Page 10 of The Dark Duke’s Cinderella (The Untamed Ladies #1)

CHAPTER 10

“I don’t understand,” Anna said, once their guest had left. “What could I have possibly done to deserve this sort of treatment? Have I not complied with your every wish?”

“What treatment?” her father spat, finishing his drink, which had long turned warm. The glass slammed into the wooden side table so forcefully that she jumped. “Ashwicken has fallen upon us like a blessing, and you would dare question it? Are you not seeking a husband? Are you not hoping to have a life of your own?”

“Yes, but…”

The tears came unbidden. There was no use hiding them from her parents any longer, not when they had betrayed her. Her mother stood in the doorway, having seen Ashwicken out a moment earlier.

“You said I had time…” Her voice cracked, shaming her. “You said nothing about arranging a match for me. Not this Season.”

“The match presented itself, and I saw no reason to waste a moment more on the business of your marrying. Enough time has passed. You have exhausted my patience.” Her father looked appalled, as if she was mad for even considering defying him. “You will not find a better match?—”

“I might have found someone I loved, were I given a few more months. You allowed Rebecca to choose for herself. Why not me?” Anna cut in, rubbing her eyes.

Her defiance startled her, and she gasped as her father took a step toward her.

“What is done is done,” came her mother’s voice. It stopped him in his tracks, and he turned from Anna to the fire. “You should be grateful, Anna. Lord Ashwicken is a wealthy and kind man. He is cultured and well-traveled.”

He is old and called me a child, Anna thought, biting the inside of her cheek. I don’t know him. He is a stranger. I should have been able to choose a husband for myself.

“Lord Ashwicken has spent the last few years abroad,” her mother continued. “But before this, he was a good friend to us. He is a trustworthy gentleman who will do right by you so long as you live. We are impatient to see you marry. We are not wicked without end. Do you honestly believe we would choose someone unfitting?”

“I believe you would choose someone—” Anna stopped herself, dropping her fists to her sides in defeat.

Beneficial , she wanted to say, wondering what her father stood to gain from the arrangement. An old debt paid off? Support in parliament? There was nothing he wouldn’t do to get ahead.

She wondered if that was why he had waited for so long. Waiting for the most advantageous match to present itself at the cost of her eternal misery.

“This will be good for you, Anna,” Rosamund insisted. “You will finally have the independence you have desired for so long. You cannot wish to remain here with us forever. Your father?—”

Her father, on cue, chose that moment to leave. He stormed past Anna without saying a word. Rosamund hopped out of the way as he proceeded upstairs, slamming the door to his chamber. The house echoed with the force of his tantrum.

Anna shook her head, feeling like she might be sick all over her mother’s beloved Prussian carpet. She didn’t hear Rosamund creep up on her until a hand was placed on her back in a half-hearted consoling gesture.

“I know what you will be thinking. We are cruel and without feeling for making this decision behind your back. But my marriage to your father was orchestrated under similar circumstances, and I have not been miserable.” Her grip tightened, her fingers pressing between Anna’s shoulder blades. “Do not suffer needlessly in this. Accept the match and feel sorry for yourself later.”

It was an order, and Anna was in no mood to comply. Whatever love might have remained between her and Rosamund evaporated on the spot.

If Anna had a daughter—and by God, she would never let that happen with Ashwicken—she would never treat her so abysmally. How was her mother not ashamed of herself? Why did Anna feel ashamed in her place?

As Rosamund waited for her to say something, her sadness turned into anger. Hot, writhing anger. It coursed through her so violently that she couldn’t believe she hadn’t burst into flames.

She had never felt like this, rage filling all the places where hope had died within her.

“I have done what I believed to be my duty to you since I was old enough to understand what such a thing meant,” Anna said through gritted teeth, shaking off her mother’s hand. “Regardless of what you may think of me, I have tried my best to please you in my every waking moment—you and Father, and everyone else. If this is the result…”

She wouldn’t waste more breath airing her grievances. Rosamund didn’t look sad so much as disinterested. What was the point in fighting? The earl had made up his mind, and in their house, his word was law.

“Enjoy your evening,” Anna said, keeping her voice steady. She turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.

Once upstairs, she closed her door quietly and then sank against it.

For too long Anna had allowed her parents to walk all over her, thinking she didn’t have a choice. But if this was the alternative—being married off to a man twice her age who she didn’t know and who would never love her—she would rather die.

Raising her head, she glanced across her room. On her writing desk lay the sheet music for Tancredi.

It was not unheard of for unmarried women to carve out paths for themselves in this world. They may have been reviled for it, but had they not been happy by being free? Why could Anna not do the same, take up a trade or a post and leave England in pursuit of her dreams?

Be anywhere except right here, under her father’s control? If she disappeared, the ton would never let him forget it. It was an even more delicious prospect than gaining her freedom—seeing her father hurt.

She waited by the window in her bedroom for what felt like hours, until her parents stepped out of the house and climbed into their carriage. She watched the carriage drive out of sight before jumping into action, changing out of her day clothes and into something dark and inconspicuous.

Her hair was forced into a chignon, cheeks painted with a rouge Alicia had smuggled to her years ago. Two messy ringlets framed her face, and redness rimmed her eyes, turning her brown orbs into pools of gold.

The better part of her meager allowance had been spent on dresses for the Season, at her mother’s request. Anna had known better than to spend it all on one thing. In the drawer of her vanity, she found her small embroidered coin purse and shoved it into her reticule.

She had no idea how much a hackney cab cost. At that point, it didn’t matter. She needed to get to George fast. And if not him, then Alicia.

And all the better if the duke was with them.

* * *

“You weren’t inclined to play with the other gentlemen, Your Grace? I recall you being quite skilled at cards when the two of us played Commerce with my family all those years ago.”

Philip looked up from his glass of claret and found Alicia hovering over him. She wore a light blue gown that made her hair look darker than usual, a stray ringlet curling at the nape of her neck in what a less perceptive gentleman would have thought was an accident. She meant to draw the eye there. She meant to draw all eyes to her that night.

Philip had artfully avoided her since she had greeted him at the door some thirty minutes ago. He had arrived late—nothing any of the guests would begrudge a colonel, let alone a duke—and had found the party already well underway in Lady Gwash’s fashionable Richmond flat.

The guests were what he expected them to be: singers, actors, a few gentlemen and their young wives, a number of foreign dignitaries…

He had intended to finish his drink and then make his excuses to leave with George, who at that moment was hanging his head in exasperation over his latest loss at Whist at the card table.

“My fondness for games has waned as of late,” Philip said, taking a sip of his drink.

He shifted his gaze to the fire, hoping Alicia would leave him be. She took the armchair beside him, just recently vacated by a lord with whom Philip had been discussing the recent discontent sweeping over the continent. A young French woman was at the pianoforte in the corner, filling the apartment with a piece by Haydn.

Nothing could distract him from Alicia’s demanding presence as she leaned in closer.

“So serious,” she said with a teasing smile, angling her bosom just so. “Nevertheless, I am glad that you have come tonight. I know how difficult it can be to return to a town that was once your home and find it much different from when you left it. It’s important to make new connections early.”

“You are, perhaps, in need of more connections than me.” Alicia was taking no prisoners that night. Philip hoped his message was clear. “I am satisfied with my present circumstances.”

“Why wouldn’t you be?” Her smile widened, undeterred. “You have wonderful friends, a sister on whom you can depend… Yes, I suppose I underestimated the strength of your bonds. I find myself, for better or for worse, adrift in uncharted waters.” She narrowed her eyes and observed the room. “I had not yet turned twenty when I left England. Many of the women I considered friends have since married and moved on. It has been difficult to adjust.”

“You seem to be as well surrounded as one could hope to be,” Philip argued, gesturing to the small group of guests surrounding the piano, all of whom he assumed were her friends. “And if that is not the case, a woman of your repute should not have great difficulty acquiring whatever she feels is lacking from her life.”

She laughed. “Was that an attempt at flattery, Your Grace?”

It was not. But they weren’t exactly alone, and Philip didn’t want to cause a scene by saying as much to her.

“Perhaps you would think differently about my circumstances if you understood them,” Alicia went on. “It is easy enough to find a husband, even at my age—because that is what we are discussing, of course. Marriage. I imagine George has made no secret of my desire to settle down. The trouble is that many men can be charmed by a sweet look and promises of undying affection. But that is not what I desire. I want something advantageous, yes, but also real .”

“The two cannot possibly coexist.” Philip shrugged, gently swirling the claret in his crystal glass.

“I knew there was a poet’s heart in you,” Alicia joked. “Like the rest of them, you think that love can only come from sacrifice.”

Philip balked at the idea. “Now you are putting words in my mouth.”

“Reading between the lines, perhaps? Not that it matters. I do not need anyone to believe that I will get what I want, because I believe it, and that’s enough. It is only a matter of time before my dreams come true. Though, naturally, one cannot wait too long for these things to manifest. The Season will come and go before we know it. A little nudge, a little push?—”

She seemed determined to say more—a nudge, a push—until her eyes flicked to something behind him. Philip turned in his seat and saw one of the footmen approaching them. He hurried over to Alicia and whispered something in her ear.

Alicia’s eyes widened. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard, raising a finger to excuse herself from her conversation with Philip. He was not sad to see her go, downing his drink and heading immediately in search of another.

A fresh glass in hand, he hoped to locate George and take him out for air. But like Alicia, George had disappeared.

Philip groaned quietly as the young French woman and one of her friends crossed the room with purpose, headed directly for him now that he was alone. He pretended not to see them and hurried toward the entrance hall, determined to find the balcony and exile himself there until George returned.

The small foyer was packed with bodies. What sounded like an argument escalated between them. Philip paused beneath the archway, his entrance having caused all three figures present in the room to turn and look at him.

Alicia and George were among them. That much he had expected.

But he had not expected to see Lady Anna standing between them, in a dark evening dress and matching jewelry.

“Your Grace,” she said, her lips parted in surprise. Her cheeks were red with rouge, her appearance less polished than usual. He liked the look of wild abandon on her. That was something real. “Good evening to you.”

Philip glanced around the foyer, confused. “No chaperone with you, Lady Anna? You have come alone?”

“That is precisely what we were discussing,” Alicia said, placing her hands on her hips. “You should not be here, Anna. You were not invited. There is no excuse, not even if you needed to speak with George. What will the earl say when?—”

“I haven’t a care in the world for my father’s opinion of me. It is low and will remain low so long as I live. That much has become clear to me tonight,” Anna replied, turning to George. “Why shouldn’t one of you be my chaperone for the moment if you’re so concerned?”

“You know that’s not the same.” George shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “Among our ranks, we count an unmarried gentleman and a… a…”

“A what , exactly?” Alicia asked, testing him.

“Cousin, you don’t want me to answer that,” George said. “I’m surprised, Anna. Whatever you needed to say surely could have waited until the morning. You know better than to go behind your father’s back like this.”

Anna looked so small between her cousins, despite the fiery determination etched on her features. This latest escape made Philip wonder whether he had been right all along, and Anna was more secretive and rebellious than the others assumed she was.

Either way, she was fighting a losing battle. Their familial pantomime had gone on long enough.

“What had you come to discuss with your cousin?” Philip asked.

She looked grateful for his support. “A matter of utmost urgency.”

“You are dressed to the nines. Surely you did not just mean to come and talk,” Alicia rebutted, waving a hand toward her.

“It was a party for artists.” Anna shrugged, her tone dismissive. “I needed to look the part so as not to arouse suspicion. I didn’t expect you to intercept me at the doors.”

Philip laughed at her candor, clearing his throat when George shot him an accusatory look.

“No one saw me except for the hackney driver, your footman, and George’s butler,” Anna continued, looking at her cousins defiantly. “And I didn’t tell the footman or the driver my name. So, unless your man intends to rat me out to my father?—”

George sighed. “He will not.”

“Then there is no reason for you to be so worried. My life has all but ended anyway. Even if my father learned I had come here, it would change nothing about my circumstances.” Anna dropped her gaze to the ground, wringing her gloved hands. “My father… Tonight, he announced that I am to be married to a man I have scarcely met. I refuse to go through with it, and I need your help.”

A pin could have dropped in the room and they would have heard it, even above the ruckus from the apartment proper.

It was not uncommon for women to be forced into marriages—Philip knew this. But it seemed impossibly cruel that someone as brilliant, beautiful, and clever as Anna would be reduced to a pawn in some other man’s ambitions.

There was little in the world that moved Philip. But injustice? He would not tolerate injustice. Especially since he frequently found himself thinking about her.

“Who is it?” George asked after a while, slowly shaking his head. “The man in question—have we heard of him?”

“Lord Ashwicken. My mother assured me that he was a friend of my father’s, though I had never heard the name in my life and I believe they were lying. Oh, but his identity hardly matters now, does it? He could be a Prince of England and I would still feel the same.”

Anna’s gaze flitted between her cousins before landing momentarily on Philip. Her face flamed, and he wished he hadn’t come looking for George, forcing her to expose her pain to him.

“I won’t marry him,” she added quietly. “I refuse.”

“What choice do you have?” Alicia interjected, surprising Philip. “We both know Magnus will not negotiate the matter with you. If he has made up his mind, then there is nothing more that can be done.”

“You of all people are saying this?” George scoffed, stepping away from her. “You were the first to shake off the yoke, disobeying your father. Why should Anna not be allowed to choose a new life for herself as well?”

Alicia squeezed her eyes shut and paused for a moment. “Because Anna is not like me. She does not have what it takes to survive on her own. I say this only out of love for her. If she renounces her father, she will never recover. I would not see her ruin herself, her life, to follow foolishly in my footsteps.”

“She has us,” George countered. “She has me.”

“You will provide her safe harbor, then? Care for her for the rest of your life and become a pariah in the process? Magnus will shun you, and then good luck to you finding a wife after the scandal breaks out. There is no recourse for Anna. I am sorry to say that is the truth.”

“Don’t speak of me as though I’m not here!” Anna shouted, quieting her cousins immediately. “I am not asking you whether you think I should or should not marry Lord Ashwicken. I am telling you that I will not and asking you to support my decision. If you cannot…” Her brow creased, and she looked toward the door. “Then I will do what must be done.”

George reached a hand out to her. “Anna, you’re being silly now?—”

The gesture seemed to enrage Alicia. She threw her hands up in the air and shook her head. “I can’t hear another word of this. And I cannot remain here a moment more. Someone will come looking for me, and then we will all be compromised. If you must speak, do so elsewhere. But Anna, for the love of God, don’t throw your life away like this.”

Anna tried to call her cousin back, but Alicia forced her way past Philip and returned to the party.

Philip felt betrayed on Anna’s behalf—surprised, like George, that Alicia of all people had suggested that Anna accept her fate without putting up a fight.

“I think I’m quite done with this party,” George sighed deeply. “Let me take you home before Magnus notices your absence. We’ll discuss our next move on the way.”

“Allow me to join you,” Philip spoke up, already stepping toward the coat rack. “I had been wanting to leave even before you arrived, Lady Anna. And you will be better hidden if we both leave with you.”

It was a weak excuse to leave with them, but it didn’t seem right to abandon Anna in her hour of need. They had already evaded one scandal together, what was one more?

They left Gwash’s flat without saying their goodbyes.

The three of them descended the stairs in silence until they reached the building’s lobby. Philip kept a close eye on Anna from behind, surprised by how collected she appeared despite being all but forsaken by her parents, and now Alicia.

Her long dark pelisse hung heavily on her shoulders. His eyes lingered a moment on their gentle slope, anger rising within him at the thought of her being sold to the highest bidder. If his father had tried to condemn Elinor like the Earl of Bristol was condemning Anna, he would not have survived long enough for the French pox to take him.

“Oh, hell and damnation,” George swore as they stepped out onto the pavement. “I rode here. I completely forgot.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “You’ll have to return in that cab, Anna. I’m so sorry.”

Philip stepped between them. “Your cousin can ride home with me,” he suggested before he could think better of it. “A cab is not suitable. Who knows what could come upon her, alone? The longer we stand here discussing matters, the more chance someone notices her and reports to the earl.”

He paused when George hesitated.

“You know I would take your horse myself if I could, but…” he trailed off. George would know what he meant. “Lady Anna will be in safe hands. We will park far enough away from your uncle’s house so as not to draw attention to the carriage.”

With a reluctant nod, George agreed. “I suppose being seen with you will not pique my uncle’s ire any more than her disappearance.”

He gave his thanks to Philip, then pulled Anna aside.

Whatever was said between them was not for Philip to hear. He focused on calling his carriage around, relieved when it appeared and the footman opened the door for them. While George was speaking with Anna, he gave the driver specific instructions.

“Lady Anna,” he called. “The postillion is waiting.”

She broke away from her cousin and proceeded into his vehicle. He watched her as she walked past him, his body coiling inappropriately as she slipped inside.

“You’re a good man for doing this,” George said, clapping him on the shoulder. “I owe you a favor, Phil.”

Not so good as he thinks, if the effect she’s having on me tonight is any indication of my goodness.