Page 19 of Forget Me Not

Blast it all, they already had the license. There truly had been no anticipation of any objections.

“Please don’t make me do this,” she quietly pleaded.

“Someday you will thank me,” he answered. “Until then, you can simply not make this more difficult.”

Her shoulders dropped, and she wrapped her arms around herself.

“Now, summon the manners taught to you by that governess we spent so much money on, and go receive the congratulations and well-wishes of your neighbors and guests.”

“Yes, Father.” Her whisper broke even as her chin quivered. She slipped silently past Lucas, past all of them, and moved once more to Lampton Park. All of her fire and fight were gone.

Lucas turned to their parents to offer one final declaration of his frustration. But his mother and father had moved to Lord Farland’s side. The man’s bluster of only a moment earlier was gone entirely. He looked, in a word, defeated. Lucas’s parents offered Farland reassurance and empathy.

What a mess. What a complete and utter mess.

***

“Your predicament is a difficult one, I won’t deny that.” Kes had been horrified on Lucas’s behalf but had also been an invaluable source of advice. They’d spent the wee hours of the morning after all the ball guests had left trying to sort out the mayhem his parents had caused. “But if you can convince your parents and her father to support the two of you in ending this betrothal, I do think the damage can be minimized.”

Lucas took a fortifying breath. “Then I shouldn’t turn tail and run?”

Kes gave him a nudge toward the library door. Father was inside, and Lucas had been rallying his optimism. The marriage he and Julia were meant to contract was a terrible idea. He wanted to believe his father could be brought around to seeing that.

He stepped inside, ready to do battle. “Father,” he greeted.

“Lucas.” Father waved him over to the fireplace where he sat. “Join me.”

They were starting on a good footing. How Lucas hoped that was a good omen.

“I received a missive from Farland this morning,” Father said as Lucas sat. “Julia is, it seems, undertaking a self-imposed exile.”

Poor Julia.

“I cannot say that I blame her,” Lucas said. “The three of you dealt us both quite a blow last night.”

“You, at least, have come around to seeing the wisdom of it.” Father offered a smile.

“If there were any wisdom in this plan, I would most certainly see it.”

Father eyed him more closely, head tipping a little. “What are you saying?”

“I did not wish to make a scene last evening with so many guests in the house, but only the two of us are here just now. May we please discuss this in earnest?”

“There is nothing to discuss—”

“Two people’s entire futures, Father. That is most certainlynot‘nothing.’”

“This is a good match, son. One you should be celebrating.”

He shook his head. “If you consider it a ‘good match,’ then I can only assume you have not given the matter much thought.”

Father rose, pacing with stiff steps. “We have thought about this for years.”

“You have thought aboutconnecting our familiesfor years. The specific idea of me marrying Julia is simply a means to an end, but it is a horrible means.”

The heels on Father’s buckle shoes thwacked the ground as he continued his circuit. He was clearly not pleased with Lucas’s objections, but at least he was listening.

“I have spent the last eight years seeing the world, making a place for myself in Society, expanding my knowledge and connections, embracing the role of an independent gentleman of means.” Lud, he felt ridiculous speaking of himself this way. But he needed to make a contradiction, one significant enough that Father would realize how ill-conceived this match was. “Julia has left home only to visit her cousins in Berkshire and associates with absolutely no Society, not even what little of it she might have here in Collingham. She sees no one, goes nowhere, and prefers that.”

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