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To fall in love? To meet the man of her dreams? To be truly happy in a way that so few were afforded? The idea had always been a folly, and if Amelia had allowed herself to imagine a situation where that might occur... what was even the point?

“And Bridget?” Amelia asked of her younger sister. “Did you hear anything?”

Martha grimaced. “The way he spoke, it’s you or she, Amelia. He has two prize hens, and he means to parcel them as soon as he can. He seemed rather happy with himself.”

“He can’t...” she choked.

“He can,” Martha said rightly. “You know it as well as I.”

Her sister? Amelia’s blood ran cold, and her stomach twisted as she considered the implications. Just seventeen years of age, still a baby in Amelia’s eyes, yet her father would happily use her the same as he would Amelia because to him, they weren’t his daughters but objects. Amelia was strong enough that she could handle what her father threw at her. But Bridget... no, she was far too young and innocent.

“You know my father! He mentioned Lord Malnor in passing, but he didn’t tell me specifically that I should...” She swallowed at the thought. Lord Malnor, a man she had never even met! What did her father even expect of her? “And you know how impatient he is. He’s as likely to get cold feet and decide it’s not worth waiting for. And my sister! Oh, Martha, she’s seventeen, far too young for such things. What is she to — Why are you smiling?”

Indeed, her best friend wore a smile that split her face in two. Devilish was how Amelia would describe it, not at all appropriate for the news she’d just brought. “About that. I have a most wicked idea.”

* * *

“That’s him,” Martha said, pointing across the room. “The one in the golden mask —”

“Martha!” Amelia grabbed her friend’s hand and pushed it down. “Don’t be so obvious.”

“I’m just making sure you know who I’m talking about,” Martha sighed. “I wouldn’t want you seducing the wrong man.” She wore a coy smile, clearly enjoying herself a little too much.

“This isn’t funny.”

“Oh, it’s a little funny,” she giggled, only to catch the derisive glare Amelia fixed her with. “I don’t see what other option you have, seeing as your father is likely to tell you to talk to him later tonight, anyhow. This just...” She winked. “Seals the deal.”

Amelia grimaced at the thought. It was one thing to be told who to court, to have to pretend and act as if she was taken by a man whom she didn’t even know. But what Martha was suggesting...

“By all accounts, he’s charming, friendly, not at all arrogant like some of the other lords my father has forced me to meet,” Martha added positively. “Oh, and he’s quite easy on the eyes too.”

“That’s not really the point...” Amelia’s stomach twisted.

“It’s either this or you take your chances with your father. And we all know how that’s likely going to turn out.”

“But what if it doesn’t work? What if he... if he rejects me?” Amelia watched Lord Malnor, currently standing among a small group of men, chuckling at something one of the other lords wearing a black mask was saying. It was hard to tell anything about him from this far away, impossible to see what he looked like beneath that mask. But she had heard of the Marquess in passing, and everything that Martha said was apparently accurate. Even still...

“It will work,” Martha said with a firm nod. “You just have to be forceful. And maybe a little... inappropriate,” she teased.

Amelia’s stomach twisted further. A large part of her wanted to say no to this plan, to slap it away like a buzzing fly because it was ghastly and horrid and so very wrong. If it didn’t work, her reputation would be ruined! And even if it did, there was a chance for much the same. But then she cast her gaze wider, caught sight of her father speaking with a fat lord who was at least twice her age, and this strengthened her resolve in a way that was very much needed.

Thoughts of her sister flittered through her mind. What would she say if she knew what their father might be planning? What could she even do? Nothing was the answer. Besides, technically, this was what he wanted anyhow. Right? All she was doing was making sure it didn’t fail.

“All right.” A firm nod, and she stood a little taller. “I’ll do it.”

“Amazing,” Martha purred. “Trust me. By the time tonight is through, your father will have no choice but to accept Lord Malnor as a suitor. Young. Handsome.Rich. You could do a lot worse.”

“I could do a lot better,” she muttered under her breath.

Martha took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “There, he’s leaving the pack. After him.” She waved her hand in the direction that Lord Malnor was going. “It’s now or never, Amelia.”

“And never isn’t an option?”

Her friend eyed her warningly, and Amelia forced a smile. Then, with no other option because the alternative was even worse than what she was about to do, she sighed and spun about, starting through the crowd and toward Lord Malnor, courage pushed to the fore because she was going to be needing as much of it as she could muster.

She still couldn’t believe that she was considering this. But under the circumstances, she had no choice. Amelia’s father had essentially given her two options. One was to marry a lord of theton, a rich one, one who would alleviate the massive debt he was in. He had suggested that Lord Malnor might be an option in this but was yet to confirm.

Or two: leave it up to chance, likely find out that Lord Malnor wasn’t interested in her, and then see herself and her sister auctioned off like freshly broken thoroughbreds because her father was sick of waiting and needed the money sooner rather than later.