CHAPTER NINE: BLANCHE’S NEW PLAN

The news that Mrs. Vale had left Oak Haven reached the Montley house before Selena did.
Blanche was waiting in the entrance hall.
“They say you had the governess dismissed.”
“The duke dismissed her.”
“After you complained.”
“After he asked her questions.”
Blanche stepped closer.
“Do you understand how this looks?”
“I understand that a little girl was frightened in her own home.”
“I am speaking of your reputation.”
“So am I,” Selena said.
Blanche’s eyes narrowed.
“You think you are better than the rest of us now.”
“No.”
“You think that because the duke speaks to you,

everyone must listen.”
“You have not listened to a word I said.”
Their father appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Enough,” he ordered.
“Selena, you will attend Lady Pembroke’s dinner tomorrow.”
“I have not been invited.”
“You have now.”
He descended with a folded invitation in his hand.
Selena recognized Lady Pembroke’s elaborate handwriting.
“You arranged this while I was away?”
“Naturally.”
“I would prefer a quiet evening.”
“Your preferences have become expensive,” Sir Lionel replied.
Blanche smiled triumphantly.
Selena accepted the invitation because she understood that refusing it would merely begin another argument.
But she also understood that her father intended to use her acquaintance with William as though it were a possession belonging to the family.


That evening she wrote to her friend in Bath and asked whether the offer of work remained open.
She sealed the letter before she could persuade herself to wait for a more convenient time.

CHAPTER TEN: A DINNER OF WHISPERS

Lady Pembroke’s dinner was arranged with the precision of a military campaign.
Selena found herself seated between a retired admiral and a widow who asked too many questions about Oak Haven.
“Is it true that the duke keeps his niece locked upstairs?” the widow whispered.
“No,” Selena said.
“Then why has no one seen her for so long?”
“Perhaps because the people who repeat that rumor have never been invited to meet her.

”
The widow drew back.
The admiral concealed a smile behind his wineglass.
Across the table, Blanche was speaking to a gentleman whose family owned a profitable shipping concern.
She kept glancing toward Selena, clearly disappointed that the duke had not attended.
After dinner, Lady Pembroke drew Selena aside.
“Your father has been rather enthusiastic about your prospects,” she said.
Selena felt a familiar sinking sensation.
“My father is often enthusiastic about prospects that do not belong to him.”
Lady Pembroke raised an eyebrow.
“That is a dangerous observation for a young woman.”
“It is also accurate.”
The older woman studied her for a moment.


“I knew William’s sister,” she said.
“She would have liked you.”
Selena looked surprised.
“You cannot know that.”
“No,” Lady Pembroke admitted.
“But she disliked people who agreed with her merely because they thought she expected it.”
She paused.
“The duke is not cruel, Miss Montley, but he can be stubborn enough to cause great harm without intending it.”
“I have begun to suspect as much.”
“Then do not become another person who tells him only what he wishes to hear.”
Selena looked toward the drawing room, where Blanche was laughing much too loudly at a remark she had not understood.


“I do not think I am capable of that,” she answered.