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“Would you care for some breakfast, Father? I can have Cook send in coffee. I believe we have some.” She’d spent years listening to her father eschew tea and grumble about how a real man drank coffee.
“No. I broke my fast hours ago.” Again, he gave her a look that was meant as chastisement for her still being abed when he arrived. Rayne began to fill her plate from the platter in the center of the table.
“I have come to escort you back to my house for your wedding.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.
Her breath caught and she put her fork down before her shaking spilled the contents all over the table. “What?”
“I’m sure you heard me, Daughter. It is getting close to the date for your wedding, so I am here to escort you to my house. The wedding will be held at the church in my town, and it will be easier if you are already there.”
She licked her dry lips, trying hard to keep herself under control. “But Father, it is still three days away. I have patients to see to.”
“I have arranged for Dr. Miller to accept your patients in your absence.”
Rayne was stunned. Father had the nerve to make these arrangements behind her back? Without giving her the courtesy of speaking with the doctor herself?
The time had come to take a stand. She took a sip of tea and placed the cup carefully in the saucer. “I am sorry, but I must once again reiterate that I am not prepared, nor willing to marry Mr. Faulkner-Jones.”
Father leaned forward and stared her in the eye. “That is precisely what he told me yesterday afternoon.” He pointed his finger at her. “I have made all the arrangements. Mr. Faulkner-Jones is the perfect husband for you. He is busy with his work and will leave you alone to take care of your own work.”
For the first time in her life anger at her father swept through her. “That is the problem. Perhaps I want a marriage where my husband does not leave me alone. What do I get out of this arrangement? Mr. Faulkner-Jones tells me he needs a wife in order to advance in his career. What benefit is there for me?”
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p; Father’s lips tightened and a red flush rose to his face. As a doctor, she immediately became concerned about this heart. “Do not disappoint me in this, Rayne. I have worked all my life to build a good medical practice that I handed over to you. I expect you to live up to the name I made for myself and in order to do that you must devote all your time and energy to medicine.”
“And as I said, why then do I need a husband?”
“I will not live forever. You need a man to watch over you. Guide you.”
She threw her napkin down. “This husband you are foisting on me will not be here to ‘guide’ me.” She hated the tears that filled her eyes.
He shoved his chair back and shouted, “You will do what you are told. You have never disappointed me in your life, Rayne. I have done everything for you. I treated you like the son I never had. And this is how you pay me back?” He stopped, wiped the sweat from his forehead, took a deep breath and then slid to the floor in a faint.
Chapter 17
Edwin entered Nick Smith’s office on the ground floor of the hotel he’d recently acquired. In the short time he and Lady Pamela had been married, Nick had sold his profitable gambling club, The Lion’s Den, and re-invested his money into two restaurants and the hotel.
Considering the history Edwin had with Carter Westbrooke, a close friend of Nick’s, he was grateful that the man agreed to see him at all. But if anyone could help him move his project forward, it was Nick, and he was determined to do this.
Slumped in his chair, Nick eyed him carefully as he entered his office. The man grew up on the streets of London and despite his cut of clothing and polished manners and speech, the angry and dangerous boy who never left him was still visible in his eyes. No one got the best of Mr. Nick Smith.
He waved to a seat and leaned back in his. “What brings you here, today, Sterling?”
Smith was known for getting right to the point and Edwin was ready for it. “I need your help.”
Nick made no indication that he even heard Edwin, but since he hadn’t been thrown out of the office yet, he viewed that as a good sign. “I need to purchase a building with specific requirements and everyone I speak with points me in your direction.”
“Go on.”
“I know you are quite familiar with what happened to Lizbeth Mallory that also involved your wife.”
For the first time Edwin saw a glimmer of something in Nick’s eyes. “My wife is not open to discussion.”
Edwin nodded his head. He’d heard the rumors about Nick Smith and his fierce protectiveness of Lady Pamela. “After you, your wife and the Mallorys left Dr. Steven’s infirmary last week, I spent a good amount of time with Mrs. O’Leary gathering the names of the women who she sent from her boarding house to the brothel in London.”
Nick sat up straighter in his chair and glared at him. “For what purpose?”
Edwin immediately raised his hand to ward off Smith hopping over his desk and pummeling him. “Not what you’re thinking, I can assure you. It was my intention to find these women and offer them a place to live and training for employment so they can secure decent jobs and hopefully gain back the life that was stolen from them.”
