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see her as anything more than Arthur’s daughter. Now, she doubted he would ever see her as anything more than Cedrick’s future wife.
Well, he certainly left quickly enough as soon as he heard Cedrick’s pack of lies.
“How dare you give him the impression that I am to marry,” Sian hissed, rounding on Cedrick with a ferocity that made him blink.
“It has all been arranged.”
“Not with me it hasn’t,” Sian cried angrily. “I am not going to be forced into marriage with anybody, especially you. How dare you be that arrogant?”
“It is understandable that you should object, but you will come around to the idea,” Cedrick replied with an offhand shrug.
“I shall never come around to the idea of being married to you because it is not something I am ever going to agree to. I refuse to be your wife.”
“You shall do as you are told,” Wilhelmina informed her dourly as she slammed to a stop beside them.
“I shall do no such thing. Do not consider yourself ever in a position to tell me what to do in any aspect of my life, especially marriage. I refuse. Do you hear me? Whatever arrangement you have made with my father has not, and will not, ever be acceptable to me and I abjectly refuse to be sold off.”
With that, Sian spun on her heel and resumed her journey.
“Your father needs to be rid of you. I told my brother only this morning that you need a stern hand to force you to mind your manners. You are brash, rude, and ungrateful, and downright spoilt in my opinion,” Wilhelmina gasped.
“Who asked you?” Sian challenged over her shoulder, without slowing her stride. “You turn up unannounced, uninvited, and in the middle of the night, and bring guests with you without barely a thank you or even a hint of gratitude. You then petulantly make a list of demands as if you have every right to do so, without any consideration for the people who already live in the house. Might I remind you that you are guests in our home? Might I remind you that manners and propriety are required of you as well? You might think it acceptable to call upon people in the early hours of the morning, but polite society does not behave so rudely. Taverns are there to prevent people needing to call upon unsuspecting homeowners at such socially unacceptable hours. Now that you have inveigled yourself upon us, I suppose you expect my father to cater to your every whim while you go around bullying those around you into giving in to your petulant authority. Well, I am not here to run to your back and call. Nor do I see that my personal affairs, especially toward my decision whether to marry or not, has anything to do with either you or Cedrick. My decision to marry is mine and mine only. Do not ever forget that – either of you. How dare you arrogantly assume you could bully me into a marriage I don’t want? I request that neither of you give anybody any impression that I am marrying, or you will be proven to be liars.”
Sian physically shook with indignation and felt sick with the force of emotion that coursed through her, but she daren’t slow her pace. She daren’t look back or retrace her steps so she could return home and lambast her father for his autocratic behaviour.
“Why shouldn’t I?” Sian ground out through clenched teeth. Without further ado, she spied a gate in a field to her right and decided to use it.
“Where do you think you are going? You are behaving like a heathen,” Wilhelmina spat indignantly. “Don’t think I won’t inform your father about your childish outburst.”
“Think what you like, I don’t care,” Sian replied off-handedly. She climbed the gate and jumped into the field before leaving the pair of them far behind.
“Sian! I demand you come back here at once, do you hear? At once!” Wilhelmina screeched.
“If I could keep walking and not stop until I was far away from all of them I would. I would walk to the ends of the earth to get away from them if I could. The whole house is going downhill and there isn’t a damned thing I can do about it. I don’t want to be a part of it anymore,” she whispered miserably.
In fact, it was difficult to remember a time in her life when she had felt so helpless and pessimistic about her future. She wasn’t at all sure what she should say to her father. In her mind, she tried to think over her argument very carefully, but it was difficult when she was battling with the pain and hurt caused by Ryan’s behaviour.
She was breathless, windswept, and furious by the time she reached home. Slamming into the house, Sian threw the basket she clutched into the corner of the hallway and stormed toward her father’s study.
“Sian?” Her mother appeared in the doorway to the parlour.
Sian didn’t even look at her mother. She stalked into her father’s study and slammed her fists onto her father’s desk before piercing him with a hard look.
“Is it true?” she hissed.
“Sian?” Her father barely looked up. He was frantically dabbing the ink he had spilt when the banging of the door had made him jump. “What in the Devil’s the matter?”
“Tell me!” Sian shouted. “Is it true?”
Arthur froze. “What? Is what true?”
“Have you sold me to that harridan and that slimy little fop, Cedrick?”
“Sold you?” Arthur gasped.
“Tell me, father. I want the truth of it. Now.”
Arthur paled. He stared at her as if he had never seen her before in his life. His mouth opened and closed.
