An Affair of Honor (Rebel Hearts Book 2) (10 page)

Silence thickened around her. Was she really trapped, without means to protect her reputation from irreparable harm no matter the path she chose?

William entered the room at last, boots striking hard across the polished boards. “I won’t be talked out of it.”

The duke raised a brow. “Is that so?”

Matilda glanced behind him, but there was no sign now of Lord George Ford or the captain’s sisters following behind.

“Yes, this is perfect. Maria can turn her scheming little heart elsewhere, and when she’s married, we can go through the motions of announcing our fake marriage was dissolved.”

“What do you mean, fake marriage?” Evelyn Ford suddenly made an appearance. “You said you were married to Matilda.”

“And in love,” Audrey said, her eyes accusing him.

“I did not say I was in love,” William exclaimed.

“You called her ‘darling’ twice,” Victoria chided. “Everyone knows that’s just the same.”

Matilda considered how likely it was that she might faint just to escape this situation. She’d never done it before. Perhaps if she held her breath a very long time she might swoon and wake up once it was all over.

Audrey Ford slipped into the space at her side and grasped her hand. “How could you toy with her feelings like this, William?”

The duke pointed to her. “Matilda was just telling me she has a betrothed. What were you thinking to involve her in such a lie?”

“What betrothed?”

“Harry Lloyd,” she whispered. “He asked to marry me.”

“When?” Captain Ford blinked, glancing at her with obvious surprise.

“A year ago,” she confessed. “He left to make his fortune and went south to Portsmouth. He said he would try to join your ship as crew.”

A muscle in the captain’s jaw twitched. “He won’t be coming back.”

It took a moment for comprehension to come, then Matilda gasped and turned her face away. Her eyes filled with tears that overflowed to spill down her cheeks. Harry was dead?

“Oh, you are a beast, William. I am ashamed you’re my brother.” Audrey threw her arm around Matilda as she sobbed as quietly as she could.

She had waited so long for news of Harry, but she hadn’t imagined she would never see him again. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest.

“There will be no savaging of Miss Winslow’s reputation through the scandal of a pretend separation,” the duke insisted, “since there is not going to be any pretense of any kind. Contracts will be drawn today. I will handle the arrangements personally.”

Matilda wiped her tears away, unable to believe they were discussing anything when her heart lay in pieces.

William’s jaw clenched when they made eye contact. “I will compensate her handsomely for the inconvenience myself, as we had already discussed.”

“I don’t want to marry you,” Matilda whispered.

“Marriage?” William frowned. “What are you talking about?”

The three Ford ladies groaned in unison.

“Grandfather, will you please explain the situation to our dear but dense elder brother,” Victoria said with a sad shake of her head. “William has, quite sadly, been too long at sea to understand his duty. We’ll resume making arrangements here while you talk.”

Matilda was a little sorry to see them go. For a moment, she’d had companions who’d understood her sorrow.

Captain Ford crossed to her side and rested his hand upon her shoulder, firm and strangely comforting at such a difficult moment.

The duke rose to his feet and pointed to William. “You alone did more damage to this young woman’s reputation, a servant in your home, than was necessary to thwart Miss Chudleigh’s infatuation with matrimony. Your father would have eventually seen the error of his ways. Miss Winslow saved your life, and potential scandal is how you repay her? I will cut you off without a penny should you act against me in this. Did you not think your sisters would not suffer for it too once word of your lie spread among the
ton
? Don’t think it won’t, because it will indeed get out.”

Anger filled her that the duke would be so cruel as to force them to the altar and that everyone was discussing her future with no indication she had a choice in their plans. She made to rise, but William held her still. Her soul rebelled against the idea of marrying a man she did not love or even want to be around. “I wish to withdraw.”

“Of course.” The duke soothed her, suddenly reasonable and kind as he smiled upon her. “By now my granddaughters will have had a guest room prepared for you. Please remain apart from society until you are both legally wed. ”

That was easy for Matilda to do, but she shivered anyway before lifting her face to her employer. Captain Ford would not give in to his grandfather’s illogical demand they marry. Wasn’t Captain Ford wealthy in his own right? She had always assumed so. He surely would not give in to blackmail from his own grandfather. “Captain?”

His expression gave little away as he met her gaze. “You agreed, and I expect you keep to our bargain.”

She couldn’t have been more shocked than if he’d begun to sing a Christmas carol at the top of his lungs. “I agreed to pretend to be in love with you for one afternoon, not to lie and forced into marriage for the rest of my life. There is a very great difference between the two in my opinion.”

A muscle flexed in his jaw. “Grandfather, would you excuse us a moment? Miss Winslow and I need to have a discussion.”

“Certainly.” The duke wandered away, leaving Matilda and William alone in the parlor.

“I cannot take the lie back now,” he said, as serious as she’d ever seen him. “We have no choice but to marry. He owns this house; he has promised my sisters their seasons and has enhanced their dowries too. My father had too many children and wives for his income. Do not imagine my grandfather won’t strike out at us by hurting them.”

“But we can dissolve the marriage later so I can marry…” She shook her head. Harry was gone, but her mind still struggled with the loss. A fresh set of tears flowed down her cheeks at the cruelty of life that stole the people she loved. She drew in a breath and let it out slowly before rephrasing her response. “We can part ways later so I can live my own life.”

“After my sisters are settled, we will have the marriage annulled or I will sue for divorce,” he promised.

She blinked. Neither prospect would leave her with any sort of good reputation. “A short-term arrangement would be preferred. It could take years for them to fall in love.”

“Or a season—if you help me with them.” Captain Ford folded his arms across his chest as he swayed from foot to foot. “There are a number of things I need to know for the marriage contract. Your exact age, please?”

“I am not yet twenty years.”

He grunted. “Do you have a relation or guardian I need to speak with to obtain permission to marry you?”

“I have no one.” She pressed her hand over her face. Her mother, a gypsy with a restless nature, had discarded her years ago and could hardly care what she did with her life or worry what might have become of her. “I had no one but Harry, and now he’s gone.”

“As I feared.” He sighed deeply. “The season is drawing to a close, and for the ruse to work you must act the part of my wife immediately. There are gowns to be fitted, invitations to accept if we are to chaperone my sisters in society during the coming weeks. You cannot continue to weep over your former betrothed like this.”

She dropped her hands. “I just heard he was gone.”

“He left a year ago.” His face set into stubborn lines. “You’ve had adequate time to forget him.”

She shook her head stubbornly. “There will never be enough time for that.”

“Then I suggest you weep in private.”

“How can you be so unfeeling?” She clenched her hands until her nails dug into her palms, her anger giving her the courage to confront him. Something she’d never done before. “Don’t you dare tell me what I may feel. You may think you control my actions because I am—was—in your service, but my thoughts are very much my own and always have been.”

His jaw clenched and his arms unfolded slowly. “Be careful how you speak to me, Matilda. Do not forget who I am.”

“How could I forget that?” But she trembled at the tone of his voice. “You care only for your own comfort.”

“Which is how it is supposed to be when a man is a bachelor and lives alone.” He sighed. “I have depended on you, trusted you above anyone else these past months. Trust me now. I will take care of you, I promise. You will have a very comfortable life ahead if you just do as I ask for now.”

He sounded sincere enough that her temper subsided. Matilda turned away from him. “I will keep my heartbreak to myself because it is mine alone.”

He grasped her shoulders, preventing her from straying far. “No one in London society knows who you are, so that is to our advantage. You’ve been by my side for months and understood my moods better than anyone, even when I could not speak. Given the depths of our acquaintance, I think you could fool anyone into believing we’re man and wife. Acting as my wife would put me forever in your debt.”

“You were not so complicated when you were confined to bed,” she grumbled. Matilda had liked caring for him though, knowing he improved every day because of her efforts. But marriage was madness. She might have once been curious about London society, having listened to the Fords speak so often about their friends and acquaintances, including all the wild and wonderful entertainments to be found in other houses, but she’d never expected to be part of that life. Not even for a little while.

Their eventual separation would cause scandal for his family. The duke would not be pleased. However, with William’s sisters married off, would there really be no impediment to prevent it?

She turned when the captain remained silent for several minutes. Captain Ford’s face was tipped downward, his attention lowered. With a start she formed a suspicion he had been staring at a part of her anatomy only he had ever seen.

His gaze rose very slowly; his lips were parted and the tip of his tongue rested on his teeth. She shivered at the heated intensity of his expression.

Matilda drew herself up straight, determined not to be intimidated by him. “Was the prospect of marrying Miss Chudleigh so utterly terrifying, Captain, that you’d offer so much without limits?”

“There are limits. To my purse and my patience, as you well know.”

She shivered at the mention of his temper. If she did something he didn’t like, would he turn her over his knee again?

“Let me clarify my relationship with Miss Chudleigh because you need to know what I don’t like about the woman. Our fathers are close friends. Because of that connection, my female cousins befriended her, an awkward girl who was never asked to dance. They eased her way into society. I was persuaded to stand up with her once, and since that day she has followed me around with melting eyes in the hopes I’d single her out again. I have needed to leave entertainments because she followed me relentlessly round and round the ballroom in the most embarrassing fashion. Enough so people were laughing about her infatuation and commenting upon it. She knows nothing of me except that I’m the grandson of a duke.”

“You can be kind when it suits,” Matilda whispered, concerned for the woman’s state of mind. One dance was not enough reason to bind yourself to William Ford. “If your sisters do not make a match in two years will I be able to retire from society regardless?”

“You have my word this marriage is a temporary arrangement. If my sisters choose not to marry at all, we will discuss together what to do next.” He frowned as his hands fell away, his fingers curled into a fist at his side. “Society will be easy to fool.”

“Forgive me that I have not your confidence. I might know your nature, but you do not have the faintest idea of mine. I have no experience in being a lady.”

“I will ensure you have everything you need.”

The duke laughed as he rejoined them. “Is she not delightfully direct?”

“Indeed,” William agreed. He stood stiffly now, as if he was annoyed by the interruption.

If she failed to please her husband, and she was positive she would at some point, would she be punished for it? And why did the idea of it not terrify her more?

“What is your answer, Miss Winslow?”

She blinked. “To what?”

His jaw tensed and then he bit out, “Will. You. Marry. Me?”

“Oh,” she whispered. He was proposing with such bad grace. His attitude amused her. This was exactly how she’d picture the gruff captain proposing to anyone. She cast a quick glance at the Duke of Rutherford and saw his curt nod. Rather than risk aggravating the captain further, Matilda dipped her chin, sealing her reputation as a woman who’d tricked her employer into marrying her. After all, her other choices were just as difficult—a false life as a ruined woman living alone, or a false life as William Ford’s unwanted bride.

None promised happiness. Only one offered security.

“Speak the words,” he demanded, eyes boring into hers relentlessly.

Matilda bit her bottom lip and then squared her shoulders. “Yes, Captain. I would be honored to be your wife.”

The duke crowed happily, but she was more concerned by Captain Ford’s sudden smile. He seemed entirely too pleased with her answer, and that could not be good. Not good at all.