unresponsive she’d been when Lord Stonehurst was giving her a way to spare her father the pain of her indiscretion? What if her admission of what she’d been doing made her father worse and shortened his life? That was a horrible thought.
“You have a long life ahead of you. You admitted that even today you are feeling better.”
“Better, yes. But there is no cure for what ails me, Mirabella. My heart is weak.” He took a deep breath. “I haven’t been fooling myself for some time now, and I am not going to allow you to delude yourself any longer. I’m not going to die tonight, but I won’t live to be a very old man. I won’t have to worry about you now. Lord Stonehurst will see that you are well cared for.”
Mirabella saw her plans for avenging Sarah’s death slipping away. “Papa. I don’t want to marry. I want to stay here with you.”
“Poppycock. Women are made for marriage. I’ve allowed you certain freedoms—to read the Times and other papers and to write your poetry and to be clever with sums—because your mother wasn’t here. It pleased me to teach you. But I never meant for you to be so strong and independent as to not want to marry one day. Now, be a dutiful daughter and make me happy. I don’t want to hear any more about not marrying. We’ll send word to your aunt Helen. I know she will want to come and help you make all the arrangements.”
She had always been a dutiful daughter, until recently. It had always been her desire to make her father happy.
“And if you marry soon enough, I just might get to see my first grandchild. That would be such a blessing for me, dear girl. I can just see it now. A wee one for me to hold, then I could tell your mother all about him when I see her in Heaven.”
This was harder than she thought it would be. Her father had laughed, really laughed, not just the light chuckle he’d given her the past few months. What was she to do? She’d told Lord Stonehurst no when he offered to extend the engagement. What was worse, making her father’s last days happy or rejecting Lord Stonehurst?
A kiss crossed her mind. Lord Stonehurst’s kiss. A masterful meeting of lips directed to show her what she had missed. Mirabella rose from the bed and walked over to her father’s window and looked out to the quiet street below.
What should she do? Give her father the prepared speech and take the smile off his face forever or go to Lord Stonehurst and tell him she had changed her mind, and ask him to reconsider his proposal to her?
If they came to an agreement, she would have to find a way to be Lord Stonehurst’s fiancée and also continue her search for Sarah’s Prince Charming, too. The viscount’s return had effectively ended her efforts of slipping her fingers down the neckcloths of the young men, but she couldn’t give up the search. She’d been through too many on her list already. Besides, there was an unscrupulous scoundrel in the ton , and right now he could be seducing another young woman and leaving her to ruination.
Mirabella turned to her father. “All right. The engagement will stand, but I need time to get to know him, Papa. We’ve only just met. I can’t marry him right away.”
“Don’t wait too long, Daughter. You might have plenty of time, but I don’t. Now, you run along and send up Newton. I want to send a note to the earl and find out why he hasn’t notified me of his son’s return.”
“Wait on that, Papa. I’m sure it’s because Lord Stonehurst took some perverse pleasure in astounding me last evening. Give the earl a day or two to notify you. I’m sure he will be in touch.”
She had to give herself time to speak to the viscount again. To tell him she would accept his proposal, assuming it was still offered. She wasn’t fond of the idea of now going to him with the same request he presented her. She had turned him down and now he could very well turn her down.
“What time is Archer coming to escort you
“You have a long life ahead of you. You admitted that even today you are feeling better.”
“Better, yes. But there is no cure for what ails me, Mirabella. My heart is weak.” He took a deep breath. “I haven’t been fooling myself for some time now, and I am not going to allow you to delude yourself any longer. I’m not going to die tonight, but I won’t live to be a very old man. I won’t have to worry about you now. Lord Stonehurst will see that you are well cared for.”
Mirabella saw her plans for avenging Sarah’s death slipping away. “Papa. I don’t want to marry. I want to stay here with you.”
“Poppycock. Women are made for marriage. I’ve allowed you certain freedoms—to read the Times and other papers and to write your poetry and to be clever with sums—because your mother wasn’t here. It pleased me to teach you. But I never meant for you to be so strong and independent as to not want to marry one day. Now, be a dutiful daughter and make me happy. I don’t want to hear any more about not marrying. We’ll send word to your aunt Helen. I know she will want to come and help you make all the arrangements.”
She had always been a dutiful daughter, until recently. It had always been her desire to make her father happy.
“And if you marry soon enough, I just might get to see my first grandchild. That would be such a blessing for me, dear girl. I can just see it now. A wee one for me to hold, then I could tell your mother all about him when I see her in Heaven.”
This was harder than she thought it would be. Her father had laughed, really laughed, not just the light chuckle he’d given her the past few months. What was she to do? She’d told Lord Stonehurst no when he offered to extend the engagement. What was worse, making her father’s last days happy or rejecting Lord Stonehurst?
A kiss crossed her mind. Lord Stonehurst’s kiss. A masterful meeting of lips directed to show her what she had missed. Mirabella rose from the bed and walked over to her father’s window and looked out to the quiet street below.
What should she do? Give her father the prepared speech and take the smile off his face forever or go to Lord Stonehurst and tell him she had changed her mind, and ask him to reconsider his proposal to her?
If they came to an agreement, she would have to find a way to be Lord Stonehurst’s fiancée and also continue her search for Sarah’s Prince Charming, too. The viscount’s return had effectively ended her efforts of slipping her fingers down the neckcloths of the young men, but she couldn’t give up the search. She’d been through too many on her list already. Besides, there was an unscrupulous scoundrel in the ton , and right now he could be seducing another young woman and leaving her to ruination.
Mirabella turned to her father. “All right. The engagement will stand, but I need time to get to know him, Papa. We’ve only just met. I can’t marry him right away.”
“Don’t wait too long, Daughter. You might have plenty of time, but I don’t. Now, you run along and send up Newton. I want to send a note to the earl and find out why he hasn’t notified me of his son’s return.”
“Wait on that, Papa. I’m sure it’s because Lord Stonehurst took some perverse pleasure in astounding me last evening. Give the earl a day or two to notify you. I’m sure he will be in touch.”
She had to give herself time to speak to the viscount again. To tell him she would accept his proposal, assuming it was still offered. She wasn’t fond of the idea of now going to him with the same request he presented her. She had turned him down and now he could very well turn her down.
“What time is Archer coming to escort you
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