Chapter 6

"You aren't going anywhere near her!" Matthew seethed.

Lilian frowned. Rising from her writing desk, she moved to the doorway, straining her ears to hear the hushed voices arguing below.

"Please, I understand how things look. All I wanted was to ensure she was safe. Now, I would like to offer her some semblance of peace."

Is that the Duke?

"If you want to fix it, then you would do well to stay as far away from her as possible."

"With all due respect?—"

"Matthew." Solomon's voice joined the others. "Why don't you introduce me to your friend."

There was a tense pause before Matthew said, "This is Frederic Lockhart, the Duke of Pembroke. He was just leaving."

"Actually, I'd like to speak with your daughter, Miss Lilian Cooke."

"Lilian!" There was nothing but delight in her father's voice. "Please, make yourself comfortable in the parlor. I'll send her in at once."

"Thank you, My Lord."

"Matthew, go let your sister know she has a caller."

Matthew huffed out a breath. "Yes, Father."

Lilian raced back to her desk, fixing her eyes on the paper in front of her, but there was no point.

The second Matthew saw her, he snorted. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Most of it, I believe."

"Right, then you know what I'm here to tell you."

She chewed on her lip. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"No, but I can imagine."

Lilian couldn't. She wanted to ask, but she didn't have time. Taking a deep breath, she turned and made her way down the stairs.

Her father was in the sitting room with the Duke, head tilted back as he laughed at something the man said. Lilian was astonished.

She didn't know the Duke was capable of humor.

When he saw her, Solomon got to his feet. "I'll step out, so the pair of you can talk."

As he left, her father paused beside her. He squeezed her shoulder, shooting her a smile before leaving them alone.

Did he think… But why would he? The Duke wouldn't be here for that. Would he?

Lilian turned to him. The Duke rose from his chair. He was dressed in a simple black jacket, his eye bruised and swollen.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Finally, she asked, "How's your eye?"

He chuckled. "Sore, but I'll live. That brother of yours has an impressive right hook.

"Right." She crossed her arms. "So why are you here?"

"I wanted to speak with you."

"So I gathered, but why?"

He let out a sigh. "I realized as much as the scandal annoyed me, you received a far worse hand than I. Whether we intended it or not, I have a hand in landing you in this mess. I can't help but feel I should have a hand in getting you out of it."

"What?"

"Marry me."

"What!?"

"If we get married, the scandal will be gone. Your and your family's reputation will be restored, and you will be comfortably installed as the Duchess of Pembroke."

Lilian blinked in shock. Her ears rang. He couldn't—did he really just ask her to marry him?

"Goodness! It sounds as though you have everything figured out."

"I like to think I put a lot of thought into this before coming here to suggest it. If you agree, I only have one stipulation."

She bit back a bitter laugh. "Of course, you do."

"If you marry me, there are… matters I will not have you involved in. I have business I will not have you interfere with again."

Her hands balled into fists. "You want to shut me out of your life?"

"In some respects."

Rage bubbled inside her chest. A bitter refusal formed on her tongue.

"Slow down, dearest," her father's voice called from down the hall. She could hear him panting as he struggled to keep up with Rachel. "We shouldn't interrupt them."

"I will not stand for it!"

"Stand for what, darling?" He laughed.

"Yes!" The word left Lilian's lips with far more force and volume than either of them would have expected before she even knew she was going to say it.

The footsteps in the hall froze.

"Yes, I-I'll marry you."

The Duke nodded, moving to the door. "As you like. I'll go apply for a special license to speed up the process. Best to be done with it sooner rather than later."

"So that's it?"

He paused, hand on the doorknob. "What more do you expect?"

Love.

She scoffed, bitterness burning in her chest. "I don't know. I just thought…" she trailed off with a sigh. "At least stay long enough to tell my parents. They will—well, my father will want you to stay for tea."

The Duke let out a long sigh. "Very well, but only for an hour or two."

She gritted her teeth. It felt so much like the bare minimum, but they should at least try to get off on the right foot.

"Thank you," she forced out.

He grunted, pushing open the door.

Rachel, Solomon, and Matthew were clustered not far from the door. By the time Lilian joined them in the hall, The Duke had a smile fixed on his face. "We have an announcement! The two of us are engaged!"

Matthew's eyes found Lilian's, and she forced a smile.

Solomon's face lit up. "Oh, that's wonderful! Lilian didn't even mention that she was courting someone! Did you know about this, my darling?"

Rachel recovered from her shock, schooling her expression into a pleased smile. "I might have had my suspicions."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I couldn't be sure myself, darling." She met Lilian's gaze. "But I must say, I am pleased by this outcome."

"You must stay for dinner!" Solomon smiled from ear to ear.

"I'm afraid I can't stay that late, but I'd love to stay for tea."

"Lovely, my boy." Solomon motioned for the Duke to follow him. "Come, we can go sit in the garden. It's lovely this time of year."

"You say that no matter the season." Rachel laughed.

Matthew hung back until he was beside his sister. "Is this something you truly want?" he whispered.

Lilian hesitated, choosing her words with care. "I think it is the best outcome I could hope for out of the situation."

"That isn't what I asked. Are you happy?"

She let out a long breath. That was a complicated question. On the one hand, the Duke was nothing like the man she would have imagined marrying. On the other hand, it was a way out of the endless cycle of balls and dances that were going nowhere. It wasn't a love match, but it was a stable situation where maybe, someday, she could build a happy life.

"I think I will be."

He sighed. "I hope you will. You deserve to be."

She smiled at him. She was surprised by how easy it felt. "Come on. We should go join them in the garden before they wonder where we ran off to."

He sighed. "Very well, but we are not done talking about this."

"Of course, but later."

"Later," he echoed.

She let out a sigh of relief, and the pair made their way outside. The others were already settling down at the small table on the patio. They moved to join them.

"Take the seat next to the Duke, Lilian." Solomon smiled at her. "He is your betrothed."

She swallowed, taking her seat.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Why don't you tell me how the two of you met," her father suggested as servants poured them some tea.

She glanced at the Duke. He met her gaze and then spoke.

"It's a rather funny story."

Everyone held their breath. Lilian opened her mouth to cut him off, but the Duke kept talking.

"I was at a ball, the first one in some time. I'm not the most social and don't tend to go to more than one a month, but I'd been busy, so it had been closer to two since I'd last made an appearance. I had just arrived when I saw her across the room. As soon as I saw her, I couldn't get her out of my head. Now, here we are."

Solomon smiled. "How lovely! I'm so glad the two of you met. Lilian never mentioned meeting someone once since she came out into Society. If I'm honest, I was starting to worry. One of my greatest desires is to see my children settled while I'm still well enough to know what's going on."

"It's your heart not your mind that's going, dear," Rachel chided, squeezing his hand.

The Duke caught her eye, a frown etched on his face.

She said nothing.

Solomon continued, "My point is, I'm so happy to hear this. How soon do you plan on having the wedding?"

"I don't see the point in having a long engagement. I was going to apply for a special license. If it goes through, I was hoping to have everything ready in two weeks."

"Goodness! That seems awfully fast," Matthew chimed in, holding Lilian's gaze.

"You're still young, Matthew. Someday when you meet someone, you'll understand."

"Still, they aren't actually going to get married in two weeks, are they?"

"Why ever not?" Rachel chimed in. "I don't see a reason to wait if it is granted."

Lilian forced a bright smile. "Then it's settled. We'll plan for two weeks unless something goes wrong."

Matthew still looked concerned, but he let it drop for now.

The rest of the tea continued in a conversation that might have been pleasant if Lilian wasn't so worried about saying something that would ruin everything, but it ended without incident.

When they were done, Lilian walked the Duke to the door.

"Thank you, for what you said to my father," she said. "What you came up with was a good story."

"Well, one of us needed to say something."

"I would have expected you would leave it to me."

He shrugged. "You seemed unsure. There was no reason to throw all of that on you."

Lilian's smile softened. "Thank you."

"Yes, well, if you want to thank me, remember the story. Come up with your half. I'm sure it won't be the last time it comes up. I need to go if I want to submit the proper forms today. I'll let you know as soon as I hear something back."

"Right, good day, Your Grace."

He snorted. "You can probably call me Frederic."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Then good day, Frederic."

"Good day, Lilian."

She watched him walk away before slipping back inside. As she walked down the hall, her mother caught up with her.

"I don't know how you managed this, but I am so relieved," Rachel said.

"Yes, well, everything is taken care of now."

"Not even close, my dear! Now we have a wedding to plan and a very short time to make it happen."

"Wouldn't it be best just to do something simple?"

"Goodness, no! That would make it seem like we have something to be ashamed of. No, we need to show you off and your relationship." Rachel sighed, shaking her head. "You should have just told me he was going to propose. It would have saved me quite a few headaches."

Lilian's smile turned to ash in her mouth. She didn't say anything as they walked down the halls. As they neared her room, she slowed.

"I'm going to go get some correspondence done."

"Of course. I'm sure you have plenty of people you need to write to about your exciting news."

Alone in her room, Lilian slumped down at her writing desk. Truthfully, there was no one she wanted to tell. All she wanted was to go back to the time before she pushed Matthew to sneak out that night. She sighed.

Matthew didn't bother knocking, simply storming into her room. "Do you want to tell me what happened down there? You're going to marry him?"

"Yes." She nodded. "It is the best thing I can do."

"Best thing—Lilian, you don't know the first thing about him!"

"I know he was willing to make sure I got home safe that night, I know he was willing to marry me to save my reputation, and he was willing to say what he needed to say to let Father think it's a love match. It's enough for now."

It needs to be enough.

"I just don't understand why you would settle like this. You don't love him."

She shook her head. "How could you? You're a man. These things are simply different for you."

He sighed. "At least have a longer engagement. Give yourself time to get to know him better before you bind yourself to him for the rest of your life."

"Matthew…" She shook her head. "Mother agreed it's best to have a short engagement. I know you can't understand, so I won't ask you to, but I will ask you to trust me. Trust that I have my reasons. Trust that I am making the best choice I can."

He crossed his arms. "You shouldn't have to make this choice at all."

"I understand why you're saying that, but I do. It really is that simple."

He sighed. "All right, I'll trust you, but please tell me if there's anything I can do."

"I will, thank you."

"Do you want to go out tonight? Just for a bit? Get your mind off all of this?"

She gave a tight smile. "I'm not sure that's the best idea, considering everything."

His face fell. "Right, right. Of course."

"It isn't forever. Just not tonight."

He looked away. "If you do get married in two weeks, we won't have many more chances."

"Well then, we'll just have to try to find a day to go out one last time." As she said the words and the finality sank in, the words turned to ash on her lips.

He grimaced. "I would really like to."

"Then we'll find a day to make it happen. Just not tonight. It's been a long day, and I need some time to think."

"That—I can understand that," he sighed. "I suppose I should go. I'll see you over dinner."

She nodded numbly.

He shot her a last glance before slipping out the door. Then she was alone.

Slumping down at her writing desk, she sighed.

Lilian let herself sulk for another hour before pushing to her feet. If she was going to get married, she might as well enjoy her wedding.

Rachel was still in her sitting room when Lilian found her. She lit up when her daughter came inside.

"There you are! Come in. We have a lot to talk about."

Lilian took a seat and then let out a long breath. "We should start thinking about my upcoming wedding."

"I couldn't agree more. Do you have anything in mind? Why am I asking? Of course, you do. Why don't you start by telling me what you want, and we'll see what's realistic for our time frame."

Lilian thought for a minute. Before she got her words in order, Rachel continued, "Do you know if His Grace has anything he or his family will want? I sent a letter to his mother letting her know I'd like to call on her, so we can talk about the wedding."

"I'm not sure."

Lilian thought speaking with her mother about the wedding would make her feel better, but she was surprised to find it made her feel worse.