
He turned his eyes on her, smiling in a way that promised that she wasn’t going to like what he had to say next.
“Fine, Phoebe,” he said acidly. “If you are so determined to ensure that your sister not face any consequences for her actions—if you are so determined to focus onsolutions—then why don’tyoube the one to decide what we are going to do about the Duke of Redcliff?”
He said this with all the dramatic panache of an actor delivering the final line of his big monologue. Phoebe didn’t react, merely to annoy him.
“Certainly,” she said with a lightness that she didn’t feel. “I’ll come up with a solution that will leave everyone content.”
He clearly hated that she wasn’t fighting with him, which was the primary reason that Phoebe was ever agreeable when it came to her father. While Hannah still lived under his roof, Phoebe had very few avenues for resistance without risking her sister’s future, so she indulged where she could.
“Oh,” the Viscount said. “Right. Good. You will do that.”
“Happy to,” Phoebe lied with a polite smile. “Now that that’s settled, shall I take Hannah up to bed? It’s been a very dramatic day.”
Lord Tuner was clearly suspicious of Phoebe’s intentions, but he was just as clearly uncertain what she planned with all this agreeability and politeness.
“Very well,” he said. And then, because he loved to get in the last word, he added, “We are leaving for London in two days. When we arrive, we will have dinner with the Duke. I trust you will have your solution by then, Phoebe.”
She didn’t even blink.
“Certainly, Father. Goodnight!”
And then she hurried Hannah from the room before her father could think of something else to say—or worse, some other responsibility to lay at her feet.
“Phoebe,” Hannah said.
“Not now,” Phoebe interrupted. “Upstairs.”
“But Phoebe?—”
“Not. Here.” Phoebe gritted the words out through her teeth, giving a hasty nod to a maid as they passed. The staff mostly dealt with Phoebe, but that didn’t mean she wanted to put them in the hard position of keeping secrets from their employer.
It was only when they made it upstairs to Hannah’s bedchamber and the door was closed tightly shut behind them that Phoebe turned to face her sister, resignation causing her shoulders to slump and her spine to bend.
“Phoebe,” Hannah said, voice tremulous. “There’s… something more.”
Phoebe closed her eyes. She’d realized it already, but she hadn’t dared eventhinkit in front of their father.
