At least, not yet.
“It was Lord Gillingham,” Leonora said quietly, but with a firm voice, determined not to cower, not even in front of her sisters. Not any longer. “It was he who attacked me at the masquerade.” Her eyes moved to Christina’s face, noting her sisters jaw dropping as she took in the words. “It was he who sent the notebook back to me.”
Stunned silence lingered for a moment or two before outrage filled the air. “How long have you known?” Harriet demanded, fury in her eyes as they once more returned to look upon Lord Gillingham. “You went riding with him only a few hours ago.”
Leonora nodded. “That’s when I found out,” she told her sisters honestly. “He proposed,” she glanced at Drake, noting him inhale a deep breath, his jaw clenched, “and I refused him. He…he got angry and started to berate me for my less than proper behavior. He didn’t say it out right at first, and I did not want to believe it. Still, I knew it was him.”
Disbelief in her eyes, Harriet shook her head. “And he still wants to marry you?” She placed her hands on her hips, her gaze narrowing. “What madness is this?”
“I’ll kill him!” Christina hissed under her breath, her teeth grinding together as she fought the fury that swept through her.
“Get in line,” Drake growled, drawing her sisters’ attention.
Although Drake had become more than a dear friend to Leonora in recent months, to the rest of her family he was merely a passing acquaintance. Never had he spoken to any of her family beyond the occasional greeting or idle chitchat about the weather or the event they were attending. Nevertheless, as Leonora watched her sisters’ eyes move to him in that moment, she could see something change.
They still did not know him, his character, his past, yet, they now recognized him as an ally.
As one of them.
“Why is he speaking to Mother and Father?” Harriet asked, apprehension in her gaze as she looked at Leonora. “He still wants to marry you? But you told him no, didn’t you? Then what is he hoping to achieve?”
Leonora swallowed as all eyes turned to her. “He said that if I did not agree to marry him, he would reveal my unsuitable behavior.” She heaved a deep sigh, feeling awful for the way her own mistakes were now affecting her sisters’ lives. “I’d be ruined.” She looked from Harriet to Christina. “As would all of you, by association. It would ruin our family if it became known that I attended a masquerade, alone and unchaperoned, that I allowed him liberties and—”
“But you didn’t!” Harriet insisted, a dumbfounded expression upon her face.
“But he’ll say I did,” Leonora counselled, trying her best not to give in to the wave of despair that washed through her. “Who do you think people will believe?”
“I’ll call him out!” Drake growled, then spun on his heel and was about to charge across the room when Leonora’s hand clamped down upon his arm, holding him back.
“No, you will not!”
He turned back to look at her, his eyes intent as they burned into hers. “If he is dead, he cannot say a word. He deserves it! You know that.”
Leonora gritted her teeth. “I will not risk you,” she whispered quietly, aware that her sisters were hanging on every word. “I cannot. I can bear anything, but I cannot lose you.” Tears pricked the backs of her eyes, and she had to fight hard to keep them at bay.
Drake’s hands reached for her then, wrapping around her own and pulling her closer. Although no words left his lips, his eyes looked into hers in a way that made Leonora’s heart dance in her chest.
If only there was still a chance for them.
But how could there be?
Not now.
Not any longer.
To protect her family, Leonora knew she had to marry Gillingham. Still, she would not go quietly. She would stand up to him as best as she could and prove to herself that she was not weak. “There is no other way. I wish there was, but there isn’t.”
“You cannot be serious?” Christina interrupted, outrage in her voice as she all but pushed in between Leonora and Drake. “You cannot seriously intend to marry that man!”
Leonora loved her sister for her loyalty and devotion. “You don’t know what you’re saying. If you are to have a future,” she glanced at Harriet, “then I must do this. It was my mistake, and I cannot allow all of you to pay for it. I should never have done what I did, but now I have to live with the consequences.”
Christina’s lips thinned as she stared at Leonora, then her gaze swerved to Drake, and Leonora could not help but think that something unspoken passed between them. They seemed to reach some sort of agreement because Drake suddenly released her hands and stepped back.
Christina ushered Harriet forward and then both her sisters turned to her. “Do what you must,” Christina finally told her, the look in her eyes imploring. “Life is not always easy. That much is true. However, more often than not, we have more choices than we believe.”
Leonora sighed. “But if I do not marry him, then—”
“I never wanted to marry, and I never shall,” Harriet interrupted, shaking her head at that silly notion. “I don’t care about reputation. I don’t care if people look at me in a disapproving way.” She laughed. “Honestly, I feel as though they have been doing that all my life.” She grinned, then turned to look at Christina.
“I agree,” Christina confirmed, an encouraging smile upon her face as her hands tightened upon Leonora’s. “You are our sister, and we will fight this with you every step of the way. Men like Gillingham need to learn that they cannot simply bully others into submission. He needs to be taught a lesson, and I for one long to see that happen.” A wicked grin came to Christina’s face, and Leonora almost laughed at the sight.
“You cannot mean what you’re saying,” Leonora mumbled, disbelief in her voice as she looked from one sister to the other. “The day might come that you disagree, that you regret what you said now. And what about Jules and Troy? What about Mother and Father?”
“They agree with us,” Christina said with absolute conviction.
Leonora shook her head. “You cannot know that. You have not even spoken to them. How—?”
“We are in agreement,” Harriet interrupted once more as her gaze moved across the room to where Lord Gillingham was still speaking to their mother and father. Indeed, Leonora saw puzzled and somewhat disapproving expressions upon their parents’ faces as they looked from the young lord in front of them to Leonora, frowns drawing down their brows before they suddenly set off and strode in their direction.
After quietly observing the sisters’ discussion, Drake once more moved forward, his warm eyes finding Leonora’s. “Your grandmother told me herself that you need to remember how to stand tall. You’re strong,” he glared at Gillingham over his shoulder as the man followed in her parents’ wake, “and you need to show him that.”
“All for one,” Christina stated with a wide smile, her hand grasping Leonora’s tightly.
“And one for all,” Harriet finished as she stepped forward and placed her hand on top of her sisters. She sighed, a wide smile coming to her face. “Oh, I always loved that story!”