Page 91 of Three Weeks with a Princess
Lia blew out an exasperated breath. “That’s why you and Aunt Chloe have been dragging me from one blasted social event to the other.”
Gillian shrugged. “We think you should marry Jack, but it’s always nice to have a choice.”
“I don’t thinkyourplan has worked very well either.”
Only a few of the men she’d met recently had seemed at all interested. And rather than courtship or marriage, she suspected they desired a relationship of a less respectable nature.
“I don’t know,” Gillian said. “Sebastian Sinclair seemsquiteinterested in you. And he’s clearly not intending to offer you a carte-blanche.”
Lia was silent for several seconds. “True on both counts, I think.” She’d been surprised by Sinclair’s attention to her over the past week. He’d made a point of talking with her at every event they’d attended and had asked her to dance several times.
“If not Jack, do you think you might like to marry Sinclair?” her cousin asked. “You have to admit he’s a nice man, plus he’s handsome and rich, which is always helpful.”
Lia kept quiet, not wanting to lie to her cousin.
Gillian chuckled. “I thought not. I think you’d better reconcile yourself to marrying Jack because he is certainly not going to allow you to become a courtesan. Nor will Sir Dominic or my husband, for that matter.” She reached over and squeezed Lia’s hand. “Or me. It’s simply not on, dearest.”
Lia gripped her hand. “I don’t know what to do.” She felt wretchedly uncertain, and yet she couldn’t deny that a fugitive hope had sparked to life.
“If you want my opinion, you should marry Jack and put him out of his misery.”
“But if I did, it could cause him more misery,” she said, grimacing.
Gillian cocked her head. “But you do love him, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” Lia said, feeling rather growly about it at the moment.
She couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t loved him, his gangly, adolescent presence and laughing face the brightest part of her world. As a child, she’d worshiped him with girlish adoration, as if he were her own personal deity. And Jack had tolerated her nonsense, even though she must have irritated him immensely. After all, what boy wishes to have a little girl tumbling after him like an eager puppy, constantly begging for notice?
Yet he’d never been anything but the truest of friends, rescuing her from numerous scrapes and defending her against the slights and censures that sometimes came her way. When Jack Easton was about, no one dared to insult Lia Kincaid—not unless they wished to earn a bloody nose or a black eye.
He’d been her champion for as long as she could remember.
“And you love Stonefell,” Gillian said, gently squeezing her fingers. “If you ask me, both Jack and the estate need you, so you should fight for them. Be there for them.”
Lia sat very still, letting the notion ofyessink in. When she let the idea settle deep inside, without thought or botheration, it felt right. Immensely right.
Over the years, her childish affection for Jack had transformed into something quiet and deep, a love as rooted as the ancient oaks gracing the woods around Stonefell. Lia knew she could live without him if she must, going on to fashion some sort of satisfactory life. But without Jack, something essential would be lost, as if she’d taken the wrong turn onto a road leading far from home and away from everything that truly mattered.
Gillian withdrew her hand. “I’ve made my case and I hope it’s enough,” she said wryly. “Because I think you’re about to take some heavy fire. Stand firm, old girl. Make us proud.”
“What are you talking about?”
Her cousin nodded toward the house. Lia followed her gaze and almost fell out of her seat. Approaching them at a sedate pace across the lawn were Jack and his sister, Lady Anne.
“Oh no,” Lia groaned. “Did she know I was going to be here?”
Gillian cast her a sideways glance. “I suspect quite strongly she did.”
“Didyouknow about this?”
Her cousin held up her hands in a surrendering gesture. “I knew Jack was coming, but I have to admit his sister’s arrival is a surprise. But perhaps it won’t be such a bad thing.”
“Are you insane?” Lia said. “She hates me.”
Gillian flicked an assessing look at Lady Anne across the lawn. “I doubt Jack would bring her along simply to allow her to make a scene or be dreadful.” She gave Lia a smile before standing up. “Time to fight for what you want, love. Don’t forget: You’ve got the blood of kings running through your veins. That’s got to count for something.”
“I doubt it,” Lia said sarcastically, rising.
