Page 34 of The Duke’s Hidden Runaway Bride

It was harder than defying Markham could ever be. Markham she could hate. Her father she loved.

“I have made my choice,” she said. “I am sorry it grieves you. It remains my choice.”

Josiah turned away from her.

“I sent word to Markham as soon as your letter came.”

Ophelia’s stomach tightened.

“You had no right.”

“He must know the matter can still be repaired.”

The knocker sounded.

Her father looked towards the door with relief, his shoulders easing.

Ophelia did not.

Markham entered the parlour smiling.

The sight of him turned Ophelia cold. He was handsome and polished, entirely at his ease, his pale eyes moving over her with the assessing look she had never forgotten.

She made herself meet it.

Markham was good. Warmth came from him as naturally as firelight. His concern could have persuaded a stranger, and had once persuaded a motherless girl desperate to be wanted.

The charm was real.

There was simply nothing beneath it.

“My dear Miss James.” He bowed as though she had arrived late to a dinner. “How you have frightened us all.”

“Good morning, Lord Markham.”

“And how well you look. Wales agrees with you. One would never think you had been at death’s door.”

“I have not been.”

His smile did not alter.

“So much the better. I am come to assure you of my forgiveness and my readiness to proceed as arranged. No word need ever be spoken of this unfortunate interlude.”

“I will not marry you.”

Josiah made a sound of protest. Markham lifted one hand, silencing him without looking away from Ophelia.

“I have been patient,” he said. “More patient than most men would have been.”

“Your patience is no concern of mine.”

A muscle tightened at the corner of his jaw, there and gone.

“A breach-of-promise action is an ugly thing, Miss James. So is litigation arising from the settlement and the representations your father made concerning it. His business rests upon confidence, as you know. A public suit would damage that confidence very quickly.”

Her father sank into a chair.

“I should hate to see him ruined,” Markham continued. “I am fond of you both. Therefore I offer the simplest remedy. We marry by Lady Day. The talk ends, the articles are fulfilled, and your father’s name remains untouched.”