AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her mother clasped her hands together. “Papa will be so happy. Have you told him?”
“Yes.”
“Was he pleased? Of course, he must have been.”
“He was.”Triumphantmight be a better word.
Her mother smiled. “This is splendid. Oh, I am so happy, Harriet.” She reached out and squeezed Harriet’s hand.
Taking in the dark circles under her mother’s eyes, the new lines around her mouth, the sagging skin that showed lost weight, Harriet could not be sorry for what she’d done. Mamarequireda respite, and given the circumstances, she’d seen no other way to manage one. Now, her mother looked so relieved.
“You will move to Ferrington Hall after the wedding,” her mother went on. “Quite a fine house, I thought. Though in need of some attention. You will be comfortable there. Papa will hand over your portion to your husband, so there can be no doubts about the money any longer.”
More of a pernicious system than an advantage, Harriet thought, but she said nothing.
“He won’t be able to dangle it before us while threatening to snatch it away,” Mama said. “You will be all right. Settled. And I…” She blinked and looked uncertain, as if she’d lost her train of thought. Or, more likely, she had no idea how to finish that sentence.
Harriet nearly said that of course they would both move to her new home, where neither of them would have to care what her grandfather thought or wanted ever again. Except…her engagement was a ruse. She was going to think of another plan for the future and then break it off. Wasn’t she? Yes, of course she was. She’d made the rogue earl propose. He hadn’t been intending to. He hadn’t said he loved her. She couldn’t actually marry him. And that fact was not the least bit melancholy. But her mother looked so forlorn. “You will come with me when I marry,” she declared. That was perfectly true.Ifshe ever married.
“Oh, Harriet,” said her mother.
“I won’t abandon you. You cannot live here with Grandfather.”
Tears welled up in her mother’s eyes. She blinked them away like a prisoner who did not dare hope for release. “You must see what your future husband thinks.”
In other words, she was to exchange one tyranny for another. Harriet was assailed by a muddle of emotions, with rebellion at the head of the stampede.
Mama squeezed her hand. “You are such a good girl.”
She wasn’t. She was a selfish schemer. But she would set things right, as soon as she came up with another way forward.
Her mother rose from her bed and went to the dressing table to tidy her hair. “Ferrington seems quite charming. I expect you’ll be happy with him.”
There was nothing to say to this.
“And you like him. Well, of course you do. You accepted his offer, and I know you too well to think you would have done so if you did not. Like him, I mean.” Mama’s fingers picked at the folds of her gown, smoothing creases left from her nap. “And why shouldn’t you? He has a lovely smile. I think he must be kind.” Her eyes in the mirror found Harriet’s and held them. “Is he kind?”
“Yes, Mama.” Harriet would have confirmed this in any case, to reassure her mother. But she realized it was quite true. The rogue earl was kind; she’d noticed it with Samia and in other ways. Her thoughts stumbled as she wondered if he’d offered for her out of kindness. Or even pity? The possibility scalded along her veins.
“His smile quite makes up for his commonplace looks,” her mother added.
Harriet didn’t think his looks were commonplace. On the contrary, he was very attractive, as well as quick-witted and capable and amusing. His kisses were deliriously… She cut off this dangerous line of thought. “We should dress for dinner.”
The necessity distracted her mother, as Harriet had known it would, and she was able to escape to her room.
Harriet’s grandfather was uncommonly affable at dinner that evening. Every so often, he paused, fork suspended, and stared into space as if contemplating some pleasant prospect. “We will hold an engagement party,” he said at one point. “Perhaps a ball. Yes, why not? The workmen are nearly finished with the new ballroom. Or, if they are not, they can bestir themselves.” He frowned in a way that boded ill for the carpenters. “Our high-nosed neighbors will have to come, since you’re marrying the earl. And when they hear that your friends the duke and duchess will attend, well, they’ll abandon their snobbish ways soon enough.”
Harriet wanted to object. But what was to be her reason?
“You don’t look pleased, Harriet,” the old man added. “I thought all girls loved balls.”
“Of course she is pleased,” said Harriet’s mother. “Aren’t you, my love?”
“Yes. Er…”
“Those friends of yours are arriving for a visit next week, aren’t they?” asked her grandfather. “I daresay they’ll be delighted to hear there’s to be a ball.”
Harriethadn’tforgotten that Charlotte and Sarah were coming. She’d simply been busy thinking of other things. A flush warmed her cheeks when she imagined their arrival. What would they think of her engagement? They’d be astonished is what. They would expect to have heard a great deal about Ferrington beforehand, but she’d never mentioned him in her letters. Until very recently, he had been Jack the Rogue, and she hadn’t known how to speak ofhim. Her friends would ferret out the true story. They were experts at doing exactly that. It was all too easy to imagine Charlotte’s acerbic opinion of her conduct.
