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"Oh, I'd wager you love the idea of my five-hundred pounds a year," she snapped. Mr. White ignored her and stalked from the room.
She'd wanted him to go, but now she was alone with her brother. Shame welled to her skin like blood. Her throat tightened. "I'm sorry," she managed to whisper.
"Marissa, what... ?" His shoulders slumped. "How could you have done this?"
"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have! I was bored, and I've had too much wine, and I... there's no man I've even come close to falling in love with, and I suppose I was... curious." That was mostly the truth, anyway, with only a few details left out.
"Ah, 'Rissa," her brother sighed. "You've gone and done it this time."
"I was stupid. I know that. But I swear he wasn't nearly so awful beforehand. I rather liked him until this."
Her brother watched her closely, sadness etched on his face in deep lines.
"What is it?"
"I won't try to make you marry him. He's a cad. But—" He reached for her hand and held it between both of his. "You'll have to marry someone now."
"What?" she yanked her hand away. "Why ?"
The door suddenly burst open, and her mother stretched her arms wide, filling the room completely, despite her short stature. "What has happened?" she wailed.
Marissa shook her head. "Nothing. Everything's wonderful."
Her brother waved their mother inside and slammed the door. "Everything is not wonderful. Everything is a mess."
In a highly predictable gesture, the dowager baroness pressed her palm over her heart. "What's happened? Is it Aidan? What has happened to my sweet, sweet boy?"
"It's not Aidan. It's Marissa. She is compromised."
The baroness gasped so loudly that the sound echoed through the room.
"Oh, why did you tell her?" Marissa sighed.
Edward was busy leading their mother toward a chair, where she folded into a graceful faint. Another highly predictable gesture.
He stood straight and dusted off his hands as if he'd just completed a task. "She might have grown suspicious when we arranged your hurried wedding completely out of the blue."
"There's no reason for me to marry!"
"Marissa, don't act even more a fool than you already have. It's clear from what I witnessed that you could very well be pregnant. We must find you a husband immediately."
"That's absurd!" But before she'd finished speaking the words, fear rushed over her on a dark wave. She hadn't really thought of that. The mechanics of pregnancy were a vague cloud of rumor and overheard tidbits she'd collected for years. "I thought... the first time... isn't it impossible?"
"No, it's not. And I rather wish you'd approached me with any questions about marriage and breeding before this happened."
The line of Edward's mouth turned down. "You will either marry that scoundrel or you'll marry someone else. A wedding will help dispel any rumors, and it will go a long way toward distracting from an early birth. And apparently you need some way to occupy your time. Being a wife should take care of your boredom."
"But ..." Her jaw began to tremble, so she clenched it shut for a count often. "But I do not wish to leave here. This is my home."
The anger left his face as if it had been swept away by a hand. "I know. I don't wish you to go either. We shall find someone who will bring you home whenever you wish. Someone biddable."
"Well, who else would marry a ruined woman and accept a bastard?" she whispered. "Someone biddable and ... henpecked."
"Marissa..."
Her mother groaned dramatically, eyelids fluttering. The swoon was about to come to a gasping end.
Panic swarmed throu
