Malleville looks at you,” Sissy continued, relentless as a terrier cornering a rat. “As if he’d like to eat you up. Can you imagine how awkward family dinners will be if I am forced to marry him?”
Lilith didn’t bother to tell the girl there would be no family dinners in their future. No matter how many times, or in how many ways, she’d tried to explain the facts of life to the earl’s daughter, the thick-headed chit insisted upon sprinkling every conversation with such ridiculous sentiments.
“I can’t be the only one to notice his attention is on the wrong sister,” Sissy added. “Might we not use that to our advantage? Mother is always saying the appearance of impropriety is as damaging as impropriety itself.”
“The countess has much to answer for,” Lilith replied. “The appearance of impropriety is nowhere near as damaging as impropriety itself. And Lord Malleville will not forego thirty thousand pounds plus three percent simply because someone, or an entire dining room, church or parlor full of someones, makes mention of the manner in which he looks upon me. But never fear, I’ve already set in motion a plan to see you freed from the shackles of this particular marriage.”
“But what if that one works no better than your current plan?” Sissy asked. “No, you’re right. You’ll just have to entice him to kiss you.”
“I never said I would entice him to kiss me.”
“Maybe allow him to touch your bosom. On the outside of your gown, of course.”
“Are you suggesting I compromise Lord Malleville in hopes he jilts you to do the honorable thing and marry me?”
“You don’t have to marry him, only lead him to believe you will long enough for him release me and forgive Papa’s debt.”
“Entice him, entrap him, string him along and, for an encore, pauper him?” Lilith cried, her voice rising as her temper sparked, suddenly and inexplicably.
“Do you truly think you could?” Sissy’s eyes glowed with glee. “Pretend for days or even weeks?”
“Look around you,” Lilith ordered, waving one hand about to indicate their surroundings. “Malleville’s gardens are untended and his house is falling to ruins. Susan was forced to marry a man without title or wealth because her dowry, if she was in possession of any such thing, was middling at best. The baron managed to send Matthew to university and give Amelia a London Season. But do you truly believe she now rusticates in the country, forgoing any possibility of an advantageous marriage, by choice?”
“None of that is my fault, or even Papa’s fault.”
It was an altogether familiar refrain that had Lilith’s vision going blurry as her sparking temper ignited and caught fire.
“No, Malleville is to blame. He buggered himself royally all on his own, but he shouldered that blame alone as well.” Lilith could not seem to halt the words pouring from her lips, no matter she was vaguely aware the game had ceased and all eyes were firmly turned in their direction. “He took responsibility as a man with a family should do and set about making things right. I don’t know how he did it, but I imagine it was years of hard work, the likes of which most gentlemen would not recognize.”
“Then he ought to have married some local miss who would appreciate all that toiling and working and what not,” Sissy replied mulishly, crossing her arms over her bosom.
“He intended to marry just such a lady. A pretty Cornish girl, daughter to a local gentleman who’d been betrothed to him nearly half her life and brought with her a dowry worth more than thirty, forty or even a hundred thousand pounds. And he would have, had Dunaway not gotten beneath her skirts and crowed about it all over Town.”
“Still, why did he have to empty the family coffers to buy me?”
“He’s a man, stupid and asinine the lot of them,” Lilith shrieked. “If they are not blinded by lust, it is pride or honor or one of a hundred other convoluted
Lilith didn’t bother to tell the girl there would be no family dinners in their future. No matter how many times, or in how many ways, she’d tried to explain the facts of life to the earl’s daughter, the thick-headed chit insisted upon sprinkling every conversation with such ridiculous sentiments.
“I can’t be the only one to notice his attention is on the wrong sister,” Sissy added. “Might we not use that to our advantage? Mother is always saying the appearance of impropriety is as damaging as impropriety itself.”
“The countess has much to answer for,” Lilith replied. “The appearance of impropriety is nowhere near as damaging as impropriety itself. And Lord Malleville will not forego thirty thousand pounds plus three percent simply because someone, or an entire dining room, church or parlor full of someones, makes mention of the manner in which he looks upon me. But never fear, I’ve already set in motion a plan to see you freed from the shackles of this particular marriage.”
“But what if that one works no better than your current plan?” Sissy asked. “No, you’re right. You’ll just have to entice him to kiss you.”
“I never said I would entice him to kiss me.”
“Maybe allow him to touch your bosom. On the outside of your gown, of course.”
“Are you suggesting I compromise Lord Malleville in hopes he jilts you to do the honorable thing and marry me?”
“You don’t have to marry him, only lead him to believe you will long enough for him release me and forgive Papa’s debt.”
“Entice him, entrap him, string him along and, for an encore, pauper him?” Lilith cried, her voice rising as her temper sparked, suddenly and inexplicably.
“Do you truly think you could?” Sissy’s eyes glowed with glee. “Pretend for days or even weeks?”
“Look around you,” Lilith ordered, waving one hand about to indicate their surroundings. “Malleville’s gardens are untended and his house is falling to ruins. Susan was forced to marry a man without title or wealth because her dowry, if she was in possession of any such thing, was middling at best. The baron managed to send Matthew to university and give Amelia a London Season. But do you truly believe she now rusticates in the country, forgoing any possibility of an advantageous marriage, by choice?”
“None of that is my fault, or even Papa’s fault.”
It was an altogether familiar refrain that had Lilith’s vision going blurry as her sparking temper ignited and caught fire.
“No, Malleville is to blame. He buggered himself royally all on his own, but he shouldered that blame alone as well.” Lilith could not seem to halt the words pouring from her lips, no matter she was vaguely aware the game had ceased and all eyes were firmly turned in their direction. “He took responsibility as a man with a family should do and set about making things right. I don’t know how he did it, but I imagine it was years of hard work, the likes of which most gentlemen would not recognize.”
“Then he ought to have married some local miss who would appreciate all that toiling and working and what not,” Sissy replied mulishly, crossing her arms over her bosom.
“He intended to marry just such a lady. A pretty Cornish girl, daughter to a local gentleman who’d been betrothed to him nearly half her life and brought with her a dowry worth more than thirty, forty or even a hundred thousand pounds. And he would have, had Dunaway not gotten beneath her skirts and crowed about it all over Town.”
“Still, why did he have to empty the family coffers to buy me?”
“He’s a man, stupid and asinine the lot of them,” Lilith shrieked. “If they are not blinded by lust, it is pride or honor or one of a hundred other convoluted
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