Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

I n all of it, what surprised Samantha the most was the lack of friendship between the two brothers.

No matter what life had thrown at her and Diana, they had always had each other. They had always been each other's best friend and closest ally. It simply did not make any sense at all that the Duke and his brother could hate each other so much.

Perhaps, however, it was simply easier to think about that than it was to look at the Duke, who was clearly still waiting for her response.

"Well?" he asked. "What do you think about that?"

"No."

"Did you even think about it?"

"There is no need to. I do not want that, not for myself nor for you."

"It is the only way to handle this matter, Lady Samantha."

"Why? Why does your brother hate you so much that he would leave you with no other option but to marry someone like me?"

"You wouldn't… understand."

He seemed to wince as he said it, given that she had only just lectured him for the way he saw her as less intelligent than himself.

"But it is true that he hates you?"

"It would appear so, yes."

"And you hate him in return?"

"I do not know. I can understand his anger, given what happened, but again, it is not something that you would understand, and that is not to say that you are not intelligent enough to. Rather, you clearly have a lot of love for your sister, and so you couldn't see yourself turning on her."

"I perhaps could if she did something terrible enough to warrant it."

She said it, but she did not truly believe it. After all, she owed everything to Diana and all that she had sacrificed for her.

"So, for example, if you were the one to have married the Duke," he began, "your sister would have been happy for you in the same way you were for her. My brother would not be like that. He would cause as many issues as possible until the match was destroyed."

She did not dare tell him that she was supposed to marry the Duke, and that rather than supporting it, Diana technically stole him for herself because that is not truly why she did it, but it would not be possible to explain it to him.

Not to a man that seemed to think of advantageous moves as the only way forward.

"Then I suppose I can see why you dislike him," she nodded.

"And you can see why we must marry?"

"No," she replied. "It does not matter what threat I am under. I do not wish to marry. It is not your fault; it is simply a fact."

"You are impossible," he groaned. "Why can you not simply thank me for trying to save your reputation and agree?"

"Because I do not care about my reputation, and I do not love you. I only wish to marry for love, not because some man is blackmailing me into it."

Suddenly, he began to laugh. She hated it. It was as though she was merely five years old and had proclaimed that she would become a princess, even though she was a commoner and had no real prospects for marriage at all, not to mention the plague.

"What is so funny?"

"The way you seem to think there is any other way out of this, Lady Samantha. If you do not marry me, you will be ruined, believe me."

"I believe you completely. I simply do not care."

"That is just as well because if you are against this, then my brother will not stop until you are ruined."

"He can do as he pleases," Samantha sighed. "He is a man, after all."

She knew that he was trying to respond to her, but she did not wish to hear it. She could no longer listen to him telling her what was best for her despite knowing her for only a day, and she still required a moment alone as she was yet to find even five minutes with nobody else around, and so she went to her room.

The second she entered and saw a piece of paper on her floor, she almost took her words back, but she steeled herself and picked it up.

"You are not taking me seriously, Lady Samantha. Fear not, you shall have no choice but to soon enough."

She was unsure whether it was the letter or the lingering effects of her overindulgence, but she felt incredibly uneasy. She hated the way someone had complete control over her to the point that the only way she could stop them winning was to ruin herself, but that did not matter. She would accept her fate with a smile then be rushed back to London to meet her husband and know that after everything, it was her father who had the last laugh rather than a stranger.

She did not truly wish to eat dinner that evening, but she had to keep the problem hidden until she no longer could. She hoped to at least have time to speak with Lady Penelope one final time before she had to go because she had so enjoyed her company and wished she could have had more time with her. Instead, she went downstairs too early, and the only other two in the room were the Duke and his brother, neither of whom seemed to notice her arrival.

"So," Nicholas began, speaking exclusively to his brother, "I suppose you have heard the news by now about my little announcement."

"Yes," the Duke said firmly, "and you are not going to make it. Are we clear?"

"You cannot tell me what to do. This is not your household."

"I cannot force you to do or not do anything, but I can certainly warn you of the consequences that you will receive if you do."

"You cannot do a thing about it; I am doing nothing untoward with what I am planning."

"Have you no decency? She doesn't deserve this to happen."

"It is clearly what she wants, Graham, and you know that. A lady can only act the way she does for so long before deserving what she gets, and she has been acting in this way for a long time now."

"Nicholas, I am warning you —"

"This is the right thing to do. You know that. I know you may not think it is the best possible thing, and you may think it is immature of me, but I do not care. You will see in time that this is the best thing to do, and so I am doing it. I cannot help it if I am simply brighter than you are."

"You are not, and you know that. Now, this is your final chance to change your mind."

"If I say I have changed my mind, will you leave me be about it?"

"Yes."

"Then I will tell you that I have changed my mind. Might we leave it there?"

"Indeed."

But, for the duration of the dinner, Samantha noticed that the Duke did not take his eyes off of her. The dinner was good, but she still had to force herself to choke it down because she did not wish to eat. She wished to go to her room and sleep for years, but that was not possible.

"Are you feeling all right?" Lady Penelope asked. "You have seemed strange all day. I do hope that you did not allow Emma to get to you."

"Of course not," she lied. "It would take a lot more than that for me to be affected by mere words. I cannot even blame her, in truth, because it is how she has been taught to be. I cannot blame her for that."

"I certainly can, and I do. There is no excuse for being so unkind. That is why the only person that wishes to sit with her is Lord Nicholas; he is as insufferable as she is."

"Do you suppose they make a good match?"

"That is of no interest to me although I must say that if their match means the rest of us will not risk marrying them, then that can only be a good thing for us."

Samantha laughed softly. Penelope truly did make her feel much better, even if she did not and could not know about her situation.

"You know, Lady Samantha," Lady Penelope continued, "I was thinking of hosting a party like this myself. I would love for you to attend."

"I would also love that!"

But Samantha knew that she would not attend it. Once she returned home and had to marry her betrothed, she would not be allowed to see her spinster friend. Anyone willing to be around her father would forbid his wife from engaging in such improprieties; she was sure of it. Regardless, she did not feel the need to say such a thing then and there and ruin it all. If these were to be her final few nights of freedom, she was going to enjoy them.

After dinner, they all moved to the drawing room, and somehow Miss Norton ended up at the pianoforte and was playing it. She was good, Samantha had to admit, even though she noted a few missed notes in the piece. Even so, it sounded nice, and so she was applauded at the end.

"Is she not the most wonderful pianoforte player?" Nicholas smiled. "Truly, I am the luckiest gentleman in all of England."

"My daughter is also passionate about the instrument," Samantha's father noted, and she pleaded with him silently not to suggest that she also play.

Miss Norton clearly already saw her as competition, and she did not wish to make it any worse. She only wanted for the spectacle to be over so that she could return to her conversation with Lady Penelope and enjoy her evening properly.

Fortunately, she was not forced behind the pianoforte, and the conversation turned back to Miss Norton, who was now on the arm of Nicholas. Samantha had to admit that they made a nice pair, as spiteful as they both seemed to be. It was as Lady Penelope said — if their match meant nobody else had to suffer them, then that could only be a good thing.

What was certainly not a good thing was the way Nicholas seemed to whisper something in Miss Norton's ear that made her smirk, and then he seemed to ready himself to address the room.

"If I say I have changed my mind…"

Nicholas had never promised not to say a word about it. He had only tricked the Duke into leaving him alone about it. He still completely intended to reveal her secret and ruin her, and she would have been perfectly content with that had she known that the Duke would be as well.

But the Duke had also noticed his brother preparing to speak. She caught his eye and began shaking her head, begging him to let him say what he had to say and let whatever came of it simply happen, but he shook his head in return and then started walking towards his brother with a face like thunder.

"Everyone," Nicholas began, "I have an announcement to make —"

"It can come after mine," the Duke interjected. "My apologies, Brother, but you will soon see why I could wait no longer."

Nicholas scowled at him, but he backed away. Samantha wanted to run to him and drag him away, but of course, she could not do that. In spite of how she thought, he was a man, and so he had authority over her, and thus she had to accept what he was doing.

"I am a man of few words," he began to a few laughs, "and never have I spoken so many as I have in the last day. You might think it is because I have been challenged, and you would be right about that. I have, indeed, been issued a challenge by a beautiful young lady."

At this, the room fell completely silent. Samantha knew what he was doing, and she wanted to interrupt, but she could see how angered Miss Norton was as the Duke spoke, and for the first time in her life, she decided to do the worst thing. She liked how Miss Norton was having her power stripped from her, not to mention Nicholas, who was incredibly flustered and trying in vain to conceal his scowl.

"This lady," the Duke continued, "has made me question everything I thought I knew. I am not one to hide my wrongdoings, and one of them was the way I treated her at first, and it was only when I saw firsthand what that looks like that I realized how wrong I was. We talked, and I then also realized just how wonderful she is. You may all think me a fool, but if that is what I am then so be it, for I am in love, and I must declare it. It is the only thing one can do when one feels so strongly. And so, Lady Samantha —"

There were a few gasps as though they had been expecting him to call someone else's name.

"Lady Samantha," he repeated, looking right at her, "will you please do me the honor of becoming my duchess? Will you be my bride?"

He pulled out a small box from his pocket, opening it deftly to reveal the most beautiful ring Samantha had ever seen. It had been a wonderful speech, spoken in the most lovely way. In any other world it would have been the perfect proposal.

But it was the two of them, and it was all a lie.

Penelope nudged her forward, smirking at her as she did so, and then Samantha felt herself stumble forward into the middle of the room. Everyone was staring at her, something she had never truly enjoyed, but all she could truly look at was the Duke, who was looking at her intently,

Then she saw her father, standing behind the Duke and his brother, nodding to her.

This was exactly what he had wanted, and it was the reason he had taken her there, and of all of the men that she could have entrapped, she had ended up with what he saw as the best possible option. She would be a fool to go against his wishes, and yet…

And yet she did not love the Duke.

She looked back at the Duke, who was practically pleading with her silently to say yes. She knew it was the right thing to do, and that any lady in her position would jump at the opportunity, and that she had already avoided this fate once and would be a fool to think she could do it a second time.

She also knew that she had to speak.

"Lady Samantha?" the Duke asked.

And she did not know what to say to him.