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“That is exactly what it was like.”

“How dare you!” Lord Ramsbury snarled. “How dare you burden us with these lies!”

“Lies?” Lady Langham scoffed. “Truths, more like. I am sorry, Your Grace, I truly am. I did not wish to mention these most unfortunate happenings, but I think it is for the best that the truth is known.”

“You are simply jealous!” Lord Ramsbury cried, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

“Jealous?” the Dowager Viscountess snorted. “Relieved, more like! Anyone with two eyes can see that His Grace and your daughter are not as happy as they’re pretending to be. I cannot help but be glad that my daughter escaped such fate.”

“Take it back!”

“I told you at the time not to cross me, Brother. You should have listened.”

“I said, take it back!” Lord Ramsbury was on his feet. “These lies are beneath you.”

“Tell them!” Lady Langham was looking at her daughter. “Tell them the truth, dear.”

“Mother…”

“Now!”

Miss Gouldsmith looked as ashamed as she did upset. Eyes still cast downward, she spoke softly, her voice barely above a whisper. “I… I did not mean for it to come to this. It is just…” She stole a glance at Hannah and then looked away again. “I did not want to marry His Grace. Everything I heard… I… I simply could not bear it—I am sorry, Hannah. God, I am so sorry! Please forgive me.”

Lord Ramsbury fell back in his chair as the shock overtook him.

“Told you!”

“Selina!” Hannah gasped. “I—how could you?”

“I did not think that you would be forced to marry him. I swear, I did not know!”

“Do not apologize,” Lady Langham said. “It is my brother who bears the brunt of the blame. He saw an opportunity and pounced, and now it is his daughter who must suffer.” She looked at Hannah sympathetically. “I am so sorry that you had to find out this way, dear. You should know, I have nothing but sadness in my soul for you.”

The look on Hannah’s face was unreadable. Eyes wide. Face contorted. She looked from her cousin to her father to Frederick as if searching for an answer. And as to Frederick? There was so much here to unpack that he didn’t know where to begin.

Frederick had spent the last two days trying to decide what to do.

On the one hand, he knew in the depths of his soul that he did not want to have children with Hannah. But it had nothing to do with his feelings for her, as he knew now that he loved her deeply. If he did not, he would not be feeling so confused. She was a light in the darkness of his life, and it was these feelings he bore that had him vacillating between his determination to not have children and that voice in his head that questioned if maybe he should…

He did not want to hurt Hannah. Dammit, he did not want her to hate him. And it was clear the next morning, the second she walked through the door to join him and Amelia for breakfast, that her mind was made up and she would not accept a marriage that threatened to ‘stagnate,’ as she had put it.

As to this dinner party? Frederick had seen through his wife’s plans, knowing the true reason that she had insisted upon it. And while he had thought to simply get through the night and talk with her tomorrow, most strangely, her plan had begun to work.

Her sisters were happy. Their husbands were happy. Her father and mother were happy. They were a family unlike any he had ever met, and to see them converse and laugh and enjoy one another’s company as they were, all centered around the promise of children and adding to the joy of familial bonds, Frederick had begun to wonder if maybe, just maybe, he might be able to change his mind.

But then the Dowager Viscountess made her announcement, and the mood of the room shifted considerably.

“You are a horrible person,” Lord Ramsbury was saying to her. “Despicable.”

“Do not shoot the messenger. The truth had to be said.”

“I know what this is! It is an attempt to ruin my daughter’s marriage. Admit it!”

“I admit no such thing!”

“Oh, and it was not you who has spent the last two weeks spreading rumors and lies! You claim to not be jealous, Sister, but your actions speak volumes.”

“Jealous! Of what?! Look at your daughter, Phineas! Listen to her! Oh, she may say the right things, but I do not believe them for a moment! I am sorry, Your Grace, truly I am for what my daughter has done.”