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Truly, it was almost as though Diana was right there speaking to her.

“Samantha,” her father said suddenly, “come with me. I require a word with you.”

“Then here is hoping that you were correct,” Samantha grimaced, walking away from Penelope once more and out of the room with her father.

“I apologize, Father,” she said immediately before giving him a chance to scold her. “I do not know what came over me, but I am aware that I spoke out of term, and for that I truly am sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

Samantha blinked at him.

“For how I spoke to Miss Norton and the Duke’s brother just now. That is what this is about, is it not?”

“Heavens, no. I was hoping that someone would speak to them about their behavior eventually. It is a shame that it had to be you, but you must know that it is not possible for me to be angry with you at this moment in time.”

“Why not?”

Samantha’s father had, after all, always been able to find a way to be furious with her, especially since she had run away. She should have been pleased, but instead, all that she could feel was fear. This was not how her father was, and she felt incredible uneasy about it.

“Samantha, you are to marry a duke! However could I be angry with you? At last, for the first time in your life, you have done something right, and far be it from me to be angry with you simply because you are using your new power over people and telling them how to act.”

That was not why she had spoken with the two of them, of course, but her father was being nice to her, or at least he was expressing what he called kindness, and so she did not correct him.

But his kindness did not make her feel any better. She was angry, she was upset, and she was out of time. The day would come eventually when she would be trapped in a marriage, and she knew that, but the anticipation did not aid in her feelings at all. It was decided and certain that she would be a wife, and there was nothing that she could do about it.

“Besides,” her father continued, “think of what you have done for my heir. He will arrive soon, and now that everything is prepared for him, he can arrive any day.”

She had sacrificed her future for a half-brother that she did not know and would never meet.

“I have grown rather weary, Father,” she said quietly. “Might you tell Lady Penelope that I have retired to my bedchambers?”

“Of course. Now, you go and sleep so that you can look your best for your new husband!”

Her new husband. Already, the thought of it made her skin crawl.

CHAPTER 9

Samantha had wanted to sleep so that she could at least say that the worst day of her life thus far was finished, but even then, she knew it would not be possible.

She proved herself correct when, even when she heard everyone else retiring to their rooms themselves, she was still wide awake and willing herself to fall asleep to no avail. At last, however, she understood why she could not find any peace. She was angry with the Duke, and she had not said a word to him about it.

There had been no time to, and it would have been impossible to say anything in front of everyone else that was present. The only time that she would have to speak with him would be…

Then and there.

Samantha sighed and rolled over one last time, trying with everything in her not to want to do that. That was the very samething that had caused all of this in the first place, and one mere day later, here she was wanting to do it again.

“Fool,” she whispered into the darkness.

But that did not seem to stop her from pulling her bed sheets away and climbing out of her bed. The floor was cool beneath her feet as she walked towards the door, her hand resting on the handle. She tried to take her hand away and go back to bed, but she knew there was no use in doing so. She could not rest until she had asked him why he had done that to her, and so she had to do it.

After all, what more did she have to lose?

The Duke, it appeared, knew that she would be in such a state.

“At last, you have arrived,” he said upon her arrival, his eyes not leaving the book he was reading. “What took you so long?”

“What do you think you are doing?” she demanded.