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“There you are, you see,” the steward said, sounding thoroughly annoyed. “As I told you, ladies and gentlemen. Well, gentleman. Miss Belmont is entirely safe and happy. No harm has been done to her. I shall leave you to speak. Tea will come soon, and the Duke of Thornbridge will join you shortly.”

Octavia whirled around. “I hope hedoesjoin us because I am going to rip his head off his shoulders. How dare he compromise my daughter in such a way?”

“I’m not sure that would do anyone any good, Mama,” Anna remarked wryly. “Daphne was already compromised—they both are, in fact—and no doubt the poor Duke was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“You should listen to her, my dear mother-in-law,” Theodore drawled. He’d sprawled over achaise longuenearby, one arm thrown dramatically over his face. “And you can’t kill the man—the only way Daphne can ever be seen in polite society again is if she marries the fellow.”

There was an awkward silence after that.

Peter Tinn cleared his throat. “Do excuse me. I’ll fetch my master and be back soon.”

Then, he scuttled out of the room as if he couldn’t get out quickly enough. No sooner had the door slammed shut than Emily was on her sister, her arms wrapped tightly around her as if she feared she might melt away.

“I thought you’d died in the forest,” Emily whispered, her voice tight. “I thought you’d fallen and broken your neck, or been kidnapped, or ran into bandits. Oh, I imagined the worst.”

“No bandits or kidnappers,” Daphne replied, hugging her sister back. “I ran into the Duke of Thornbridge instead.”

Octavia cleared her throat, laying a hand on her daughter’s arm. “Things could have been worse, Daphne. They could have beenmuch better, too. I’m just glad you are unharmed. Now, we need to do damage control. You’ve destroyed your reputation, and Emily, too, will suffer.”

“What about the Duke of Clapton?” Daphne asked.

Quick, meaningful glances were exchanged between the family.

“Never mind that now,” Octavia said stoutly. “We’reallsafe, my dear.”

“Well, now that we’re here, we can go home,” Daphne sniffed. “I’m quite tired of this place.”

There was another silence, longer and heavier this time.

“Daphne,” Anna said carefully, stepping forward, “I’m not sure you understand the problem here.”

“Nothing has happened,” Daphne hastily assured her sister. “He let me stay the night because I wascoveredin mud, and his stepmother stayed here, too. It’s just gossip.”

Theodore spoke up, not moving from his position. “I’m afraid it’s a little worse than that, my dear. In the eyes of Society, you jilted a man at the altar and ran straight to another man. That’s essentially an elopement. Worse than an elopement, since you went directly to his house, unchaperoned, and stayed the night.”

Daphne swallowed hard. “What are you saying, Theo?”

Theodore removed his arm from where it was slung over his eyes and looked at her. “You’re a clever girl, Daphne. I won’t act as though you haven’t considered this. You know that you can never return home, never return to Society, unless you marry the Duke of Thornbridge. You have to marry him here before you can ever think of going back to London.”

Daphne blinked, sinking into a chair. She was glad there was one behind her because she might have just sunk onto the ground otherwise.

“Oh,” she said in a small voice. “There really isn’t any hope, then. I do have to marry him.”

Theo pulled himself into a sitting position and nodded sadly.

Anna reached out, laying a hand on his shoulder, and he placed his hand over hers.

Daphne found herself grappling with an unfamiliar sensation of jealousy. She knew her sister was in love with her husband and vice versa. They werehappy, even if they hadn’t begun that way.

I’ll never fall in love. Not that I thought I would, but there’s a difference between something never happening because you don’t want it to and never happening because it can’thappen.

She swallowed hard, fighting to compose herself.

“There are worse men to marry, I suppose,” she said, with false brightness. “I can’t think of any at the moment, but?—”

“Oh, Daff, this is all my fault,” Emily burst out, covering her face with her hands. “How could I have been so foolish? If I’d done my duty and justmarriedthe wretched Duke of Clapton when I was meant to, you’d be safe and happy. This is all my fault. And now, you have to marry the Cursed Duke.”

Daphne took her sister’s hand and squeezed it. “It’s not your fault, Emily. Really, it’s not. As to the Duke, I just… Wait. You said he was cursed?”