Page 2 of A Countess Captured for the Captain
“Samantha, if I have told you once, I have told you a thousand times, do not upset Regina. I will not have it!” the Duke snarled.
“What nonsense, Father. Surely you can see she is lying. She always lies. It is she who causes the trouble in this house, with her lies and deceits. She is forever making up stories and treating me like a lapdog. I am not her servant,” Samantha declared, staring defiantly back at her father.
Samantha was used to standing up to her father, for she had been doing it her whole life. But father and daughter were too alike to ever back down one or the other. The more they argued, the greater the stalemate became. The Duke always took the side of Regina, and today would be no different.
“She is carrying the heir to this family. I will not have you upsetting her. Apologize immediately, Samantha. I do not know why I put up with you,” he said, but Samantha only laughed.
“I will apologize when she apologizes. She would have me driven out of my home and sent away. Would you allow that?” she demanded, and her father scowled.
Samantha could always manipulate her father like this. Despite his gruffness and his womanizing ways, he still possessed the love of a father for his daughter. But the tragedy of his own life had hardened his heart and made him bitter, for he had been forced to marry her mother under circumstances of politics, a fact which had caused him great misery.
“I am sure the two of you can get along without resorting to that,” he replied, but Regina now let out a pitiful wail.
“Are we to endure these taunts, Randolf? How am I to bring a child into the world under such a strain?” she said, and the Duke took her hand and patted it sympathetically.
“You must not worry, my darling, I have made arrangements which will satisfy us all,” he replied, glancing at Samantha who looked back at him in surprise.
“What arrangements?” she demanded, and her father cleared his throat.
“You are to be married, Samantha. It is high time, and there is a willing gentleman, a suitor of some importance. I was going to make the announcement on Friday, but since the matter has arisen now… well, that is that,” he replied, failing to meet her eye.
He made it sound as though he had just announced the hiring of a new servant, or the purchase of a piece of furniture. Samantha looked wide eyed at him, before turning to Catherine, who appeared equally shocked.
“But… who is this man? I am not ready to marry, I have no wish to, I will not–” she began, but her father shook his head.
“A man named Reginald Spencer, a Marquess with a good estate in his inherit. You are twenty-five years old, Samantha, and I will not have you languishing without a husband at my expense any longer,” he said, helping Regina to her feet and putting his arms around her.
Regina smirked at Samantha from behind the Duke’s back, her triumphal stare causing Samantha’s anger to rise even further. How dare her father make such arrangements? No doubt it was Regina’s doing, and Samantha could only clench her fists, seething with anger at the injustice of it all.
“I will not,” she replied, determined to show her stubbornness.
“The arrangements have been made, Samantha, the Marquess is most eager to meet you,” the Duke said, helping Regina back toward the drawing room. “We shall have you married very soon, and then there shall be no more upsetting Regina.”
“I think it will be good for her. After all, I am the happiest of women in my marriage,” Regina said, casting a final smirking glance back toward Samantha, before the door closed behind them.
“The audacity… I am marrying no one,” Samantha declared, taking Catherine by the hand, and hurrying her upstairs.
It was the sheer unreasonableness of it all that shocked her the most. There had been no mention of a marriage, no intimation that her father intended to see her betrothed. The two of them had always had a tempestuous relationship, but the arrival of Regina had brought a poisonous atmosphere to the house, and Samantha knew it was her stepmother who had planted this wicked idea into her father’s mind.
“You cannot marry a man you have never met,” Catherine said, as the two of them hurried along the landing.
“I shall lock myself into my chambers, I shall refuse to come out, I will never entertain the idea,” Samantha replied, her heart racing, determined to take her revenge upon Regina, whether or not she was with child.
“But they will force you. If you are promised to this gentleman, Reginald Spencer – whoever he is – then they will find a way to enact the marriage,” Catherine replied.
“Oh, Catherine, what am I to do?” Samantha lamented.
She paused on the landing, turning to Catherine, as a tear ran down her cheek. Samantha had never considered marriage. She was happy as a spinster, unwilling to live her life at the whim of a man – any man. There had been suitors in the past, men who had come and gone like ships in the night. But none had captured her heart, and with her independent spirit and determined heart, Samantha was certain that no man could ever live up to her expectations.
“We must think for a moment, come and sit down. Perhaps some tea would help,” Catherine replied, ushering Samantha toward her chambers.
Hampton Manor was a large, sprawling house, which had been in the Duke’s family for many years. It was composed of two wings, north and south, one side of which was occupied by the Duke and Regina, the other by Samantha.
She had a bedroom and a sitting room, her private domain, each lined with books, for she loved to read and escape from the harsh realities of her life. This was her sanctuary, and if it had not been for such a place, she would soon have gone quite mad in the stifling atmosphere of the house below.
But as she opened the door, Samantha gave a cry of horror, looking around her in disbelief at the scene which now greeted them. Someone had flung the books from the shelves, as though in some terrible rage. Not only had they been thrown, but torn and trampled, too. The sight brought fresh tears to her eyes, and she collapsed into a chair, unable to bear the devastation before her.
“Oh, Catherine, who could have done this?” she exclaimed, as Catherine stooped to pick up one of the books.
