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“I can see why the announcement upset you,” Reginald said. “Our marriage doesn’t have to be the end of your freedom, though. I have no desire to be the author of your life. We could be partners, equals in everything.”
Lady Marcella gave him a weary look. “You would promise me anything if it meant I’d wed you, wouldn’t you? You have so much to gain from this, and because of your absence, marriage to me holds even more importance than it would have before.”
“I would promise you anything,” Reginald agreed, “but I’m also a man of my word. If I promised you something, I’d make sure to deliver upon that promise.”
Lady Marcella searched his face for a long moment. “You look sincere,” she said. “I want to believe you. I do. But I just can’t. I have so much that I can lose with this, and I know that this is unjust. Why should I have to bend to my parents’ will?”
“Because the world is unjust.”
“The world is unjust only if people turn a blind eye to injustice,” Lady Marcella countered. “I am trying to do something about it, and if I had the power, I’d fight all the injustice in the world.”
“Do you think you would possibly emerge victorious from such a battle?”
“No,” Lady Marcella replied, “but I would’ve tried. I would’ve hopefully found others whose desire for justice burned as brightly as my own, and even if I did not manage to make the world more just, someone would.”
My God! What a remarkable woman!
She looked glorious in that moment. Her hazel eyes blazed with determination, and the gray sky seemed to make everything about her stand out all the more strongly. Rain droplets had settled in her hair, shining like tiny diamonds caught in her brilliant tresses. Lady Marcella’s cheeks pinked, as if her passion was so great that her body could scarcely contain it. She stood like some great embodiment of justice, descended from the heavens and into the grounds behind her family’s ancient estate. Reginald’s pulse jumped. What a fiery creature!
He would like to kiss her, to press his body against hers and to tell her just how glorious she was. It would be highly improper, even if the lady found the action agreeable. His senses were not so gone that he didn’t realize that. Reginald wanted to try, anyway. Only Phillip was around to witness any untoward behavior, and he seemed to be a rather unobservant chaperone. Reginald was not even sure he was watching.
“If you were not a woman, you’d have made a magnificent attorney,” Reginald said. “But it’s better for the world that you were born a lady.”
“And why is that?”
“Because now, I haven’t the faintest idea what you will become. Something wondrous, I’m sure.”
Lady Marcella smiled. “Such nice words. You’ve become quite a rhetorician since returning to us.”
“What must I do to prove that my words are sincere?”
“That’s the sad thing. You can’t persuade me,” Lady Marcella said. “I’m too set in my convictions, and any opposition will only make me hold onto them all the more tightly. I might inevitably have to marry you, but I will fight and struggle until that fateful day arrives. Even after.”
“I know a woman who I think you’d adore,” Reginald admitted honestly. “If she were in your position, I think she’d fight just as strongly against a marriage she didn’t desire.”
“So would my dear stepmother, I suspect,” Lady Marcella said. “It’s strange how she dislikes me having the same freedom which afforded her to marry my own father.”
“I don’t know that she dislikes you.”
Lady Marcella hummed. She picked up a stone by the brook and weighed it in her hand. “What about the woman you mentioned? Did she find herself in an arranged marriage, or is she a poor spinster now?”
“She married a clerk,” Reginald replied. “A penniless man with a good heart and the strongest sense of morals you’ll ever meet in your life. I’m quite honored to know him.”
“Is she happy with her penniless clerk?”
“Very happy,” Reginald replied. “I think that she worries often about having enough money, as does he. It’s something that the both of them would worry about if they were alone, though. Neither of them came from particularly good families. I think that the burden is a little easier to bear because they have each other.”
“Would she have been happier if she married a wealthier man?” Lady Marcella asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe she would’ve been, but she did have offers from wealthier men. Not nearly as wealthy as thetonor the people who run in your—in our—circles, but there was a merchant. He made fair money. She chose my friend the clerk because he made her laugh.”
The rain beat against them, and Reginald had begun to feel its coldness seep through the fine fabric of his clothes. He didn’t dare suggest that they return, though. Not yet. If he returned to Lord Castamere’s manor, it would mean the end of his privacy with Lady Marcella. Certainly, they weren’t entirely alone. Phillip was there somewhere, but that was starting to matter less every second. Reginald’s rare intimacy with Lady Marcella made his blood burn all the hotter.
Even if he was marrying Lady Marcella for her fortune, he did admire her. A great deal, in fact. He ached to curl his hands in that lovely hair and to see those lips open in surprise. Reginald imagined the lady with her head tossed back, her delicate throat exposed, while soft moans tore from her. Yes, Reginald was quite sure he could please her, and it would be just a simple matter to reach beneath her cloak.
“Per your advice, then, I must seek out a poor man who is good-humored,” Lady Marcella replied. “Thank you, My Lord, for your wisdom.”
Reginald nodded, although his mind was elsewhere. “That leaves me without a bride, though.”
