A Matter of Honor by Abigail Reynolds

Author:Abigail Reynolds
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: romance love, classics historical, Highlander duke aristocrats nobility, Darcy Pemberley Elizabeth Bennet, historical regency, 18th century 19th century
ISBN: 9780997935684
Publisher: White Soup Press
Published: 2019-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

IF ONLY HER HEART WOULD stop pounding! Blood rushed through her, making it impossible to think clearly. How could he have betrayed her this way? After all she had left behind to protect her secret, all she had lost, and he had simply given it away.

How many people must know by now that Darcy had seen her? Bingley would have told Jane, whose tender heart would have insisted on sharing the news with their mother, who would have gossiped to Lady Lucas, who would have passed the news to her son-in-law Mr. Collins, and he would have run straight to Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Her father might even now be under arrest and awaiting trial, and she was helpless to stop it.

She clapped her hand over her mouth as her stomach heaved. Was it already too late? There must be something she could do! She would write immediately and tell them...what? To keep a secret they most likely had already spread? To tell her straightaway if her father was arrested? But then she would have to explain the entire story and if by some miracle they had told no one, that would only add to the danger.

With trembling hands, she lifted her lockbox from the drawer of the bedside table. It took three tries to fit the delicate key into the lock before she could open the top and remove the thick paper that lay inside. She unfolded it and began to read the words that had been burned into her memory.

No. They would not have arrested her father yet. They did not care about punishing her, only keeping her from marrying Darcy. Once they arrested her father, there would no longer be anything to stop her from turning to Darcy, and that was what they wanted to prevent.

If word had reached them, they would already have someone en route to Scotland to put a stop to her connection to Darcy, ready to threaten her again, to force her to go away again, even farther this time. To leave the aunt and city she had grown to love.

But that meant she had a little time. Her father and family were safe for now. Her breath came easier. She smoothed the contract.

A line near the end caught her eye. If either party should contract to marry another...

That was it. It was a straw, but she would grasp at it. As soon as she could reach Edinburgh, she would ask her aunt to find a man willing to betroth himself to her. If luck was with her, it would prove unnecessary, and she could break the betrothal later. Her reputation would be damaged, but her father would be safe.

She stilled as a new thought struck her. Perhaps she might need not go even that far. It would not matter if Bingley or Jane told people that Darcy had seen her if they also said she was married. It did not have to be true, if only they believed it. Yes. That one lie could save everything.

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