He eyed Hobbes across the room and grimaced. There were few who could make Ronan do anything he did not wish to do, especially as there was so much he didn’t wish to do. But the butler had an idea and Ronan knew the man would be relentless after tonight.
It is my name, after all, being spread about London. Everyone in the ton will know by morning. Oh blast it. I have to go back and see who thinks she is marrying me.
CHAPTER 2
It wasn’t her finest plan, Isla had to admit.
Because there had been better plans. She was quite good at them. She could plan a lovely picnic for the faeries made of trees and twigs. She could sort an accounts book with helpful notes and tallies. She could plan a filling meal with a limited pantry and no meat or eggs. She could even manage a plan to ingratiate herself with the right people to get invitations to the most important balls of the season.
This may be the wildest plan yet! What else can I do? It’s dependent on so many things outside of my control. That’s where the real risk sits. And yet… I do believe I could pull this off.
Announcing a faux engagement wasn’t really the thing to be done, after all.
She twisted away from the door and back toward the window where she glanced out to the drizzly day where the sun was beginning to emerge at last. It was morning again. She’d spent half the night tossing and turning, the rest of it pacing.
I’m so tired. And yet I feel as though I could do this all day. What am I doing? What have I done? Maybe it is time to flee England once and for all… If I ran off, then perhaps my family would be better off.
The moment she had that thought, Isla knew it couldn’t be the case. No, her family needed her. It was only the four of them left. She couldn’t very well go off by herself, could she? No, her heart would never allow it. All she could do was be there for them, protect them.
“So now, I only have to––”
“Have to what?”
Screeching at the sudden voice, Isla whirled around while clutching her wildly-beating heart. Then there was more movement on the bed as Margaret stirred beside Lacey who was tilting her head in Isla’s direction.
“What time is it?” Margaret moaned.
“Early. Go back to sleep,” Isla told her.
Lacey made a face. “The sun is up. I can tell. And you were talking. What were you talking about? Who were you talking to? Margaret was asleep.”
“And I should like to be again,” their sister muttered before stealing an extra pillow to throw over her head, buried once more in the blankets.
The youngest kept that innocent look on her face. “Well?”
“I wasn’t talking to anyone. Just go back to sleep. Please.”
“It sounds like you are planning. Shall we have another game with the faeries?”
“No, I need to…”
What did Isla need to do?
For a moment, she forgot her entire plan. It wasn’t truthfully even much of one. The first step was to wait. That had been it.
I will wait it out to see if anyone notices or catches me in a lie. And then I will use it to flirt shamelessly until I find someone to whom I can promise to betroth myself to instead, or perhaps some only slightly shameful work, and then I will break the engagement. All I need is… Time. It’s always time.
Humming, Lacey was nearly shoved out of the bed by Margaret’s wild leg striking the air––she liked her sleep very much––and then came to reach out to Isla. The girl found her easily and tugged on her dress. “Can we break our fasts out with the faeries? Today shall be a good day. I can tell.”
“Darling, it’s very wet and gray outside. It would be difficult to eat anything seated in the mud,” Isla told her neatly.
Lacey huffed. “I don’t care about the mud, Isla, you know that.”
“Yes, but Mother will care. She won’t want us sopping wet coming back inside. It made not be worth the trouble.”
“You’re awfully grumbly for the sort of girl who is engaged. I thought all girls were supposed to be happy,” the younger girl said in irritation. “Now you’ll never want another faerie picnic, will you? All grown up, a proper lady.”
“Lacey! There is no need for that.” Isla paused to wince over her sister’s words. “Fine. Very well. Dress and we’ll sneak out with a biscuit or two. But only for a while, do you hear?”
