Page 17 of Wedded to the Cruel Duke
“Nor did they say anything about moving to the country,” Daphne added. She peered at her eldest sister. “Phoebe? Are you all right?”
Phoebe could only nod mechanically, before turning to her younger sisters.
“I am perfectly fine,” she told them. “The discussion was far more rational than any one of us could hope for.”
Her youngest sister let out a sigh of relief. She smiled at Phoebe as she reached out for her hand to squeeze it in reassurance.
“Well, at least the Marquess was not so difficult to deal with. I suppose Mama and Papa have come up with a solution to our woes, then.”
“On the contrary, it was Lord Wentworth who did.”
Minerva blinked owlishly. “He did?”
Phoebe nodded. “He proposed we get married. As soon as possible.”
Both her younger sisters sucked in a deep breath each, both pairs of eyes wide.
“Lord Wentworth, our neighbor… proposed marriage to you?”
Phoebe pursed her lips. “Come now, Daphne. You do not have to sound so incredulous about it.”
The youngest of the Townsend siblings flushed slightly. “I did not mean it to be so disparaging, Fi. It was just unexpected, his offer.”
“Itwouldsolve a lot of our problems, though,” Minerva remarked. She peered up at her older sister. “Youareamenable to marrying the Marquess, then, are you?”
Do I have a choice?Phoebe wanted to scream. But her sister was right—marrying Lord Wentworth would solve a lot of their problems.
Besides, he was extremely handsome, if a little cold and intimidating. And what was that about him only drinking his tea after she started drinking hers?
Phoebe supposed that everyone had their peculiarities. She was already so socially awkward that she was hardly in the position to judge Lord Wentworth and his puzzling behavior.
“Our Phoebe, a Marchioness!” Daphne sighed dreamily. “That should teach everyone not to make fun of you for being a spinster—especially that horrid Miss Thomas.”
“Well, to be fair, Miss Thomas did not treat me horribly because I am a spinster,” she pointed out. “She just did not like mepointing out the inconsistencies of her unfounded accusations against Lord Wentworth.”
“And now, you are marrying him,” Minerva teased her. “And Miss Thomas will still be a vile and horrid person.”
Phoebe bit her lower lip. After all, her sisters were yet unaware of the very great possibility that it was Miss Thomas herself who had handed over her most private diary to the papers. Otherwise, they could not have gotten such detailed information with which to spin their scandalous stories.
But with her being currently engaged to Lord Wentworth, she did not really need to return to the weekly meetings at Cartwright Hall. After all, she was officiallynota spinster anymore. She would miss their company, though. With the exception of Miss Thomas, all of them were some of the finest companions a lady in Society could hope for.
Phoebe sighed inwardly to herself. Who would have thought that her life could change in the course of a single day?
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Phoebe dear, you must sit still, or I shall not be able to get the flowers just right and then you will have to endure it for much longer!”
Phoebe pursed her lips as her mother busied herself with pinning some flowers into her golden hair. She did not know why her Mama had to spare so much effort when the wedding ceremony was so small, and the only other guests had already seen her hair in a much rougher state.
“I know you do not think much of all of it, but we must make a little effort,” Lady Townsend sighed as though reading her thoughts. “I had hoped so much for your wedding someday… I suppose I just want it to be a little happier than the situation allows us.”
Phoebe reached up to clasp her mother’s hand and smiled at her from their reflection in the mirror.
“But you see, Mama, I am quite happy. Lord Wentworth appears to be a good man, and he has a gorgeous estate. What more can I ask for?”
Despite her soft smile, she knew just what her mother wanted for her—to be married for love, just as she had with her father. Even as a spinster at five-and-twenty, Phoebe still harbored secret fantasies of falling in love and she had often used the image of Lord Wentworth in her imaginings.
And those whimsical flights of fancy, the very ones that she had secretly written in her diary, were what led her to this very moment today.