Page 17 of A Bride for the Duke of Sin

“Why, you are a young lady of impeccable lineage and sufficient fortune! Spinster, indeed!” the Marchioness continued to rage. “I will not have you waste away for the rest of your life, Phoebe Eleanor Barkley! I will not allow it!”

Mama, please.Spinsterhood is not that bad, really…

Spinsters were afforded a greater freedom than even most married ladies. She might have to rely on her father and his heir to provide a roof over her head, but it would not be so bad. She did not need much upkeep, and best of all, she could be left alone to her own devices. She could devote her time to doing what she loved most…

“Exactly what I had in mind!”

Her fantasies came to a screeching halt as she looked at Ethan in abject horror.

Her mama, who looked to be on the verge of another tirade, looked as if the breath had been knocked out of her lungs.

Everybody turned towards Ethan, who was smiling at them as if they were not discussing Phoebe’s ruination and dismal prospects.

“It is the least I can do,” he pointed out quietly.

“No, it is not—” Phoebe protested.

Ethan looked at her, the intensity in his gaze effectively drying up all the objections in her throat.

“Am I truly that repulsive to you, My Lady?” he asked her softly. “Does the idea of marriage to me disgust you so much?”

Phoebe felt a keen sense of frustration. “It is not that, Your Grace?—”

“Then it is settled!” the Marchioness declared triumphantly. “The Duke of Sinclair will marry you. Both my daughters will now be duchesses. Such excellent news!”

Phoebe turned in desperation to the one figure who remained silent throughout this entire affair.

The Marquess of Brandon looked as if all the vitality had been leached from him in the span of an hour. When he stared back ather, the look in his eyes was so bleak it was as if he despaired for her future.

“Papa,” she pleaded with him. “Please, Papa?—”

But he only turned around and quietly shuffled out of the study, his wife following him.

Phoebe understood now—it was not only despair that she saw in his eyes butdisappointmentas well.

He was disappointed inher.

Her heart sank to the bottom of her stomach.

No, no, no…

“I shall go attend to Papa,” Alice murmured, giving her hands one final squeeze before leaving the room.

Colin gave Ethan one last pointed look before he followed his wife and closed the door behind him.

The air that had once crackled with the tension of their earlier arguments was now suffused with a desolate silence.

Anger fueled by hopelessness surged in Phoebe’s heart.

She stood up and angrily faced the man who had doomed her to yet another loveless union with his careless words.

Promises he might not evenwantto keep.

Earlier, his words had even given away the fact that he had absolutelynointention of honoring his vows.

“Why?” she raged at him. “Why would you decide to be agentlemannow?”

She had been close, so close to the freedom she had always dreamed of.

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