The Undaunted Debutantes Series (Books 1--3) by Christina Mcknight

Author:Christina Mcknight [McKnight, Christina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Christina McKnight

Chapter 16

What of my heart? Lucianna wanted to scream as Charlotte led her to her bedchambers. The maid kept up with a litany of mumbled nonsense, “There there,” “Get some rest,” “Allow the men to handle things,” and the most infuriating, “Your father will choose wisely.”

Luci didn’t remember bidding Roderick farewell nor entering her father’s coach.

A servant steered her clear of Lord Torrington’s family townhouse and made certain she was settled before the conveyance took off toward Mayfair.

Now, she sat at her dressing table as Charlotte brushed out her hair as if Luci were preparing for bed. It was only late afternoon. A time when fashionable men and women were strolling in the park or shopping on Bond Street, not being carted away by the powers that be—namely, her father—without so much as a fight.

She was a beautiful, fragile bird in a cage made for two—her mother and her.

Luci snorted. She’d truly thought to escape it all, carve her own way in life, never being reduced to that of a captive. The many times she’d underestimated her father had finally caught up with her. The overwhelming pain in her chest told Luci her determination had waned to desperation. And, finally, hopelessness.

She looked around her childish room with its frilly, lilac bedding and matching pillows. The window drapes were several shades darker, more of a violet. The hues should clash, throwing the room into disarray, as a pure lilac color was no match for an overpowering dark violet. However, her mother had insisted that every piece of furniture in the room be white—pure, untouched, and innocent.

Had Lady Camden tried to reclaim her own innocence as she’d designed this room when Lucianna was in short skirts and pinafores?

If it had been Lucianna’s choice—and nothing thus far in her life had been—she would have decorated the room in dark burgundy with blue accents, and the occasional gold trimming. The room would evoke a need to bow to the power held by its occupant.

However, the castle did not make the king.

It went much deeper than that. It was a sense of rightness everyone around the sovereign felt with such a man in power. The security of knowing that the correct person could be trusted to make a well-thought-out and conscious decision that would benefit all.

No matter how hard she attempted to take control of the situation with Abercorn, her friends questioned her. No matter how many times she’d declared she would not wed that murdering lord, Luci felt her voice blowing on the breeze, heard by no one.

Not no one, precisely. Roderick was aware of her wants and needs.

He was conscious of the fact that Luci would rather run to the wilds of Scotland than be joined in matrimony with Abercorn.

Did he suspect she had no such aversion to him as her husband?

Secrets and all, Lucianna still cared deeply for him. Even now after such a short time. It was his wounds, the ones he’d shared with her on their walk, and the many he still kept inside that drew her to him.

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