A Hasty Betrothal by Jessica Nelson Page A

requested your presence immediately.” Powell paused, his serious features perplexed. “She claims the matter to be most urgent, and if I may say so, she appears rather...winded.”
    â€œThank you. Tell her I will be there shortly.” Miles pushed his chair out, gut twisting. He could not forget yesterday morning’s ride. What had he been thinking? Offering marriage? He must have temporarily gone insane. Thankfully, she’d refused. He’d done his part, as he’d scribbled in a quick note to John when he returned home.
    Should Elizabeth need to marry, there would be plenty of willing suitors. His gut twisted at the thought of Elizabeth in a loveless relationship, but he pushed the feeling aside.
    He well knew how love brought pain. He frowned. He did not wish to see Elizabeth today, but he could think of no reason for her to be at his house, alone, except for some unexpected predicament.
    Had she changed her mind? Panic shot through him. He prayed not.
    He found her pacing his library, hands wringing and dress fluttering with the force of her walk. Her hair escaped in disorganized ringlets around her cheeks, and when he entered her gaze flew to his.
    â€œMiles,” she breathed.
    He hardened himself against the relief so clearly etched on her face. Perhaps his pride still rankled from her cold dismissal. “Lady Elizabeth, won’t you have a seat?”
    Surprise fluttered across her face. Perhaps she’d expected a less formal greeting.
    â€œI cannot sit. Something dreadful has happened. My hand is being forced, you see, and I said what I had to but now... I’m truly at my wit’s end. I know not what to do. I pray you forgive me.”
    He did not move from his position in the doorway. What was happening here? Fingering his cravat, he gave her a questioning look. “Surely things are not so terrible.”
    â€œOh, but they are.” She stooped and plucked a paper from the chair. Marching to him, she held it in front of his face. The words blurred without his spectacles, which he’d left at his desk.
    â€œWhat is it?” he said irritably.
    â€œThat article. They are referencing me.” She lowered the morning rag. “It’s still the gossip this morning, though there is no more mention of a factory owner. There is simply the implication that I...” Her face blanched. “Behaved inappropriately. They do not go so far as to write something to my complete ruination, but a betrothal is the only option to fix this, for if it continues as a topic of conversation, or widespread rumor, then I could very well be ruined and throw my family into the worst sort of scandal.”
    â€œDid you not say you cared ‘not a whit’ about your family’s standing?”
    Elizabeth wrinkled her face. “Empty words. I wish I had not uttered them.” She drew a deep breath, looking down at his feet. “Lord Wrottesley has offered marriage, and my parents would have me accept.”
    Miles’s spine went rigid. He held up a hand, stopping her midspeech. “The same man who so cruelly mauled you and caused this fiasco?”
    Bitt flushed. “Do not repeat this, please, but I believe he may be the one behind the rumors. They are too expedient. I cannot marry him, Miles. I dare not.”
    â€œAfter what he did to you? Do your parents know?”
    Her blush deepened. “I told Mother, but she feels I brought his behavior upon myself. I will say that he was a gentleman in the library, in the presence of my parents. I told him I could not marry him. That I was not at liberty to do so.”
    â€œAt the risk of ruining your family?”
    â€œNot quite.” Her eyes, a startling crystal blue, shone in the morning light streaming through his library windows. “I know you believe me spoiled and selfish and that I care nothing for my family’s standing, but you are mistaken.”
    â€œBitt.” A lump rose to his