Promised

by Leah Garriott

  “I would not touch her dowry for anything. It will go directly to jointure and portions. No one will accuse me of marrying her for money.”

  This was why he wouldn’t ask. Because Edward had pretended to love me to obtain my dowry and access to his father’s funds. “No one will even think such a thing. Unless you have a mistress hidden somewhere, biding her time until—”

  “Miss Brinton? Miss Brinton!” A man’s voice called from up the path, interrupting me. A horribly wheezy, horribly familiar voice.

  I froze, my only movement an automatic intake of air.

  “Miss Brinton?” the man called again.

  I grabbed Daniel’s arm and pulled him backward.

  Daniel’s brows rose, but when the man’s perfectly combed blond hair peeked over a bush, Daniel actually had the nerve to smile. The styled hair jarred me into a realization of my predicament. I was a mess, and I was about to be confronted by one of the dandiest men of my acquaintance. I clutched Daniel’s arm tighter. “I cannot be seen,” I hissed.

  Daniel glanced at me but ignored my comment. Instead, he scrunched his nose. Then he sniffed theatrically. Twice.

  “Daniel,” I chided.

  Mr. Lundall appeared on the path before us and halted. There was no escape now, but that didn’t stop me from stepping behind Daniel. If he was a good brother, he would devise a means for allowing me to return to the house unhindered, perhaps by creating some excuse so I could slip away.

  “I had best greet him, don’t you think?” The twitch in Daniel’s lips belied the civil tone in his question. He was going to abandon me.

  “Daniel, you wouldn’t dare. Please.” I glanced around, but the only way to the house was now blocked. Without Daniel, I had no means for escape.

  Daniel shook off my grip and moved forward, his arm outstretched in greeting. “Mr. Lundall, what a pleasure it is to sme—see you again. I had not thought we would be meeting you again so soon.” Sniff.

  “Egad! What happened?” Mr. Lundall stepped back, ignoring Daniel’s proffered hand. He lifted his quizzing glass and surveyed Daniel with widened eyes.

  Daniel lowered his hand and glanced at me with a smirk. “Will you excuse me, Mr. Lundall? As you can see, I have suffered a slight mishap and wish to change before breakfast.”

  I made to grasp Daniel’s arm, but as if reading my thoughts, he took another step away from me.

  Mr. Lundall glanced at me. “You don’t seem to be the only one.” He returned to his inspection of Daniel. “Though, really, your lack of clothes—it will be more like dressing than changing . . . but by all means. . . .” Mr. Lundall offered Daniel a dismissive bow.

  Daniel paused under the arbor at the base of the stairs, produced his wet handkerchief from the pocket of his coat, and held it out to me. I didn’t move. He shrugged and, putting it over his own nose, turned and walked up the stairs leading to the lawns surrounding the house.

  “My dear Miss Brinton.”

  My gaze flew back to Mr. Lundall. His cravat was outrageously ruffled and the points of his collar almost poked him in the chin with their stiffness. His gloves were perfectly white, his shoes spotless and shiny. I straightened, every speck of dirt on my dress burning into my flesh.

  He stepped toward me, and the acridness of too much cologne barely masking body odor nearly gagged me. I raised Louisa’s bouquet to my nose and inhaled deeply. “Mr. Lundall.” I curtsied.

  “You look radiant this morning, even with. . . .” He waved his hand, indicating the whole of me. His nose wrinkled. “What happened?”

  I feigned a small cough to bring my hand to my mouth, discreetly plugging my nose and inhaling another giant breath. After filling my lungs, I ignored his question and said, “Please tell me, Mr. Lundall, how it is I find you wandering my estate this morning.”

  His smile grew. “I thought it the best place to find a flower such as you, and I have been so desperate to speak with you.” Grasping my hand in his, he hastened it to his lips.

  I ripped my hand out of his and stumbled back, away from his nearness and his overpowering stench. The smell was definitely worse than last time. “How intuitive of you.”

  “Yes, it was. I knew you would be in this little wildernessy section this morning as I knew we belonged together that day I saw you wandering through the park. Do you remember?” His exaggerated sigh made my stomach churn. He could not be doing this again. I had been absolutely clear the last time.

  This had to end. His affection was wasted on me. “Mr. Lundall—”

  “Wait!” he interrupted, placing a finger on my lips to quiet me. I froze at the rashness of his touch. “Please. Before you say anything.” He tapped my lips to accentuate each word he spoke. “I wish to apologize for our last meeting. I believe it was a bit much. I did not mean to be so . . .”

  I pushed his hand away. “Tiresome?”

  His eyes widened, then his gaze fell. “Yes. Precisely. You can see I have come today bearing no gifts whatsoever. And we are in a private area where no one can observe us.”

  “Yes, it is much better than having a donkey laden with packages delivered to me in a public park while the whole town is strolling about.”

  “I wanted the world to know how I feel. My heart beats only for you. There is no sun in my day without you near. I have been struck—”

  “Please, sir.”

  “What I came to say is—” He grasped both my hands. “Miss Brinton, please do me the honor of marrying me.”

  I shook my head and tried to wriggle my hands from his grip without dropping my flowers. “Mr. Lundall, you don’t know what you’re saying. Release me.” He dropped my hands but did not back away. His eyes pleaded for the answer I could not give. “Mr. Lundall, as I have said before, I cannot marry you and I never will.”

  “But the violence of my affections demands it!”

  “I have no such feelings toward you.”

  “My passions are great enough for the both of us.”

  “Mr. Lundall, you fail to understand. I am sorry, but I refuse to marry someone whose sentiments are so different from my own.” I would never bind someone to a loveless marriage the way Edward had tried to bind me.

  He looked away from me and sighed. Then he straightened. “I will wait.”

  Did this man never quit? “Have you not been listening? My answer is no. Please do me the honor of believing me when I say I shall never marry you.”

  “Margaret,” my father called from the top of the stairs. “It is time for breakfast.”

  I sighed with relief. “I must ask you to excuse me, Mr. Lundall. As you can see, I am in no condition to receive guests, and considering our conversation, I dare say you would rather be on your way.”

  “Yes, I suppose that would be best.”

  “I can show our guest to his horse, Margaret,” my father said. Bless him and his impeccable ability to come to my rescue.

  “It’s a chaise, actually,” Mr. Lundall said. “I never ride horses. Abominably dirty animals.”

  I curtsied. “Perhaps we shall meet again, Mr. Lundall.”

  I made to step around him, but he grabbed my hand and quickly kissed it. “I will not give up, Miss Brinton.” He turned and bounded up the stairs.

  My father rocked back on his feet as Mr. Lundall passed, then shot me an astonished glance. I shrugged and lifted the bouquet back to my nose. His lips twitched and he turned, following Mr. Lundall around to the front of the house.

  Six

  Alice met me at the back door, her nose red and her face a little pale though her blonde hair was done up in ringlets; she must have gotten over her cold. Her expression was serious but her eyes held excitement. “Did you see Mr. Lund—you look worse than Daniel! Did you fall into the lake as well? Daniel said it was your fault. What did you do?”

  “It was not my fault.” I sat on the be
nch and began unlacing my shoe. “I wasn’t even near him. But this,” I indicated my dress, “is completely his doing. How are you feeling?”

  “Better. It was only a little cold. You’ll have to hurry if you’re going to change. Cook is already having the food brought in.”

  I slipped my feet out of my boots and made for the stairs.

  “Did you see Mr. Lundall?” she asked again, following me. “Mama told him it was too early to call, but I saw him slip around the side a minute later.”

  “Yes. I rather wish he’d listened to Mother.”

  “Did he propose again?” She giggled.

  I stopped and faced her. “He did. But I do not think it something to laugh over. I would not wish a refusal on anyone.”

  Alice instantly sobered. “He should stop asking.”

  “He should.” Why he didn’t I couldn’t understand. “I brought you a gift. Give me a moment to change.”

  “Is it another book? I read some while you were gone. I hope you don’t mind. You left at such an interesting part. You should have come in last night, after you got home.”

  “I did. You were asleep. But I’ll read to you tonight.”

  Alice nodded and headed down the hall.

  I stepped into the breakfast room just as everyone was sitting down, a different dress, old but clean, concealing most of the morning’s events. As I slid into my seat across from Daniel, I glared. “You left me.”

  He took a sip from his glass, hiding his mouth. It did nothing to hide the laughter in his eyes.

  “I’ll exact revenge,” I promised.

  “Unnecessary, seeing as you already have—preemptively, so to speak.”

  “Louisa’s witnessing your debacle was not my fault.”

  “As Mr. Lundall’s appearance was not mine.”

  I reached for a piece of toast. “The two are not the same, Daniel.”

  “Did you bring my gift?” Alice asked from across the table.

  “Of course.” I handed her the small, wrapped package.

  “May I, Mother?”

  Our mother nodded, and Alice began to meticulously untie the string. When the wrapping fell away, she gasped and reverently fingered the pattern on the lace handkerchief. “It is so lovely. Where did you get it?”

  “Rosden. And, look.” I held up my matching handkerchief. “I purchased one exactly like it for myself.”

  “You were in Rosden? Why did you not return with Father? He was home just after noon.”

  I glanced at Father. “You were in Rosden?” He’d mentioned nothing about it last night. Ever since the pneumonia he’d contracted the previous winter, my father’s health had never regained its robustness, and he rarely left the village on account of it. A trip to Rosden was the type of excursion he would have brought up, especially after Daniel and I had recounted our adventures of the day. We might even have laughed at our missing each other.

  Father remained fixed on his paper. “Yes. Your mother and I would like a word with you after breakfast.”

  With me? Alone? This did not bode well.

  I glanced at my mother. Her brown hair was pulled into an immaculate bun, her posture was impeccable, and her gown, a vibrant green morning dress, matched her eyes.

  Everything about her was a contrast to how I appeared. I straightened my own back and shoulders, but there was nothing I could do at present about my hair or the old dress I had flung on.

  Perhaps they were upset about this morning. Or, worse, my failure at the Hickmores’. “Yes, sir.”

  Eventually, Daniel escorted Alice out of the room with talk of a game outside. My toast and marmalade lay on my plate, my tea untouched. My father lingered over the paper and my mother sat over her plate as full of uneaten food as my own.

  This did not bode well at all.

  After a moment, my mother looked up. “Colin,” she said with a sigh.

  My father turned to the last page before setting his paper down. With a frown tugging at his mouth and without looking my way, he rose and walked to the window, his back to me, staring out with his hands clasped stiffly behind him.

  I shifted in my seat. “Father, I know I promised you that attending the Hickmores’ party would end in a proposal, but I can assure you the lack of one is not my fault. I was close, and I did try—”

  “Margaret, I am not concerned with what occurred at the party. Indeed, I am content circumstances turned out as they have.”

  “Yes, dear,” my mother said. “We have happy news.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

  “Oh?” I asked tentatively. Neither of them seemed particularly overjoyed.

  My mother glanced at my father. “Your father has found you a husband.”

  I furrowed my brows. “I beg your pardon?”

  “A very good match, too,” she continued. “He comes from an old, well-respected family. The estate is supposedly quite stunning.”

  I shook my head. “Mother, you cannot be serious.”

  Her lips thinned with dismay. She was very serious.

  It was as though I had fallen into the lake, only it was winter and the water ice cold. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to happen. I was supposed to make my own match, carefully selecting the man to ensure the future I needed. “There must be some mistake.”

  “Your father has arranged a marriage for you, Margaret. There has been no mistake.”

  The dishes scattered across the table painted a picture of comfort and happiness that mocked me. I focused on my father. “To whom? Why have you done this?”

  He faced me, his expression set. “You are desperate to marry, are you not?”

  I shook my head. “Desperate isn’t quite how I’d put it. Determined, perhaps, but—”

  My father cut in. “The nuances don’t matter. It is a good match. And we will finally be settled with this whole business.”

  The air in the room vanished. My father blamed me. Not for Edward, of course, but for the rumors that kept Daniel from proposing. And for the time since the engagement, for not securing a husband on my own. But it had taken time to recover, time for me to understand what I needed.

  “Father, I’m sorry for the way things have turned out. But surely we haven’t arrived at this point.”

  Yet my father’s expression and my mother’s clasped hands testified that we had, indeed, arrived at this point.

  I clamped down on my rising fear, desperate to push past it and this situation. Perhaps I could still work something out.

  A movement outside the window demanded my attention. Daniel’s face appeared, out of view of my mother’s sharp eye but clearly visible to me, his nose pressed against the pane as he surveyed the room. His eyes met mine and I suddenly thought of Mr. Northam. He was the key to my release.

  I refocused on my father. “Go back to this man. Inform him I am no longer available. I didn’t tell you last night—it was so late. But I found someone while at the Hickmores’, a Mr. Fredrick Northam. He is perfect. You’ll think so, too, I promise. He is coming here to ask your permission. He will most likely visit this week—maybe even today. I am certain it will be soon. He is quite the gentleman, with a large estate. So you see? This match is unnecessary. I shall be married before year’s end.”

  “What?” My mother started forward in her chair, then muttered, “Oh, my.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. “Colin—”

  “No, Eloise,” my father interrupted. “I am sorry, Margaret. But it is already done.”

  I flinched back in my seat. “The settlement has been arranged? The contract is drawn up?”

  “The circumstances are very much in our favor. I believe you will be happy.” He said the last part quietly, as though it were more of a hope than an expectation.

  I could never be happy if I wasn’t safe. How was I to ensure I would be safe?
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br />   “Margaret, don’t look at me like that. It’s a good match.” My father stepped toward me as though to comfort me.

  I scrambled out of my chair, sending it wobbling. Grabbing the chair to steady it, I slid behind it and dug my nails into the floral relief etched along its rim. “Please, do not do this. Not while there’s still a chance to make things right.”

  My mother sighed and stood. “I wish we had known—” She glanced at my father and stopped. Taking a breath, she continued, “I am so very sorry. But it really is too late. He arrives tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” They hadn’t even given me time to get used to the idea, to make a plan.

  My mother nodded. As I looked from her to my father, they suddenly appeared unfamiliar, as people I should have known but didn’t.

  The room grew smaller, the walls inching toward me, compressing the air so tightly I thought I would drown. Too many things could go wrong; there were too many unknowns in marrying like this. I couldn’t go through what I’d gone through with Edward again. But what could I do? “I understand,” I whispered, and I rushed from the room.

  Seven

  I stopped at the back lawn and stared at the sky, trying to ignore how my heart thumped in my head. I needed to escape, to go someplace that would expunge all I had just heard. I longed for the solitude of the lake, just visible through the trees, certain its verdant surroundings would feel more familiar at the moment than my own home. But even it could not undo my parents’ actions.

  I turned my back on its sparkling surface and strode the path skirting the yard, tracing the edge of the woods.

  From out of nowhere, Daniel stepped before me and grasped my arms. “Margaret, what is it? What happened?”

  I struggled against his hold. “Let me go. Please.”

  “I saw you from the window. You were white. You still are. And your eyes—are you going to cry? You never cry. What—”

  I wrenched myself from his grasp and turned away. “Leave me alone.”