“Why on earth would I do that?”
“Well, for one thing I’m not sure there will be an abundance of gentlemen willing to risk their pride after watching you turn down a duke with such ease. So if you wish to make a match, he might be your only option. For now,” she hastily added.
“One more reason to hate him,” Sarah grumbled. “He ruined my chances.”
“Only until this whole debacle has been forgotten,” her mother said as she took a seat on Sarah’s bed.
Sarah sighed. She wasn’t sure that would happen any time soon, and in the meantime she wasn’t getting one day younger. With six Seasons already behind her – six – she had hoped to make a match sooner rather than later. “His presumptuousness grates on my every nerve.”
“Yes. He’s horribly arrogant, I’ll grant you that.” Her mother nudged her shoulder. “Come, let’s have some lunch and forget this morning ever happened.”
Sarah knew it wouldn’t be quite so simple. Her public refusal of Brunswick would be the subject of conversation in every Mayfair drawing room by tomorrow morning at the latest. She would be judged and labeled ungrateful, impossible to please, and possibly stupid. After all, what woman in her right mind – let alone a soon-to-be spinster – turned down a duke?
Rising, Sarah then followed her mother from the room and down the stairs. “I doubt a man like that has many friends.”
“I really wouldn’t know, Sarah, but you’re probably right.”
“And his family must despise him.” Directing a few verbal stabs at the duke felt remarkably good.
Her mother drew to an abrupt halt on the stairs and turned. “I don’t believe so.”
Sarah tilted her head in question. “No?”
“No.” Her mother pressed her lips together. “They’re mostly dead.”
Dear heavens.
Sympathy gripped Sarah’s heart with such force it started to ache. A distinct feeling of guilt over what she’d just said crept under her skin. “What happened?”
Her mother resumed her descent. “I thought you weren’t interested.”
“I’m not.” They reached the foyer and Sarah paused. “Well, all right. I might be a little interested.”
“Hmm...” Her mother raised both eyebrows, but rather than start an argument over the wisdom of Sarah’s curiosity, she said, “I don’t know all the details. From what I gather there was a carriage accident when the duke was a child. He lost both of his parents and his siblings. A maternal aunt is, from what I gather, his only living relation.”
“How awful,” Sarah murmured even though awful wasn’t enough to describe the suffering Brunswick must have endured when he was a boy. Perhaps she hadn’t imagined the haunted look in his eyes after all. Maybe the pain still lingered. It might even be to blame for his reserved aloofness.
Dazed by the tragedy of the situation as a whole, Sarah drifted onto the terrace where her father waited with Athena.
“I was wondering if you’d like to get away for a bit what with everything that’s just happened,” Papa suggested once they’d been seated. “We could go up to the Lake District for a couple of weeks.”
“Actually,” Sarah said, her mind reeling with possibilities and the potential disaster she might be about to set into motion, “I think I’d rather stay here.”
“But he’s right next door.” Her father jutted his chin toward the brick wall separating the two properties.
“Yes.” Sarah took a bite of salmon while everyone else stared at her in wonder. “But running away would not be very conducive.”
“To what?” Athena carefully asked.
“To helping him overcome the loss he has suffered.”
“Good Lord,” Mama murmured, pressing her hand to her forehead.
“What loss?” Athena asked.
“His entire family died when he was child,” Sarah explained, “and I don’t believe he ever recovered.”
“And what exactly, pray tell, has led you to this conclusion?” Papa inquired.
“There was this—” Sarah waved her hand “—profound unhappiness about him. I dismissed it at first on account of his arrogance, but now that I know what happened to him, I would like to try and...and...”
“Fix him?” Athena prompted.
“Well, yes,” Sarah said with a smile.
“Let me stop you right there,” Papa said. “The Duke of Brunswick is not an orphaned baby squirrel or a bird with a broken wing. He is a man – a duke – and you would do well not to interfere in his personal affairs. To do so can only lead to trouble.”
Sarah held her father’s gaze for a moment while letting his words sink in. “To do nothing would be unkind.”
“Sarah,” Papa warned.
“I regret informing you of his past,” Mama murmured. “I should have known better.”
“Yes,” Papa agreed. “You should have.”
“Will you help me?” Sarah asked Athena. “You’ve been very good at bringing people together in the past, and a chance encounter with the duke would allow me to strike up a conversation without him realizing I’ve deliberately sought him out.”
“No,” Papa said. “Enlisting your sister’s help is a terrible idea.”
“On the contrary, it’s the perfect idea,” Sarah said. “And both of you need to stop haranguing poor Athena because she played a part in what turned out to be two excellent matches. Just imagine if she hadn’t. You’d be two grandchildren short.”
Mama pressed her hand to her breast. “Good grief, Sarah.”
“In any event,” Sarah went on, undaunted, “I can think of nothing else.”
“I can,” Papa said. “Abandon this mad-cap notion. Set your mind to something else.”
“I can’t,” Sarah said. “You know how I am. Once I get an idea in my head, it sticks until I have dealt with it in some way.”
“In that case, you leave me no choice but to forbid you from speaking with Brunswick again,” Papa said. He took a sip of his wine and promptly returned his attention to his food.
Sarah stared at him. He knew she’d heed his demand because in the end, he was acting out of love and concern, attempting to protect her from what he believed to be a terrible idea, and she was an obedient daughter. Somehow, she’d have to get around all of that.
“What if,” she slowly began while pondering her options, “Brunswick approaches me?”
Her father coughed, cleared his throat, and prepared to speak.
“If that were to happen,” Mama said before her husband was able to get one word out, “we would naturally expect you to conduct yourself with decorum.”
“Meaning?” Sarah pressed.
“Well, it would be bad form of you to ignore him,” Mama said, then glanced at Papa. “Would you not agree?”
Papa frowned. “Quite right. If the duke decides to instigate a conversation with you, then you must respond. But since he was turned away, first by you and then by myself, I very much doubt he’ll make any such attempt.”