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“Sian.”
“Oh, yes. Yes, of course.”
“For now, I shall get my man of business onto sort out the paperwork for the purchase of those shares. Then we will have another chat about how we are going to resolve those financial problems of yours. I have one or two suggestions on how you could earn an income. For now, I will go and see if I can find your errant daughter and calm her down a little.”
He left Mabel and Arthur doing everything possible to avoid each other’s eyes, and quietly left the house, but this time through the back door.
CHAPTER SIX
Ryan knew that when Sian was stressed, worried, or just needed some time alone to think, she gravitated to an old church on the edge of his estate which had been abandoned a century or so ago. It was there he found her.
Sian felt his presence before she heard him.
“I can assure you now that your father isn’t going to force you into marrying Cedrick,” Ryan began.
“Has he told you?”
“What?”
“That Cedrick is not going to be my husband?”
Ryan shook his head.
Sian closed her eyes. “How much financial trouble is he in?”
“Enough to force a few changes.”
“I am not going to be forced into marriage to that – that–”
“Cedrick.”
“If that is what you want to call him. I am certainly not going to be forced into marriage to that Cedrick,” Sian snorted.
“I am not suggesting you should be.”
“But my father has asked you to come and have a word with me.” Sian shook her head in disgust.
“Why are you so averse to marriage?”
“So, my father has asked you to come and have a word with me,” she persisted. “Well, don’t bother because I am not going to change my mind for you either.”
“Answer my question,” Ryan demanded.
“What question?”
Ryan forced himself to remain patient. It was clear that Sian was panic-stricken at the thought of having to be married to Wilhelmina’s acquaintance, and he could only sympathise with her for it. However, he wanted a few straight answers because her attitude toward matrimony affected him.
“What do you have against marriage?”
“I don’t have anything against marriage. I am sure it is a perfectly fine and credible institution for people who wish to indulge in it. I, however, do not.”
“Why?”
“Because I have no wish to hand myself over like chattel to any man to control at a whim,” she snapped. “You have no idea how frustrating it is to live with my father. A husband is not going to make me any happier.”
“But your circumstances will be better,” Ryan argued. “As a wife, you will run the home you live in ergo you will make decisions as to menu, purchases, dresses, and the fripperies you buy. So long as you find yourself a husband who is wealthy enough, you would be able to live in the lap of luxury for the rest of your life.”
Sian threw him a dark look. “There is more to marriage than money.”
