CHAPTER TWELVE E: VERITY’S FIRST REFUSAL
Verity found Selena in the conservatory after the guests departed.
She carried a folded shawl and looked unusually troubled.
“Blanche wants me to say that you asked Father to speak to the duke,” she began.
Selena stared at her.
“Why would she want that?”
“Because she believes it will make you look calculating.”
“And will you say it?”
Verity stared at the glass roof.
“I used to say whatever Blanche told me.”
“I know.”
“It was easier than being the next person she laughed at.”
Selena waited.
Verity twisted the shawl between her hands.
“I told her no.”
“What did she do?”
“She said I would regret choosing the wrong sister.”
Selena felt a sudden tenderness toward the younger girl she had spent years regarding as Blanche’s echo.
“You have not chosen a sister,” she said.
“You have chosen whether to tell a lie.”
Verity’s eyes filled.
“I do not know how you do it.”
“Do what?”
“Speak when Father is angry.”
Selena thought of the evenings she had sat awake after arguments, rehearsing sentences she wished she had said differently.
“I am frightened nearly every time,” she admitted.
Verity looked surprised.
“You never look frightened.
”
“Then you have not been watching closely.”
The sisters sat together on the narrow conservatory bench while the last light faded from the garden.
For once Verity did not ask whether William admired Selena.
She asked whether a person could learn to make decisions after spending years allowing someone else to make them.
Selena answered that she hoped so, because she was still learning herself.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE WRONG INVITATION
Blanche’s plan began with an invitation Selena had never accepted.
A card arrived at Oak Haven announcing that Miss Selena Montley would host a charity musicale in the duke’s name.
William read it twice before sending for his steward.
“Who authorized this?” he asked.
Mr. Ames shook his head.
“No one in this household, Your Grace.”
The invitation promised that proceeds would support a school for children of estate laborers.
William had been considering such a school, but he had not announced the project publicly.
Selena arrived that afternoon and found him standing beside the fireplace with the card in his hand.
“Did you arrange this?” he asked.
She read the invitation and felt her face grow cold.
“No.”
“Your name is printed beneath mine.”
“I can see that.”
“Then someone has acted without permission.
”
Selena looked at him steadily.
“Yes.”
He recognized the rebuke and set the card down.
“I apologize,” he said.
“I should have asked whether you knew about it rather than making it sound like an accusation.”
Selena examined the elaborate lettering.
“Blanche uses this printer for her invitations.”
“Would she do such a thing?”
“She might if she believed it would embarrass me.”
William walked toward the window.
“If guests arrive expecting a concert, the school will become a public promise before we have made any plans.”
“Then we should not pretend the invitation is genuine,” Selena said.
“We should tell people exactly what happened.
”
“Your family will be humiliated.”
“My family chose to send it.”
William turned back toward her.
“You would allow them to suffer the consequences?”
“I would rather that than ask other people to pay for our deception.”
He regarded her with a seriousness that made her suddenly aware of how quiet the room had become.
“Then we shall tell the truth,” he said.
