“She and I will both need new gowns.”
“I have a seamstress who can see to that. A few extra coins and they can be made quickly. After all, this isn’t the first wedding to happen in haste. The Chessmen are known for getting their ladies to the altar at a brisk pace. But we can discuss the details later.” She turned her attention to Leonora. “Why do you want to marry my son?”
Did she want to? She didn’t want to marry anyone.Because we got caught. People know I’m a harlot. I need respectability to continue with the business.
“Mother,” Rook ground out.
“My apologies, Miss Garrison. I suppose it was unfair of me to ask. Johnny is the only one who needs to know why you want to marry him. The important thing to remember is that we all change through the passing years. Sometimes we grow together. Sometimes we grow apart. Don’t you agree, Mrs. Garrison?”
“What I agree on is that your boy needs to do right by my girl.”
“I don’t believe he’s given any indication that hedoesn’t intend to do just that. And hopefully, your daughter will do right by him.”
“She’ll give him his heir. He needs to give her a wedding that will be written about in the New York papers. We’re in this situation because of his inability to control—”
“Mama, I’m as much at fault. I didn’t say no.”
Rook stood up and held his hand out to her. “Take a walk about the gardens with me while they work out the details for the wedding I’ll be paying for.”
Even though she heard the bitterness in his voice, she put her hand in his, allowed him to pull her to her feet, and welcomed him escorting her into the gardens, away from her mother because being with him when he no doubt hated her was preferable to being anywhere near her mother when she was so insufferable. She had an insane thought that she’d spend hours out here, and then felt guilty for imagining this residence as her home.
“Wait up,” Sam called out. She looked over her shoulder at him. He grinned at her. “You can’t leave me to suffer through the bickering.”
“My mother does not bicker,” Rook said.
“No, but my mother does enough for both of them. Besides, she doesn’t think the two of you should be left alone.”
“What does it matter now when we’re to marry?” Rook asked, and the disdain in his voice was beginning to grate on her nerves.
“Maybe we won’t marry,” she said tightly.
“We will. I’ll not be accused of being a fornicator like my father. I’ll not have it said that I take my pleasure and leave the woman to rot.”
Her heart was tripping madly over itself. “Do you want to marry?”
His jaw went taut, and a muscle ticked in his cheek. She knew they’d been forced into the situation but considering all that had transpired last night before they’d been discovered, she’d thought surely he didn’t completely object to having her as a wife.
“One thing you might not know about the nobility, Miss Garrison, is that we do what we are called upon to do.”
She slipped her arm free of his and stepped away from him. “You don’t have to marry me if it’s so offensive to you.”
“Doesn’t matter what he wants, Nora. You have to marry him. No other man will marry you now. You’re tainted goods.”
Rook struck so fast, like a snake she’d once seen going after a rabbit, grabbing Sam by the scruff of his shirt and pulling him up slightly. Rook had such a hold on him that his knuckles were turning white. “You’ll not talk to your sister with that sort of disrespect.”
“But it’s true. You’ve ruined her chances of marriage to anyone else.”
“Don’t you think I bloody well know that?” He looked over at her and she saw the resolve and regret in his eyes. “We will marry.”
She considered stating clearly and distinctly they would not. But he was the answer to a prayer. He had the means to support the business and couldn’t very well not do it when he was part of the family. But it was more than that. She craved the pleasure he could bring her. “Could you possibly not look quite so angry about it?”
He slammed his eyes closed. When he opened them, he flung Sam aside and pointed toward the far side of the garden. “Off with you.”
Sam looked at her, a million questions reflected in his eyes. He appeared worried, and she nearly laughed. He thought some harm might come from a walk when he had no reservations about insisting she marry the man. “It’s all right, Sam. No more damage can be done.”
“Holler if you need me.”
As though he was any match at all for Rook. Still, she nodded.
