Page 52 of A Lady's Beastly Duke
“The duke?” Anastasia gaped. “No. No...He cannot know.”
Camilla frowned. “Why? He should know. He would do something, I think. You are the daughter of an earl. You don’t need to wed a viscount.”
Anastasia shook her head. “I don’t want him to know.”
“But why?” Camilla asked.
“He will believe that I always knew. He will think I was fooling him.”
“He wouldn’t think that,” she answered instantly.
“Ridley is obtaining a license,” Anastasia told her. “He wants to be able to wed by next week.”
“What?” Camilla clapped her hand to her mouth. “No. I cannot believe it! So soon?”
Anastasia nodded. “I cannot do this,” she said softly.
Camilla gazed back, a direct, firm gaze. “Nobody should make you,” she said defiantly.
Anastasia shrugged. She knew that her family would not share that view. Her father saw wealth only. Her mother was too afraid to help. And Lily...she could do nothing. She was not even in society herself.
Anastasia took a deep breath.
She and Camilla talked for an hour, but neither of them could think of anything she could do. Anastasia felt assured by her presence, the kindness and compassion healing her.
She walked with Camilla to the door.
“Do not lose heart,” Camilla whispered.
Anastasia nodded and squeezed her friend’s fingers.
When Camilla had returned home, she went up to the drawing room. She sat silently, watching the fire. She had to come up with a plan, and soon.
She could not stay in London. If she escaped, it would have to be far away, right away. But that was impossible. She knew nobody outside London and the estate where she had grown up in the countryside. There was nobody she could run to.
There had to be something she could do. There had to be somewhere she could go, somewhere she could run to. Therewas some solution and the fact that it did not come to her immediately was frustrating—she was so good at thinking of solutions usually.
She sat gazing into the fire, but no plans would come. The horror swamped everything, outweighing all else. The answer was far from easy to spot. But she would find it.
And she had to think of it soon, before Ridley was an inescapable fact.
Chapter 19
“Anny. Are you sure?” Lily’s voice was a hushed whisper in the bedchamber. Anastasia nodded. After a day of thinking, she had come to the only conclusion that she could. She had to run away. Camilla had an aunt on the border with Scotland, and if she escaped up there, she might stay with Aunt Gertrude as a companion. It was not the life that she might choose for herself, but it was safety. It was not Ridley.
It was the best she could do.
“Yes.” Her voice was firm. “Yes, I am sure.”
“But, Anny,” Lily whispered. “It is so dangerous. You cannot travel on your own.”
“I can,” Anastasia assured her. “I will wear Rachel’s dress and travel by day.” It was the best she could do. Women did travel on the mail-coaches sometimes—mostly women from less well-to-do backgrounds, and even then, they did not travel for a week at a time, as she had to. It was dangerous—that was a fact—but she could not let herself fear.
“I’m going to come with you.” Lily gazed at Anastasia, her hazel gaze unwavering, allowing no argument.
“Lily, you can’t.” Anastasia wanted to cry. She had told Lilyonly because she did not want her sister to be afraid or worried. She should have guessed that Lily would be both regardless. “It is dangerous and it is no life for a young lady. You have nothing to run away from.”
“But, if it is your life, I want to share it.” Lily said forcefully.
