Page 24 of The Dream of Love
“Have you not shamed me enough, you ungrateful child?” Her father tried to grab her, but Adam would not allow it, keeping himself positioned between them.
“Are you drunk, Lord Hartfield? Keep away from Remi. I won’t let you harm her.”
“She’s my daughter.Mine. You have no right to come between us.”
Adam wouldn’t budge. “You are angry. You’ll hurt her, and I cannot allow that. Come into Lord Welles’ study and we’ll discuss your daughter’s–”
“We’ll discuss nothing.” He tried to push his way past Adam again, but he was a big, stubborn, immovable Scot.
“I am not turning your daughter over to you. Join me and Lord Welles in his study and we’ll talk about her situation.”
“Who are you to order me about? You are nothing, a nobody. Do you think I’d ever allow a lowly vicar anywhere near my daughter?” He threw his head back and laughed. “I’ve had enough of her nonsense. She’s coming home with me. She’ll marry the man I choose. If I catch you near her again, I’ll have you shot.”
Remi gasped and stormed around Adam, ignoring him as he grabbed her around the waist and attempted to haul her behind him. She wriggled out of his grasp and confronted her father. “I’ll shoot you first if you dare harm him! I love that man! And I–”
Oh, heavens.
She’d shouted it so everyone could hear.
If Adam did not love her, then her humiliation would be complete. Too late to take it back. It wasn’t as if she could hide her feelings anyway.
Adam knew how she felt before she’d ever told him. Now everyone knew it.
Poppy, Nathaniel, Lavinia, Pip, Periwinkle, their entire Sherbourne staff, and all their invited guests were gaping at her. An oppressive silence descended upon the ballroom. Remi tipped her chin into the air. “I love him,” she repeated because if she was going to take a fall, it was going to be a spectacular, humiliating plunge.
She turned to Adam and looked up to meet his gaze.
He groaned. “Remi, what are ye doing?”
“Vicar Carstairs…” She cleared her throat. “Vicar Carstairs…would you do me the honor… Um, would you give me the greatest pleasure…” She was trying to propose marriage and failing miserably. She now understood how a frightened suitor felt when laying open his heart and soul. “Because I think if we…Gretna Green…you know. They do it quick there.”
She glanced at Periwinkle, wishing the dog would bark. Or pee on someone. Anything to take all eyes off her.
She closed her eyes, fighting to stave off tears.
Adam caressed her cheek. “Yes.”
“What?” She opened her eyes to stare at him.
“Masterfully done, lass,” he said in a whisper, but his smile was exquisitely tender. “Yes, Lady Remington. I will marry you.”
A collective gasp carried through the room.
“Yes?” Had he just accepted her? Women would be wailing in the streets of Wellesford tonight. “Is that what you said? Yes?”
Her father tried to grab her, but Adam was having none of that. He stepped between them again. “No more, Lord Hartfield. Come into the study, and we’ll work out the terms.”
Her father burst out laughing. “Terms?” he said with bitter derision. “There will be no terms. You’ll have not a shilling from me. You want my daughter? Then take her with nothing, for that’s all I’ll give her. Nothing. Not my wealth. Not my connections. No allowance. She’ll come to you with the clothes on her back and nothing more. What do you say to that, Vicar?” He turned and whirled to face everyone. “Same goes for any of you other fortune hunters. Not so much as a crumb will you have from me.”
Remi was shaking, she couldn’t help it. She was angry. She was so very hurt. All her years of wanting to love this man and this is how he felt? Not even a pang of regret when tossing her into the dust bin? “Adam, I’m so sorry. I’ll understand if you walk away from me.”
He took her hand in his and kept a tight hold. “Not letting go of you, Remi. Not ever.”
His words further infuriated her father. “Better think twice, Vicar. She’s letting you go. Take her up on it because I will crush you. I’ll destroy your family and all you hold dear. I’ll–”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort,” Poppy’s husband said with a growl, obviously having had enough of this scandalous display of temper in his home.
“Who’s to stop me? You?” Her father raised a fist and drew it back, but Adam caught the swing before it could strike Nathaniel.
