Page 45 of Earl on the Run (The Duke's Estates 2)

“Tell me,” Harriet urged. “Whatever it is, I will help you.”

Her mother gazed down, her face so creased with worry that she looked years older than she had just a few months ago. She swallowed, then sighed. “Papa found out,” she muttered. Harriet just barely heard her.

“What?” Harriet squeezed her hands in reassurance. “What did my grandfather find out?”

Her mother’s fingers closed in a spasmodic grip and then went lax. “That I spent the last of our money on the season in London. There is nothing left.” Her breath caught on a sob.

Harriet struggled to take this in. “But Grandfather was paying all the bills.”

“For the house and large purchases. But there were so many small things that were needed as well. The first few times I asked him about something like that, he shouted so—about my foolishness and feckless ways.” She grimaced. “If it is not somethinghewishes to buy, then it is a wicked extravagance.”

“But…” Harriet knew they had a small capital sum, which generated a very modest income. Her father had managed to scrape together that much before he died. It had sustained them through her school days and the short time afterward, before her grandfather descended upon them with his oppressive largesse. The thought of this reserve had remained, a comfort, in the back of Harriet’s mind when she thought about the future, since no position she could find as a schoolteacher or governess would support them both. Lately, she’d even dared to dream it would sustain her mother should she make…other choices.

Surely her mother would not have used up that sum without telling her. But meeting her despairing eyes, Harriet saw that she had. “Why didn’t you come to me? We could have done without…whatever it was you bought.”

“Will you also reproach me?” her mother cried. “If he wins you away from me, I don’t know what I will…”

“Mama! You know that is impossible. I only wish you had consulted me.”

“I didn’t want you to worry.”

Actions meant as kindness could turn to disaster, Harriet observed.

“I thought you would make a good match—a great success, like your friend Ada. And then it wouldn’t matter.” Her mother frowned. “Couldn’t you have tried harder, Harriet? There were so many suitable gentlemen courting you.”

“Because of grandfather’s money.”

“Well, that is the way of the world. A man can be charming and attractive even so. Isn’t it right that he thinks of his family’s future?”

“So you wanted me to take the path you refused? A mercenary marriage?”

“Yes!” declared her mother with more spirit than she’d shown in days.

Harriet stared at her, shocked.

“I want you to be happy.” She said it like an accusation.

“But you and Papa…”

Harriet’s mother pulled her hands free and sat up straighter, her mouth turned down. “Love wears thin when every day is another round of scrimping and falling short,” she said. “When each bit of news is bad and no scheme succeeds. After a while, there is nothing to talk about but failures, you see. And the pain of seeing someone you love fretting begins to give way to…irritation.”

“It was not Papa’s fault that…”

“No, it was mine. I should not have married him.”

Harriet’s indignation dissolved in stark surprise.

“I should have done as my father wished and refused him,” her mother added. “Or avoided him from the beginning. If only I had done that! Never met him at all. How much easier for us both.”

“You would have turned your back on love?” Harriet asked.

“It would have been better for everyone if I had. Anthony would have been a great success in business. My father would have made him a partner, you know, instead of wrecking everything he tried to do. He thought him very capable.”

“And I would not have been born,” Harriet pointed out.

“I would have married someone else,” her mother replied. “An approved suitor. With a title, as Papa wanted. His fortune would have found me one. And you would have been born into a noble family and led a much easier life. You would have had everything you wanted and respect besides. Those girls who snubbed you at school would have fawned over you instead.”

“That person would not have been me,” Harriet said.

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