The door sprang open, and Milli appeared, dancing into the room with a tray of lemon cakes swaying in her hands. "No, Papa, they are the color of a mountain spring."
William's lips curled in exasperation at the outburst. "Millicent, by heaven, I have had just about enough out of you."
Milli batted her eyes. "But I have a tray of lemon cakes, Papa. Your favorite."
William's face softened. "Very well. Come in. We can always take a break for food. Ain't going anywhere, are you, Lizzie?" He chuckled as he swiped a cake off the tray. "Not as if some knight is going to break through the barriers here, eh?"
"No, Papa," Elizabeth said somberly. "No knight here."
William stuffed the cake into his mouth, wiping his lips with a napkin. "No one is going to tell me you're ugly, Lizzie. You are a very healthy female, and that's all a gentleman wants in a wife. Prime stock, you are."
"Papa, please."
William lifted his brows. "Well, you are a capital girl, Lizzie, and don't you forget it."
Milli glanced admiringly at her sister. "And your face, Lizzie, is like a whisper of heaven, with angelic cheeks of celestial rose. Your skin is as flawless as a diamond of the first water. Your hands are as soft as a lamb." She sighed dreamily. "Your knight will want to sweep you away forever."
William stuffed another bite into his mouth. "Life ain't a flight of fancy, Milli. Depend upon it. You've had too much of that Shakespeare and what not. My Lizzie has a head on her shoulders, she does. She's a practical girl, and doesn't fill her head with knights and white horses."
Milli's gray eyes flashed. "Oh, yes, she does! Why the other day she told me—"
Elizabeth interrupted her sister, placing a meaningful grip on the girl's arm. "Milli, please, not now."
"Oh, very well, but she does not want some pompous lord."
William patted his youngest daughter's head. "Yes, yes, now go on, Millicent. Your sister and I have more to discuss."
Elizabeth curled her hands by her sides. "But we have nothing to discuss, Papa. I will marry for love. I will not many some money-hungry lord. I don't care who you have in mind. I won't have it. I may have been biddable in the past, but this time I will put my foot down."
William squished the cake in his hands. "By Jove, you are going to marry a lord, Elizabeth!"
"I won't!"
"You will, even if I have to drag you to the altar myself."
"Papa!" The color drained from Elizabeth's face. Her father had never spoken to her with such anger. But she knew he meant what he said. There was no doubt about that. Without another word, she bit her lip and hurried from the room.
Milli gasped. "Oh, Papa," she said in a disgusted whisper.
William flushed to the roots of his white hair. "I ain't one to drag you, Lizzie," he shouted. "You know I ain't. Something in those lemon cakes, you know. Always bothered me."
Milli turned on him when she heard her sister sob. "She will have her knight, and I will see to it."
With a hand to her forehead, Milli fled the room, her voice dwindling to a theatrical whisper. "Oh, treason of thy very blood, murder not my heart for I have only one."
Muttering a curse, William Shelby sank into the plush velvet beneath him and pulled out the papers in his jacket pocket. Lizzie would thank him later. She thought he was misguiding her, but he was doing this for her own good. Creighton Hall would be a nice summer home; now all he had to do was nab the lord along with the property. He would make a nice husband for his Lizzie. A nice husband, indeed.
KINDLE Books
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Table of Contents
THE REJECTED SUITOR
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
THE WAGERED BRIDE
KINDLE Books
The Rejected Suitor (The Clearbrooks) Page 23