Page 12 of The Duke and the Unwanted Bride

“Want rarely comes into it, I am afraid,” Charlotte sighed.

“But he is supposed to marry Selina!”

“Not anymore,” Beatrice pointed out.

“And Father!” Hannah added desperately. “He will just… he will just sign my life away like that.” She snapped her fingers. “Surely, he will not want me to marry someone Selina objected to? That is?—”

“Good politics,” Charlotte cut her off. “I mean, he is a duke, Hannah. There is little Father will not do to secure such a marriage. Again, I speak from experience.” She looked pointedly at Beatrice.

“Oh, how often are you going to bring that up?” Beatrice snapped.

“Only when it serves to make a point.”

“You should be thanking me!”

“I do nearly every day.”

“Enough!” Hannah shouted over them. She was beginning to gather herself, having overcome the initial embarrassment and the shock of it all. The reality was setting in, and it was not one she was all too pleased with. “I will not marry His Grace. Father cannot make me.”

Beatrice snorted. “Would you like to make a bet?”

“But what about Selina?” Hannah asked desperately. “She was the one set to marry him.”

“Yes, well, that clearly isn’t happening.”

“She will never forgive me,” Hannah groaned as the guilt from what had happened began to sink in. “How could she?”

“There is little use fretting about it now.” Charlotte sighed with sympathy. “What’s done is done and?—”

“No. I do not accept that. I cannot accept that.”

Hannah began to pace as she tried to form some semblance of a plan. The Duke was meant to marry her cousin, also her best friend. And if she were to marry him instead… well, Selina might never speak to her again!

That, she simply could not bear.

What she needed to do was convince the Duke that Selina was the better option and that she herself was even more of a liability than anything he might have imagined.

“Accept it, Sister,” Charlotte said. “Even now, Father is likely doing everything that he can to lock His Grace in before there is even a chance he might change his mind. It is done.”

“Father, yes,” Hannah agreed as a plan began to take shape in her mind. “But His Grace… I will simply have to demonstrate first-hand that marriage to me should be the last thing he wants. Seeing as he agreed to this marriage to avoid a scandal, what will he do if I threaten him with an infinitely worse scandal than that?”

Charlotte narrowed her eyes. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

Beatrice clicked her tongue but could not hide her smile. “Sounds like my sort of plan.”

To that, Hannah gave a wicked grin, her eyes flashing because she knew now what she had to do. She had no doubt that by now, the Duke and her father had come to an agreement, one which would likely see her married before the end of the Season. But it was hastily arranged and did not take into account the most important factor: how determined she was not to marry.

What the Duke needed was to be reminded of this, and as far as Hannah was concerned, there was but one way she could do it. Perhaps not the most tactful plan ever devised, but after havingalready undressed in front of the man, and having been caught by her entire family half-naked, tact wasn’t something that she was too concerned about.

It was well after the house had retired to sleep that Hannah found herself standing outside of the Duke’s bedroom door. She had been patient tonight, lying in her bed, listening until even the sounds of the house’s many servants scuttling about faded into obscurity. And only then, when she was certain that she would not be caught out, did she slip out of her room and sneak down the hallway.

She stood by his door, mentally preparing herself for what she needed to do. The Duke was supposed to marry Selina, not her. And hewouldmarry Selina. From what Hannah could understand, the Duke had decided to marry her instead because a scandal might arise from the situation they had been caught in. Surely, he still preferred Selina to Hannah? And surely, if he was to made to understand how much better Selina was for him than Hannah, he would quickly change his mind again?

As to how Hannah would make him see such a thing? Well, one scandal got them into this mess, so why not another to get them out of it? There was, after all, a reason that she was dressed only in a very light slip…

She took a deep breath. A final moment to steady her beating heart. Then she knocked lightly on the door, held her breath in anticipation, and exhaled when she heard him call, “Who is it?”

She did not respond, instead pushing the door open and stepping inside wordlessly.

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