CHAPTER SIX: AN INVITATION WITH CONDITIONS
By the time Selena returned home, her father had received three invitations addressed to her.
Two came from families that had never previously remembered her name.
The third was a formal request from Oak Haven asking whether she would accompany Clara and William to a small garden concert on Saturday.
Sir Lionel read it twice.
“You must accept.”
“I have not decided.”
“There is nothing to decide.”
Selena placed her gloves on the table.
“I will accept if Clara wishes me to come.”
Her father gave a short laugh.
“The child is irrelevant.”
“She is the reason for the invitation.
”
“The duke is the reason you will attend.”
Selena looked at him.
“You have never asked whether I enjoy his company.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Sir Lionel blinked, as though the answer had spoiled an argument he had prepared.
“Then we are agreed.”
“We are not,” Selena said.
“I will not pretend to admire a man for his title, and I will not allow you to bargain with my presence.”
Her father’s smile disappeared.
“You forget who pays for your food and lodging.”
“I have not forgotten,” Selena replied.
“You remind me nearly every day.”
Blanche entered as Selena left the room.
“You should be grateful,” she hissed.
“A duke has noticed you.”
“A little girl has noticed that I listen to her,” Selena said.
“That seems more important at present.”
Blanche stared after her.
Selena went upstairs to the small room where she kept her sewing basket.
She sat beside the window and opened a letter from an old school friend who now managed a dressmaking shop in Bath.
Her friend had offered her paid work months earlier, but Selena had refused because her father insisted that no daughter of his would enter trade.
She read the offer again.
For the first time,
she wondered whether refusing it had been an act of loyalty or merely another way of allowing her family to decide who she was.
