to him, and he slowly turned his head until he had Edmund in his sights.
“Or…” he murmured, and Edmund began shaking his head, not wanting anything to do with this entire affair. “We could marry the Exner girl to you.”
“Absolutely not,” Edmund said, standing. His blood began to stir at the thought of Lady Hannah, but he refused to entertain the idea that she could be his, for he was smarter than that. “Besides, she would never have me.”
“She would have no choice,” his father argued. “That, or be ruined. What other man is going to offer for goods that weren’t enough for your brother? Her father is desperate to have her married off – there was some scandal with her sister and this girl is already four-and-twenty.”
Edmund found that difficult to believe. He had thought her to be twenty at the very oldest.
“Yes,” Lord Heatherstone said with a smile, warming to the idea now. “This will work perfectly. I will speak with the fathers of both women tomorrow.”
“I’ll not marry her,” Edmund insisted, but his father appeared not to be listening. Edmund persisted. “Her father won’t agree to it. Not when he sees me. Or knows where I live.”
His father waved a hand in the air. “Hollingswood can be improved. Add a few servants, some new furniture, some wallpaper, good as new.”
He looked Edmund up and down, but said nothing. No words were needed. For they all knew the truth – the estate could be improved but there was no hope for Edmund.. He was who he was, and nothing could change it.
“And if I refuse?” Edmund asked, arching his eyebrow.
“Then I shall sell Hollingswood,” his father said, narrowing his eyes. “I will need the money in lieu of what the girl’s dowry will bring our family. You will have to return to London.”
“You wouldn’t,” Edmund said, not believing his father. He was as happy about Edmund’s omission from society as much as Edmund himself was.
“Test me,” his father said, biting out the words, and Edmund finally had to reluctantly admit defeat.
For he would never return to Society. He would die first.
“I shall marry whom?”
“Lord Edmund – Lord Byron’s brother.”
Hannah stared at her father in shock over dinner the following evening. Her mother was silent at the other end of the table, her head bent low over her plate.
“But… I’ve never met the man.”
She hadn’t. She had heard rumors about him of course. Everyone had. Lord Edmund had been injured in the war, barely surviving. He was, apparently, now so scarred that he was unrecognizable. He hid away in one of the family estates far from London, and hardly ever returned, except to visit his mother now and again.
She thought of last night’s stranger. The truth was, she could hardly think of anything else but the man, and the press of his lips upon hers. While it was true it had been her first kiss, she could hardly imagine that there could be any better. She only wished that she knew who he was, what his name was. He had seemed bitter, yes, but she had sensed that there was goodness within him, that he had felt sorry for her and her entire situation.
If only…
But it didn’t seem to matter what she wanted anyway. Even if she did know his identity, she was apparently bound to marry one of Lord Heatherstone’s sons. No one seemed to care which one it was.
“I’m sure he will make you a fine husband,” her father said, but even he couldn’t mask his own disbelief in the words. “Just have to give it a chance, is all.”
“Why are you so determined to marry me off?” she asked, imploring him, looking from her mother to her father. Her father set his jaw determinately, but something in her gaze must have softened him, for he finally sighed and relented.
“You know why. Justine all but ruined your chances of ever marrying with the scandal she caused.”
Scandal was an understated description for when her sister had run away with one of the footmen to be married in Scotland. One her mother had never quite recovered from, and that her father still had not forgiven her for.
“We want to ensure that you marry well, into a family that can look after you. You have no brothers, Hannah, and we do not know how well your cousin Anderson will look after you one day.”
Hannah sighed, wishing she could look after herself, but what her father said was true. If only