Lord Trench clamped a hand on Robert’s shoulder, leaving his son wincing.
This couldn’t be happening.
This was not happening.
My father looked as giddy as a child in a bloody sweet shop. “Why don’t the two of you take a turn in the garden and leave us to iron out the details?”
I rose woodenly, ignoring Robert as he trudged beside me to the staircase and out the main doors. Sunlight peeped through cottony clouds as they blew past on a breeze. How could my father do this to me? To Keelynn?
When I told him to choose a husband, never in a million years did I believe he’d pick Robert Trench.
“How could you sit there and say nothing?” I asked, struggling to keep my voice level. He was a man. He held all the control in this cursed world, and he hadn’t said one bloody word.
He stopped next to me, hands shoved in his pockets like a bold child. “Look, Aveen, no one is more upset about this than I am.”
“Oh, really? No one is more upset? Not one person?”
Robert’s shoulders lifted with his resigned sigh. A bloody sigh. These were our lives, and two old men were making our decisions. Everything about this was wrong.
“I get it. You’re not thrilled. But perhaps we could find a way to make this work.”
Not thrilled? I wasn’t thrilled when there was no fresh cream for scones. This . . . This was a travesty. “We hate each other.”
Wincing, he plucked a leaf from a potted boxwood, pruned to look like a swirl. “You didn’t always hate me.”
I inhaled a shaky breath. If only I could clear my head. There had to be a way to fix this.
“I know. I know I didn’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that we are not suited. You care for my sister.”Dammit.We had to fix this before Keelynn found out.
Robert’s frown deepened. “Keelynn and I have had a disagreement.” He tore another leaf, crushing it in his fist. “I’m afraid she no longer cares for me.”
No longer cared for him? My sister worshiped the ground he walked on. “She loves you.”
“That will change once she learns of our betrothal.”
Keelynn rounded the corner of the house, a basket of wildflowers on her arm. The breeze blew loose waves across her flushed cheeks. “What betrothal?”
Oh no. No no no.
My hands shook when I clenched my skirts. How could I tell Keelynn the truth? She would hate me forever.I couldn’t do this to her. I just couldn’t.
Cursing under his breath, Robert straightened his waistcoat and stepped toward my sister. “Aveen and I are to be wed next month.”
The basket fell to the ground, spilling blooms across the golden gravel. “No . . .”
Say something, dammit. But whatcouldI say?
Robert put his hands on her shoulders. “Keelynn, listen to me—”
“How could you do this to me?” Tears welled in her narrowed eyes. The accusation wasn’t for Robert. It was for me.
“I’m sorry, Keelynn.”
She tore from Robert’s grasp and ran. I made to go after her, but Robert caught my hand. “I’ll speak to her.”
As much as I wanted to chase her down and insist she listen to reason, I was the last person she wanted to see now. Perhaps she would hear him out. It certainly couldn’t hurt. I nodded and watched him take off around the house.
Surely Keelynn would forgive me.