Page 8 of Wedded to the Loveless Duke
Phillip’s frown deepened. “I do not like this plan.”
“If you wish to marry my daughter, you will have to cooperate with my methods, Phillip.” William went to his desk and sat down. “Do we have a deal? I will handle getting my daughter to the right place at the right time when the time comes.”
Phillip shifted his weight on his feet, the expression on his face uneasy. Finally, though, he nodded. “We have a deal, Fife.”
Eleanor picked up Bella, her fluffy little dog, from the pen in the corner of her room. She looked at the small creature and smiled. Lately, she felt as though it was her and Bella against the world, especially since Sarah continued to insist they shouldn’t speak poorly of her father’s decision. Eleanor and her father still weren’t on speaking terms, and aside from Phillip, who spoke to her on the days he came by to see her father, she had no friends to talk with.
She took Bella out to the garden along with one of her fetch toys. “What do you think, Bella? Shall we play ball?”
The little dog yipped and licked her chin enthusiastically. Eleanor sighed and set the little white dog on the ground, throwing the ball for her. Phillip weighed heavily on her mind. She wasn’t sure what to think of him. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was coming by so often to seeherandnot her father, but he had yet to make any formal request to come calling. Maybe she was misreading the situation. She hoped she was, for if he showed any interest openly, her father would leap at the opportunity to push the two of them together.
Thankfully, William had been quiet on the subject of her marriage prospects for a few weeks now. Perhaps he was simply waiting to see if anything would come of Phillip’s frequent visits. Eleanor bit her lower lip as Bella brought back the ball. If she weren’t so against marriage per se, she wouldn’t be opposed to the idea of marrying Phillip. He seemed very kind, and he indulged her in conversations about literature, science and mathematics. There was little he wasn’t willing to discuss during their brief conversations before her father would show up to take him away. It didn’t hurt that he was so attractive as well.
“What do you think, Bella? Do you like him? I know my father would if he thought His Grace was the least bit interested in me.” She sighed as the little dog licked her hand. “Then again, any man who shows the least bit of interest in me would suit him. It would matter little whether we like him too.”
Bella yapped in response, and Eleanor sighed and threw the ball again, watching the little dog chase it. Her chest squeezed, and she lowered her head into her hands. What a mess this had become! She had the threat of marriage hanging over her head,and there was no way out of it. No way out except death, but Eleanor wanted to live too badly to take that way out.
She groaned, tears flooding her eyes. Why couldn’t her father understand that she didn’t want to be married? Didn’t need to be? She had him. Wasn’t he enough? Didn’t he want her anymore, or was this all because he thought her a burden because she was not a son and would never be of any use except as a wife to some man he wanted to strengthen ties with?
Her head ached along with her heart, and she swiped at the tears, not wanting anyone from the staff to walk past and see her weeping. She would hold back her tears until she was in the privacy of her own chambers. Bella’s cold, wet nose nudged her arm, and she lifted her hands to pet the little dog’s head. “I am well, Bella. It will pass. It always does.”
Eleanor hoped she was telling the truth, though. It didn’t feel as though she would ever be well again, especially if her father followed through on his threat to find her a match if she didn’t do so herself. She doubted he would concern himself with whether or not the man he would choose would clip her wings or let her fly free. He would only be concerned with having her off his hands and becoming someone else’s problem.
“Eleanor?” William’s voice came from behind her, quiet but stern. “We should speak about the matter of you being unmarried. Have you found someone you give preference to?”
Eleanor stiffened, stroking Bella’s floppy ears with a scowl. “I told you, Father, I have no interest in marrying.”
William exhaled. “Very well. I have been lenient with you, Eleanor. That leniency comes to an end now. I will arrange a match as soon as possible. I thought you deserved to know that you will be wed soon.”
Her jaw tightened, and she said nothing.
“Eleanor, be reasonable. You cannot have expected to remain unwed forever. This is for the best.”
“For your best, you mean.” Eleanor clenched her hands in her lap. “Stop pretending that this is about me. It never was. It is about your desire to be rid of me.”
William didn’t respond.
“Well? Is it too ugly a truth to be spoken aloud, Father? Or is it simply that you have no good response?” Eleanor stood and faced him with a frown. “Do as you please. We already know you always do. I will simply be the casualty in the whole affair.”
“Eleanor…”
“No. I have heard all I need to on the matter. I will be wed shortly, whether I like it or not.” She smoothed out her skirts and brushed past him. “Let me know when you decide it is time for me to present myself at the altar. I have no interest in meeting or knowing the man you choose before then. It will be nothing but a business deal, anyway. I will not pretend otherwise.”
William sighed and tucked his hands into his pockets. “Very well.”
Eleanor started walking towards the house, with Bella at her heels. Wouldn’t she be granted even one ally in this miserable affair? Would she be forced to face this fresh torment with no friend to stand beside her and ease her agony? It seemed that could very well be her fate, and her stomach twisted at the thought. She had never known the sort of yawning loneliness she felt now, not even in the days following her mother’s death.
CHAPTER 4
Eleanor greeted Phillip at the door with a smile. He was the only bright spot in a sea of loneliness and darkness as of late. Even Sarah was visiting less often now, saying that her mother wished her to spend her time with the young man who had begun calling on her, not with her spinster-bound best friend. That stung, but Eleanor knew it wasn’t Sarah’s fault, and she took solace in the fact that she still had Phillip to talk to whenever he would come by to see her father.
“This is the third time this week, Your Grace. If you keep stopping by, I shall believe you are here for me and not my father.”
The smile Phillip gave her seemed a little off, but then he took off his top hat and stepped inside with a more genuine smile. “Would that bother you, Lady Eleanor?”
She crossed her arms as a maid took his coat. “I hardly think I have made a secret of my disinterest in marriage, Your Grace.While I find your company delightful, I have no desire to give up my freedom to have it permanently.”
“I see.” His tone was neutral but held a hint of irritation underneath the surface.
