Page 14 of The Duke and the Accidental Bride

“I said no such thing!”

She felt her face flush and looked away, refusing to even allow the thought of such a thing to enter her mind! What had happened last night between them, what she had felt... it was not attraction! It was fear. Fear because the man was a bully and nothing more.

She winked. “You inferred it then. But truth be told, Isabella, you could do a lot worse than a duke. A lot worse...” She eyed her pointedly. “Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that marrying His Grace will be as bad as you are trying to convince yourself that it is. That some semblance of joy cannot be salvaged from this mess?”

Isabella should have expected this reaction from her sister.

Louisa was the romantic one of the two. The one whose life seemed to revolve around finding a mate and settling down – likely, she was even envious of Isabella, as ludicrous as that was.

For Isabella, the idea of falling in love and settling down had never been a dream worth chasing. Truth be told, she found it rather pedestrian, even insulting. What she desired more than anything was to be treated as more than a mere object which might be used for social graces and political maneuvering.

Although only a few knew this of her, what she desired most was to be allowed to study as a man might be. To go to university, to give herself over entirely to a vocation of her own choosing, to push the boundaries of thought and intellectual observation beyond what women of her station were allowed. Now that was a dream worth chasing!

But this? Marriage! A death sentence where independence was concerned, a complete waste of her life, as far as she knew it. No thank you very much.

“I need him to change his mind,” Isabella said, ignoring the look that her sister fixed on her. Not to mention the question.

Her sister snorted. “He will not do that. He told you as much, did he not?”

Isabella pumped her eyebrows. “He is a man like any other. And what do men hate more than anything?” She grinned. “Being told what to do by a woman. Oh yes, last night he told me that he would not have his mind changed. But I would bet my lastgold coin that was only because I was the one suggesting it! If he was to decide on his own, however...” She pumped her eyebrows again, the idea forming into a most wicked plan.

Louisa frowned and leaned back. “So, you are to trick him into cancelling this marriage.”

“It is not a marriage yet,” Isabella said excitedly, seeing for the first time a way out. “Nor will it be. Not by the time I am done with him.”

“And how do you expect to do that? He already knows you do not wish for this. Surely, he will see right through your scheming.”

If there was one thing that Isabella knew she could rely on, it was a man’s ability to completely underestimate a woman. No doubt, His Grace thought of her as an ignorant, air-headed, highly silly woman who was incapable of scheming in the ways that would be needed to end this marriage before it began.

And that, Isabella now knew, was what she needed to lean into.

“It will be simple, really...” Isabella’s mind started to work as she considered the possibilities. “His Grace does not know me – not nearly as well as he thinks he does. But I know him. He is short-tempered. Stubborn. And most of all, he does not like it when he does not get his way.”

“Your point being?”

“What I need to do is show him a side of myself that he will find so abhorrent, so impossibly unbearable that he would rather deal with the fallouts of cancelling our engagement than considering having to spend the rest of his life with me.”

“Perhaps if you are just yourself,” Louisa said dryly. “That might do it.”

Isabella ignored her as ideas began to form. “My dress last night. It wasn’t nearly as scandalous as it could have been. I saw him glancing at it, but he didn’t seem as put out as I would have liked.”

Louisa grimaced. “Any more scandalous and you might as well be nude.”

“He is proper, and I have no doubt that the idea of a wife who dresses like that will undo him.” Her mind raced with possibilities. “Also, he does not like being told no. So, if I argue with him or refuse to agree with anything he says, that will only serve to frustrate.”

“Isabella...”

“Yes...” She began to nod to herself. “I need to frustrate him! Men hate women who are too highly opinionated and who speak their mind. So, let us see how he likes one who shares every opinion she has ever had.”

“Isabella, are you sure --”

“Selina will be visiting us this week, will she not?” Isabella cut her off. “And she is quite pregnant...” Her eyes flashed. “I wonder how His Grace will like her mood swings, of which I will be sure to encourage and play in to. Oh yes...” She laughed menacingly. “By the time I am done with him, he’ll be considering moving country so as to put as much distance between myself and him as possible.”

It was a lot. Some might have said it was too much. But if there was one thing that Isabella was certain that she knew of His Grace, it was that he was as stubborn as she. He did not like being told no. He did not like being proven wrong. If this was to work, she would have to commit fully.

And if she was to have a little too much fun with it?Well, I shall try not to enjoy myself too much.

“I really think that this is unnecessary,” Louisa sighed. “Have you tried talking with him – an actual conversation? If you do that, you might find out that the two of you have more in common than you realize.”

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