Heiress in Love by Christina Brooke Page A

let you keep Luke!” said Cecily.
    The injustice of it burned in Jane’s chest. “He says he cannot allow it. I might not be a fit and proper person to care for Luke, if you please!”
    “Infamous!” said Cecily.
    “The obvious course is to marry Constantine Black, is it not?” said Rosamund quietly.
    “Marry that—that lout ?” said Jane. “Beckenham said the same, but … oh, Rosamund, I thought at least you would understand my feelings.”
    Rosamund held up a hand. “I would not for the world condemn you to matrimony with such an arrant rogue as he is reputed to be, but it appears your affairs and his are inextricably tangled. The estate has been decimated by Frederick’s actions. He made no financial provision for Luke. Beckenham was most upset about it. He told me there’s nothing else for it; for the good of Lazenby, you and Constantine Black must wed.”
    Cecily said, “She’s right, Jane. And more importantly, you could keep Luke.”
    Panic twisted in Jane’s belly. “I can’t.” She gripped her hands together. “I can’t marry him. Not him. Not anyone.”
    “They say he is devilishly handsome,” said Cecily. “That must be some consolation. I mean, if you have to do It with someone you don’t love, better he be handsome, don’t you think?”
    Constantine Black’s strongly marked features appeared before Jane’s mind’s eye. No, somehow his spectacular dark looks made the prospect of … of It  … worse, not better.
    Her panic climbed, threatening to choke her. “I can’t. I’m not fit to be a wife.”
    Sympathy softened Rosamund’s face. “Just because you did not bear a child doesn’t mean you’re not fit to be a wife, Jane.”
    Oh, but it does, Jane thought. However, she could not bring herself to discuss such an intimate matter, even with Rosamund.
    “Besides, the lout’s scarcely fit to be a husband, is he?” said Cecily, with her infallible logic.
    “I daresay you’d rub along tolerably well,” put in Rosamund.
    “You could take a lover. ” Cecily rolled the word around her tongue and gave it a French twist.
    Rosamund nodded. “You wouldn’t even have to live here if you didn’t want to. Or, better yet, you could send him up to Town while you manage things here. I think it sounds like a good arrangement.”
    No, it sounded appalling. Impossible.
    Rosamund reached up to take Jane’s hand. She swung it gently to and fro. “You’d be wise not to dismiss the notion out of hand.”
    Jane squeezed Rosamund’s strong, slim fingers. She sighed. “I never thought to have any say in my own destiny. I regret Frederick’s death, of course I do! But … marriage to Constantine Black! How could he do this to me?”
    Yet, it was out of the question to leave Luke at Lazenby Hall with no one to love him and only a wastrel libertine’s example to follow. Even more powerful than the ties of duty, the bonds of love would keep her here if she couldn’t take Luke with her. And she simply couldn’t remain indefinitely in the household of a libertine like Constantine Black unless she married him. Her reputation would never survive the disgrace.
    Rosamund’s face was puckered with dismay. Clearly, she considered Jane’s fate sealed. A Westruther heiress simply had no choice in matters of matrimony. They’d all accepted it long ago. Even if Jane’s widowhood had granted her freedom from such lofty expectations, Frederick’s legacy imprisoned her once more.
    All that wealth … She’d happily see it at the bottom of the Thames.
    “I hate Frederick for doing this!” Jane fought back tears of frustration. She would not cry again today. “If not for the stupid way he left everything, I could have Luke. We could be free.”
    “Jane, Jane.” Cecily slipped off the bed. “You poor deluded female. You know what Montford is. If not Constantine Black, it would be some other likely candidate as soon as you were done with mourning. At least this way, you’ll get what you