Page 69 of Wild Lily
“Your Grace,” her father said with spite in every enunciated syllable, “my daughter is as fragile a flower as yours. Today, you gave yours to a brute of a man.”
“I say, Hanniford!”
“No bluster, man! I see who you are. I am not blind nor as loose of principle. As for my own daughter, I take pride in her every move. If she wished to ride at night, she has the ability, if not the proper sense to take a maid and a footman instead of your son as her escort.” He offered his arm to her and with a shaking hand, she took it. “I also see by my girl’s attire that there was more to this night than riding and visiting a house.”
“Mr. Hanniford.” Julian stepped up to them. “I would not hurt her.”
“Is that so?” he asked with disbelief in his tone. “A hideous way to prove it.”
“Papa, please.” Lily squeezed her father’s forearm. “Don’t argue. Take me back. I wish to return to London.”
“No, Lily,” Julian objected. “You can’t.”
“But—”
“Sir, hear me out,” Julian pleaded. “I wish to marry Lily.”
She met Julian’s gaze, her heart bleeding. “No, he doesn’t.”Not for love or money.
Her father huffed. “How good of you, Lord Chelton.”
“I was proposing to her before my father arrived and interfered.”
Wasn’t it more a litany of reasons why he wouldn’t ever marry her?
Her father stared down at her. Resignation stood in his eyes. “You’ll marry him.”
“No!” She stepped backward. “This is outrageous.”
“I agree,” her father said. “This is proper—“
“You can’t make me.”
“It’s best, my dear.” He looked older, defeated. “The circumstances are such.”
She’d never seen him without a swagger. “How can you say that, Papa? You agreed to let me choose my own husband.”
“By your actions here tonight, Lily, you have chosen.”
She shook her head vehemently. “I—”
“I forbid the marriage,” said the duke.
Julian confronted him. “Are you mad?”
The duke gave his son a sardonic smile. “I warned you.”
Julian glared at his father, then turned to hers with wildness that cast his features in stone. “He’s scheming, trying to manipulate us all. I won’t let him.”
“Intriguing. How so?” asked her father.
“He wants a higher price for the shipping company. Wanted me to negotiate again with you to persuade you. I refused. He’s angry at the loss. Angry that I’d court Lily in my own way. Angry that he’s penniless, by his own folly.”
Her father pursed his lips and studied the duke. “So you’ll not give your consent to their marriage unless…what? I offer a higher price on stock?”
The duke lifted on his toes, preening like a fool. “I’d say you have the right of it.”
Her father shot a look at Julian. “You must be of age.”
