“What if we fill each other dance cards and dance with each other’s names?” Marjorie’s eyes twinkled with mischief while Ellen’s went completely white.
“Have you gone completely mad?” Ellen gasped. “Andrew and Mama would have your head.”
“Leave poor cousin Andrew; he has always been a pain. And I could not care less about Lady Bamber.”
“I beg your pardon.”
They both turned around suddenly to find to Ellen’s shock and Marjorie’s disapproval Andrew, the Duke of Grant, standing behind them with a stern expression.
“What are you doing with Ellen, Marjorie? Have you gotten tired of deluding other ladies with your radical nonsense?”
Marjorie smiled sweetly. “I see you haven’t gotten over your affection for me, Your Grace.”
“Affection? You put a frog in my meal when we were six, you gave me dye instead of glue, you told every young maiden for miles that I had the runs and could not control my bowels, and you have done nothing but bring me pain and grief since you were born. Tell me, why I would have any sort of ‘affection’ toward you?”
“Oh, but you’re so full of yourself. Did poor little Andrew get his feelings hurt?” Marjorie mocked while Ellen looked on in horror.
“You’re incorrigible. It’s no wonder that no self-respecting gentleman of thetonwill ask for your hand.”
“Can you not see that this is Ellen’s first Season out? How do you intend to get her coupled with you being so…you!”
“What is wrong with me watching over my sister?”
“You’re chasing away every suitor for miles!”
“Good. My sister shall not marry any man beneath her, and you have no say in this matter or any at all that pertains to my sister’s marriage. Is that clear?”
“I will not have you talk to me like that,” Marjorie spat.
“We are in public. Could you please wait until we are someplace private before you tear at each other’s throats?” Ellen could feel a headache coming on. She hated it when Marjorie and Andrew fought. They both ignored her.
“I don’t care about theton, Ellen, you know that,” Marjorie argued.
Of course, you don’t,” Andrew interrupted. “With your ridiculous beliefs about women being equal to men. No one wants to marry a troublemaker. They are all disgusted by you.”
“You mean, they are all afraid of me.”
“Call it whatever you want to. Means the same thing.”
“You are so narrow-minded that you can’t see beyond your own nose. It’s a wonder these ladies haven’t seen it yet.”
“I am the Duke of Grant. Those young ladies beg for my attention.”
“Pity. Wonder what they would do if they discovered that you did not have control of your bowels.”
“You would not dare.”
“Really? I see you underestimate me, Your Grace,” Marjorie said, her eyes twinkling. Andrew knew without a doubt that she could spread such a foul rumor about him. Marjorie was wild that way. She had not a care in the world.
“How dare you, you vixen, I—”
Ellen decided to seize the opportunity to just escape and fled out to the gardens. Per her mother’s instructions, she shouldn’t be out in the gardens on her own, but she was exhausted. She was beginning to feel suffocated by the weight of her duty and her family’s constant meddling.
Burdened and feeling quite angry about not having a life of her own, she stomped off further into the garden. Now she was quite angry that she needed a husband to escape her family. It was worse that she would also have to do whatever her husband wanted, not what she wanted to do. Never write poetry or see the world; subject to a man’s every whim and wish; reduced to a broodmare.
On the verge of tears, Ellen took out her mother’s list — the don’ts that had been the anthem of her life, and tossed it to the ground in fury. A few tears escaped her eyes, and she swiped at them angrily before turning around to go back to the ball, but suddenly, a man jumped down from above, leaving her truly mortified.
Ellen was about to scream when he hastily clamped her mouth closed with his hand. “Believe me, that is not a good idea,” he whispered gruffly.
