Regan looked at Madelene for a while. She looked back to the window of her father’s study. Her father was watching her. Could it be? Even if it was true that Warin had feelings for her, the duke could no longer withdraw his engagement to Katherine. The whole ton would detest him if he did. Breaking an engagement was not an honorable thing to do, especially for a duke. If he continued with the wedding while he was in love with Regan, she and Katherine would suffer. No father would allow it to happen. And I shall not allow it either, Regan thought.
Chapter Five
Regan stood in front of her father. She smiled at him and handed him her letter for the Hewitt family.
“I knew you would do the right thing,” her father said.
“Father, can you at least give this letter to the duke?” Regan handed another letter to James. “I wish to thank him for the gift he sent.”
James’s lips twitched, but he accepted the letter. He looked at his daughter. It was obvious that Regan had been crying as she wrote the letters. He placed the letters on the table and ordered her to sit on the couch. He opened his drawer and took out a small package.
“I had these bought for you. They are the newest trinkets from India,” James said as he handed the box to Regan.
“Father, you should give these to Katherine,” Regan said when she saw the beautiful jewelries made of pearls. “She would be glad to wear them on her wedding day.”
“Katherine has the duke to buy her the trinkets she wants,” James answered. Regan’s smile faded. James tapped her hand and added, “You need this while you are in Leicestershire. I asked Lady Hewitt to find you a suitable man while you are living with them.”
“Father, please. If this is about His Grace, you do not have to worry,” Regan convinced her father. “Even if I am in love with him, I cannot be with him. He will wed Katherine and my feelings do not matter.”
Regan managed to convince her father. She looked at the trinkets in her hands. She wanted to give them back to James, but she stopped when Margaret rushed into the room.
“My husband, you have to do something,” Margaret sounded worried.
“Mother, is something wrong?” Regan asked.
Regan quickly laid the trinkets on the table and rushed to her mother’s side. She led her to a chair next to her father.
Margaret held James’s arms and pleaded, “You have to do something.”
“Hush, my wife,” James lovingly caressed Margaret’s face. “Breathe deep and speak calmly.”
Margaret did what her husband suggested. Then, she presented him the crumpled letter she held in her hand. James took the letter. After reading it, he walked out of the room and told his steward to have a carriage ready for him.
“How could she do this?” Margaret cried. “The betrothal has been announced. The licenses have been approved and are about to be posted.”
“Mother, are you saying Katherine ran away?”
Margaret did not answer Regan. She stood and walked closer to James. “Willy, faster!” she ordered the valet, who was knotting James’s cravat. “We need to find Katherine.”
Regan’s jaw dropped when she heard her mother’s words. Her sister ran away, but the first thought that crossed her mind was Warin. What about the duke?
*****
The night was deep when James returned from the port. The creases on his forehead showed his fatigue and anger. He had searched for his eldest daughter since the morn.
“Do you know where she is?” Margaret asked as soon as he stepped into the drawing room.
“She did sail to Paris,” James answered. “Someone saw her with Lady Patey, the youngest daughter of Lord Patey, Viscount Wright.”
“Then, you should have gone to the viscount’s home,” Margaret claimed.
“I already did. Lord Patey denied that his daughter was in Paris.”
Margaret paced around the drawing room. Regan wanted to hold her mother’s hand, but she hesitated. She just sat in the corner and her eyes followed her mother as she continued to pace around.
“What shall we do now?” Margaret asked. “What will we tell the Duke and Lady Tindale? I invited them for dinner tomorrow.”
“We tell them the truth,” James declared flatly.
“The truth? No! We cannot cancel the wedding,” Margaret almost screamed her reply. “I will not let this opportunity be lost. Find Katherine before dinner tomorrow. My daughter will be the next Duchess of Derbyshire. She will wed the duke.”
James sat on his desk and tried to reason with her, “Katherine has cancelled the wedding. She ran away because she did not want to be wed.”
Margaret shook her head. She stopped pacing and faced James. “There is too much at stake on this wedding. How about the business? Lady Tindale may appear sweet, but she is a cunning woman. She will make you pay.”
James frowned. His wife was telling the truth. Lady Tindale came from a family of merchants. They became one of the richest merchants because of her family’s shrewd way of doing business. He would not be surprised if the Lady would use this incident to acquire part of his shipping business.
“If Katherine will not marry the duke, then Regan will,” Margaret suddenly declared.
“Mother?” Regan gasped.
“That is preposterous!” James snapped. “What do you think marriage is about, Margaret? You cannot substitute Regan for Katherine.”
“And mother, have you thought about the Duke and Lady Tindale? They would never allow it,” Regan reminded her mother.
“You are not going to marry the duke,” Margaret told Regan.
Regan was puzzled by her mother’s word. She looked at her father. He, too, was confused.
“Katherine will marry him,” Margaret continued. “Regan will simply be a bride in waiting.”
“A bride in waiting?” James and Regan almost spoke in unison.
“We do not have to talk about it for now,” Margaret answered. She turned to James. “We will never talk about it if you find Katherine before dinner tomorrow.”
*****
“I hope Miss Katherine does not come back,” Madelene prayed as she assisted Regan with her dress.
Regan glared at her lady’s maid. She was preparing for the dinner with Warin and her mother. Margaret told her to be elegant that evening. She may be presented as the new bride for the duke. The idea of being a bride in waiting both excited and worried her.
When one of her father’s footmen arrived and reported that a record of Katherine sailing to Paris was found, her mother explained to her roughly her role as the bride in waiting.
A marriage license between Katherine and Warin was applied and would be posted in a few weeks. Her parents would convince Katherine to return before the posting of the license. If she returned, then Regan would not marry the duke. If she did not, Regan would have to marry Warin. Her mother promised her that she would convince Lady Tindale to accept her as the new bride. Margaret would make it seem like she had eloped with the duke.
Regan convinced her mother that Warin would never agree to her plan. But Margaret disagreed. She believed that she could convince the former duchess, and the duke always followed his mother’s decisions.
Regan frowned. Her mother was more interested in having her daughter becoming a duchess, than being happy.
“I wish Katherine would,” Regan countered Madelene.
“Why? Miss Regan, this is your chance,” Madelene reminded her. “You have a chance to marry Warin, the man with whom you have been secretly in love with for years.”
“But, he is not in love with me. You know how he adores Katherine.”
“He sent you blueberry twigs because you like them,” Madelene said. “That shows he is interested in you.”
Regan laughed softly. “Maddie, if a man likes a woman, he sends her flowers or gifts. Not blueberry twigs.” She shook her head and changed the topic by adding, “You should hurry if you want to go home early.”
Madelene smiled wryly at Regan.
Regan wanted Katherine to return so that she would not have her hopes raised up of becoming Warin’s real bride. She was already in love with the duke. She could fall for him even more if she became his real bride. Yet, if the real bride-to-be returned, she would hurt even more.
Chapter Six
Lady Tindale almost tipped her teacup when Margaret told them that Katherine had run away. She had made up some stories about why Katherine ran away. She made it appear that Katherine thought she did not deserve the duke.
Regan and her father just looked at each other. They were both disappointed about Margaret’s desperation. Regan looked at Lady Tindale whose face was red with anger. She looked at Warin, who sat next to his mother. The corners of his lips twitched down, but he looked indifferent.
Then, Margaret presented her plan. Lady Tindale stood in shock. Warin’s eyebrows curved angrily upon hearing the absurd plan.
Regan wanted to look at Warin, but instead, she kept her head down. She was afraid to see the duke’s reaction.
“And why would we agree to that?” Lady Tindale was angry, but her voice was calm. “That would place our family in disgrace.”
“You will be placed in disgrace if people discover that my daughter left your son,” Margaret defended her plan. “All those ladies in your circle will look down on you. Lady Tindale, eloping with another bride is better than being left by one.”
“But, the disgrace,” Lady Tindale murmured.
James stood. He drank his whisky and said, “You do not have to agree to the plan, Your Grace. I will understand your decision. I will also be willing to pay for the damages.”
“James!” Margaret snapped quietly. She quickly turned to the duke and said, “Your Grace, Lady Tindale, please. This is not the real plan. We are still trying to convince Katherine to return home. Regan will only be the duke’s bride in waiting.”
The duke let go a haughty laugh. Regan looked at him. Warin’s sharp eyes showed his disappointment. The smiling duke she talked to during the betrothal ball was different from the one looking at her.
Warin could not believe the audacity of the Knowles. He heard rumors that the Knowles were trying to earn nobility. He was aware that his engagement to Katherine was partly because of his title. But a bride in waiting? He looked at Regan. The young woman he thought to be simple and genuine was just as ambitious as her mother. Who would agree to be a bride in waiting for her sister?
Still, he could not deny that Madam Knowles had a point. Eloping with another bride sounded manlier than being left by one. He looked at Regan again. He now despised her. At least, Katherine was obvious with her intention, unlike her vile sister. She pretended to nice and genuine when she was nothing but a leech.
“I shall agree to the plan on one condition,” Warin started. He looked at Regan with a roguish smile. “If Katherine returns at the time when Ms. Regan has become my bride in waiting,” he laughed haughtily before continuing, “then I get to keep her as my mistress.”
Everyone in the room gasped at his condition, but he was only focused on Regan’s reaction. The young woman’s brown eyes protruded like an owl. Her face reddened like it was rubbed with hot spices from India. Her lips parted and ... They were beautiful, he suddenly thought.
James slammed his glass on the surface near him. Warin turned his eyes to the patriarch. Since he was young, he had never liked James. He knew him as an astute merchant, who used his connection with the nobles to become richer. On this night, the Knowles had proven Warin right.
“Your Grace,” Regan murmured before she turned her eyes away from his.
“We cannot allow that, Your Grace,” Margaret’s face was paler than normal.
“Warin,” his mother whispered. “What are you doing?”
Warin stood and straightened his tailcoat. He glanced at Regan before he faced the older Knowles.
“That is my condition,” Warin insisted. He looked straight at James and added, “I know my mother had signed a trust with you. But, the law bestowed me the right to be the custodian of her estate. And, I will not overlook your ambitious exploits.”
“Your Grace,” Margaret’s voice trembled. The confident matriarch was cowered by the duke’s challenge.
He looked at Regan again. The young woman’s face was still red, but it was not because she was ashamed. Her eyes widened, not because she was shocked. Her humiliated reaction had turned into an angry one. And, she looked even more beautiful. Her beauty made the duke smile heartily once more.
*****
“I hate him!” Regan yelled as soon as she entered her chambers.
She lay on her bed and buried her face into the cushions. She yelled her rage at Warin. After she grew tired, her tears silently flowed down her cheeks. Her shoulders shuddered as her yells turned into cries. His mistress? She cried louder.
Madelene knocked and then entered Regan’s chambers.
“What happened, Miss Regan?” Madelene asked.
“This is all because of you!” Regan yelled at her lady’s maid. Madelene was shocked. Regan took a deep breath and rose from the bed. “Why did I believe you when you said that the duke is interested in me? He does not care for me! Not a bit.”
Madelene gave her a soft cloth to wipe her face.
“A mistress, not a bride, but a mistress,” she said sobbing. “That is what he wanted me to be. The man I adored all these years is a chauvinist simpleton.”
She remembered Warin’s warning to her father. She growled. He was not a simpleton. He was a cunning person. Father was right about him. He was a man who only sought beauty and nothing of love.
She ran to her closet and started taking out her clothes.
“Miss Regan, what are you doing?”
“Help me pack, Maddie,” she ordered. “I am running away. I am going to Leicestershire to be away from that ...” She tried to think of a curse, but in the end, all she added was “duke”.
Instead of helping her, Madelene laughed. She glared at her maid.
“You are thinking rashly, Miss,” her maid said. “Leicestershire is just a town away from Derbyshire. Are you running away from His Grace or are you running to him?”
Regan frowned. She threw her dresses on the floor and flopped back onto her bed. Leicestershire was the only place she could go to. Her tears started to flow again.
“I do not want to be his mistress,” she sobbed.
“You will not be his mistress,” Madelene told her. “If Miss Katherine does not return, you will be his real bride.”
“But what if she returns after the license is posted? What if the duke ruins Father’s business if we do not follow his condition?”
Madelene sat next to her. Her lady’s maid had a quirky smile on her face. Regan’s eyebrows curved with curiosity.
“Miss Regan, why would you settle to be his mistress? If you make him fall in love with you, perhaps, he will make you his real bride even if Miss Katherine returns.”
Regan fell silent. Her lady’s maid’s simple perception was lovely, but it would never happen. Unless Katherine canceled the engagement, Warin would not dare to withdraw from it. He and his mother valued the ton’s opinion a lot. She frowned. Love? Does Warin even know it?
*****
Regan closed the book she was reading when she heard her father’s coach arrive. Two weeks had passed since their dinner with the Duke of Derbyshire and his mother. Within those weeks, Warin showed them what he could do. He pulled out his investment in her father’s new shipping lines. Some aristocrats also withdrew their monies, too. The Knowles could no longer cancel the engagement. If they did, their business would suffer. That duke!, Regan thought angrily.
She looked out of the window to see if Katherine had come home, but her sister was not in the carriage. James walked towards the front door with his weary shoulders. Regan felt pity towards her father.
“Mr. Knowles, Mr. Knowles!” Leroy, one of the footmen, called from the gates.
Regan’s heartbeat had gone rau
cous. A strange energy ran through her body and raised her temperature. She held tightly on to the window pane to keep her balance. Leroy was the footman assigned to check if the license had been posted.
Regan watched as Leroy talked to her father. When her father’s shoulders fell, she knew her fate. Despite her father’s bold attempt to bribe the license registrar, they still issued the license. Only the betrothed could nullify it and neither Warin nor Katherine petitioned for its nullity.
Half of her, though she tried to counter, was excited. She had become Warin’s bride in waiting. She may just marry him for real. But, half of her feared that Katherine would return before the wedding and she would be left with shattered dreams and a broken heart. Worse, she may become the duke’s mistress.
“Regan,” Margaret called. “The license has been posted.”
Regan smiled softly. “I know.”
“You have to convince your father to accept the condition,” Margaret pleaded. “Your father is no longer a young man. He may not be able to revive his business if the duke ruins it.”
Regan bit her lower lip. She thought of accepting the condition. Madelene was right. If Katherine did not return, she would be married to the man she adored. If her sister returned, she could always run away. Warin may have tried to ruin her father’s business, but as the son-in-law, he was bound to support them. Her parents would still live a comfortable life. She had nothing to worry about.
“Yes, mother,” Regan uttered. “I will accept the duke’s condition.”
And as she spoke her words, she also prayed that Katherine did not return.
Chapter Seven
Warin’s coach stopped in front of the Knowles’ residence. He shook his head with disgust.
The Knowles stopped searching for Katherine after the license was posted. They did not wish for her to return. He knew that they would see the hole on his condition. Since Regan had become his bride in waiting, the Knowles’ decided to make her his bride for real. She would not become his mistress.
They still get their connection, he angrily thought. Whether it would be Regan or Katherine, his bride would be the next duchess of Derbyshire. The Knowles would still have a noble in their family.
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