In the Stars by Ava Stone

Author:Ava Stone [Stone, Ava]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00JNVEIZ0
Publisher: CreateSpace Publishing
Published: 2014-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Mina never cried. Well, she rarely cried, but she was doing so now. She just couldn’t help it. How could her father make a decision like that without even discussing it with her first? And to tell her in front of Lord Healeyfield had been the height of embarrassment. He probably thought her an overgrown child for her reaction. But what should she have done? Agreed to the marriage without putting up a fight? That was hardly in her nature.

Besides, there was a reason Mama had led her to Madam Derbardi’s yesterday. Mama must have known about Papa’s plans and hoped to warn Mina, to give her a bit of hope. Hope that was now for naught.

Above Mina on a low branch, the willow warbler looked down at her, his black eyes, so filled with concern, stared right into her soul. The songbird wouldn’t come any closer, however, not with her dark mood. She swiped at a traitorous tear that streamed down her cheek.

What was she to do? There wasn’t a way out of her predicament, Papa had seen to that. So was that it, then? She was to spend the rest of her days with Lord Healeyfield, doing her duty, being a helpmate to a man that was just like her father? She just—

“There you are,” Lord Healeyfield said, stepping around the large topiary. “I was hoping we could talk.”

What was there to talk about? Mina brushed a hand across her cheeks, hoping the viscount couldn’t tell she’d been crying. “I’m sure I’m not the best company at the moment, my lord.”

A sad smile settled on his lips and Mina let her gaze drop to her lap.

Lord Healeyfield crossed the courtyard until he stood right before her. “Do you mind if I sit a while?”

“Since when do my wishes mean anything?” she muttered softly.

As though to prove the truth of her point, he dropped into the spot beside her anyway, but then he said very softly, “Your wishes mean something to me, Miss Throssell.”

She lifted her gaze to meet his warm eyes and she gulped. Was there a more handsome man in all of England? Or one more brave? Any girl would feel honored, beyond lucky to have such a man as her betrothed, but…Well, Mina wasn’t any girl. She knew that her true love was out there somewhere, and when she married Lord Healeyfield, she’d never be free to find her true love, to know him, to fulfill her destiny. A piece of her heart broke at the thought.

“Why?” she asked. “You don’t even know me.”

He nodded slightly at that. “But I’d like to know you better. You are to be my wife, Miss Throssell, and I’d like for us to rub along well together.”

He might not be exactly like Papa. He did seem a bit kinder. Still, she’d rather not be forced to throw her lot in with the man. “Please don’t be offended, my lord…”

“Hard not to be whenever someone starts a sentence that way.”

That was probably true.

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