“You must understand that the new Lord Worthington is an unscrupulous man, and he has decided that I will be his bride,” Ellie shared. “Every time I have turned down his offer of marriage, he has punished me in some way.”
“How so?”
“He made my mother and I move out of the manor and into a dilapidated cottage on the opposite side of the estate,” she said. “He also forbade me from riding any horses in the stable, including my own.”
“That is terrible.”
“He dismissed all of our loyal household servants and replaced them with his own,” she shared. “Some of them had been with us since before I was born.”
“Have you consulted a solicitor on this issue?”
“There is no solicitor in our village who is willing to go against Lord Worthington,” Ellie said. “The whole village is fearful of him.”
“Then why didn’t you seek out a solicitor in Town?”
Ellie frowned. “Why, indeed?” she asked. “I’m afraid I don’t have the funds at my disposal to hire one, especially since my mother was forced to sell off a piece of her jewelry to pay for my gowns.”
“Is that why you are adamant that you must marry?”
She nodded. “If I marry, then I have the security of my husband’s name. Together, we can sue Lord Worthington and claim what is rightfully ours.”
“What if you don’t marry?”
Ellie wrapped her arms around her waist. “If I fail, then I don’t know what will become of me and my mother,” she admitted dejectedly.
“May I ask how much your dowry is?”
“Twenty thousand pounds.”
Lord Bideford stared at her in disbelief. “That is an impressive dowry.”
“It is,” she replied. “My father earned a fortune in stocks, and I am his only child. It would only stand to reason that I’d be taken care of.”
“How do you know that Lord Worthington won’t honor your father’s will and release the dowry to you once you are wed?”
“Because he has said as much,” she replied. “He is determined to marry me, at any cost.”
Rising, Lord Bideford tugged down on the ends of his maroon waistcoat. “Does my mother know all of this?”
She shook her head. “I did not wish to burden her with all of my problems.”
“I think you were wrong in not doing so.”
“Truly?”
Rising, Lord Bideford replied, “If you had only told us the truth earlier, then we could have already formulated a plan to help you.”
“You have already done so much for me. I do not wish to be a burden.”
“Nonsense. The price of a solicitor is but a trivial matter.” He started walking towards the door. “I shall see to the arrangements.”
Ellie pressed her lips together, then said, “There is one problem, though.”
He stopped and spun back around. “Which is?”
“Lord Worthington doesn’t know where I am,” she shared. “If he did, I have no doubt he would have already arrived to forcefully take me home.”
“Where does he think you are?”
