The Wallflower Wager - Tessa Dare Page 0,71
Everyone will say you’ve been ruined.”
“I don’t care what anyone says.”
“Well, I care. I care what people say about you. What they say about us, our children. Penny, I’m telling you—”
“Telling me? I thought a proposal involved asking me. I fell in love with you partly because you respected my choices, on everything from my dinner to my engagement ring. Suddenly, you’ve become an autocrat.”
He sighed wearily. “I’m trying to protect you. I’ll do whatever is required to keep you from becoming a scandal, even if that means taking matters into my own hands.”
“What does that mean?”
“If your brother knows how we’ve spent the past few weeks, I’m sure he’d agree we must wed.”
Oh, Lord. Her stomach knotted. “You would tell him I’m ruined.”
His expression was hard.
“Soiled in the eyes of society,” she went on. “Worthless. That he has no choice but to bless the match, because how could anyone else ever want me.”
“You know I don’t see you that way.”
“But you are willing to let my family see me that way, and then use that to your advantage. After everything you know of my past, I can’t believe you would stand here and even suggest such a thing.” She wrapped her arms about the hollowness in her chest and hugged tight. “Everyone warned me not to trust you. All my friends. I refused to listen.”
“You knew my reputation from the first. I never claimed to be anything else.”
“I suppose you didn’t. I was naïve enough to fall in love with you anyway.”
“Maybe you didn’t fall in love with me,” he snapped. “Maybe you fell in love with a man who doesn’t exist.”
“Maybe you don’t truly love me at all.”
She waited for him to contradict the statement. Assure her that yes, he loved her beyond anything. Instead, he released her and passed a hand over his face. “You’re emotional. Fatigued. You should go home and rest.”
“I’m going home, but not to rest. I’m going to pack my things. You’re right, perhaps it’s time I reached out to my family. I can leave with Bradford tonight.”
“Penny, wait.”
“No,” she said. “I’ve waited long enough. I’ve lost ten years of my life to secrets and shame, and I refuse to surrender a single day more. Not even for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“MRS. ROBBINS! MRS. ROBBINS!”
Delilah—the bird who couldn’t learn “I love you” after a thousand repetitions of the phrase—had learned to mimic this instead. The parrot had the poor housekeeper running all over the house.
Penny rose from the bed where she’d been moping all afternoon and dragged herself down the stairs before Mrs. Robbins could take the trouble to climb them.
When she arrived downstairs, however, she found the drawing room stacked with boxes. Small boxes, large boxes, hatboxes. In the middle of them all stood Emma.
“Surprise!” Emma spread her arms, gesturing toward the boxes with a tacit voilà. “Your wardrobe has arrived. I told you it would be finished in time. A full complement of frocks and underthings for daily wear, two evening gowns suitable for the opera or the theater, gloves and heeled slippers to match—and of course, your gown for the ball. I can’t wait to show you everything.”
“Don’t bother.” Penny removed a stack of boxes from a chair and numbly sat down.
“What?”
“Leave them boxed. It will save me the trouble of repacking them when I leave.”
“Oh, no. Did your aunt refuse to help you?”
Penny shook your head.
“Your brother, then. He won’t change his mind?”
“It’s not my family. It’s . . .” Tears pressed to her eyes. “Emma, I feel like such a fool.”
Penny broke down and told her friend everything. Everything. From Cumberland and secret dancing lessons, all the way up through the contracts and heartbreak. She condensed a great many of the details by necessity, but she held nothing back.
By the end, the two of them were side by side on the divan, each of them dabbing their eyes with handkerchiefs. Even Delilah gave a mournful whistle. Mrs. Robbins brought a pot of comforting tea.
Emma embraced her. “Penny, dear. I am so sorry.”
“I don’t know what to do. You all attempted to warn me, and I thought I knew better. I believed he was good inside, at his core. I thought that he would set aside these ruthless vendettas once he came to believe that, too. My judgment failed me.” She sniffed. “I ought to have known it when he insulted my sandwiches.”
“You weren’t a fool,” Emma said. “You trusted your heart. And to be honest, I’m not convinced your heart