He pushed away his untouched breakfast, picked up the silver coffee pot and poured himself a cup. But driving out thoughts of Nellie Regan wasn’t going to happen if he kept replaying over and over again what it was like to take her in his arms, to kiss and caress her. Only action would still his thoughts and allow him to be free of this self-inflicted torment. He had to fill up his days with activity so he had no time to think. No time to do what he was doing right now, staring down at the thick black liquid in his coffee cup, while he ruminated on what might have been.
The door flew open and Amanda rushed into the breakfast room. She served herself from the silver terrines lined up on the sideboard, the spoons clinking loudly against the serving dishes as she filled up her plate. Smiling, she sat down opposite and began eating a hearty breakfast. ‘Good morning, Dominic,’ she trilled. ‘Isn’t it a beautiful day?’
He looked up at the floor-to-ceiling windows and out to the gardens and parklands of Lockhart Estate. The sun was indeed shining brightly in a clear blue sky. He hadn’t noticed until now.
He forced himself to smile at his sister. ‘And what do you have planned for today, Amanda?’
Her smile grew brighter. She shuffled around in her seat as if unable to contain her excitement. ‘Thomas... Lord Westcliffe is going to come by today and he’s going to want to speak to you.’
Dominic raised his eyebrows. ‘He is?’
‘Oh, Dominic,’ she cried out in joy. ‘He wants to court me. I know it’s very sudden and we’ve only just met, but he’s so wonderful. He’s funny, witty, clever, he’s just lovely. And he’s so handsome.’
Dominic’s forced smile became genuine. ‘And he’s the son of a duke.’
Amanda flicked her napkin in his direction before placing it back on her lap. ‘Oh, who cares about that. I’d want to be with him no matter who his family was.’ She bit the edge of her lip. ‘I think I’m falling in love with him. Can you fall in love with someone when you’ve only just met them?’
Dominic didn’t know the answer to that question, but he kept on smiling. ‘That’s wonderful news. Of course I would be more than happy to meet with him.’
Amanda smiled at him across the table. ‘It also means you don’t have to worry about us any more. If I do marry him, all your problems are solved as well, aren’t they?’
Dominic raised his eyebrows once again in question.
‘Well, if I marry Thomas...’ She smiled and closed her eyes briefly. ‘If I marry Lord Westcliffe, the family will be connected to an old, aristocratic family. I’ll be able to arrange for my sisters to be presented at court. And you’ll be free to marry whomever you want.’
Dominic knew his sister was trying to be kind, but things were never as simple as that. ‘A marriage to Lord Westcliffe will certainly be excellent for your sisters and the family. It is a very favourable arrangement and I am pleased for you, Amanda.’
Amanda put down her knife and fork and glared at him. ‘Dominic, if I marry Lord Westcliffe, it will be because I love him, for no other reason. I’d do it whether he was the son of a duke or a dockworker. All I’m saying is that as he is the son of a duke it makes things easier for you, because you alone in this family care about such things and I know you feel you won’t have done your duty until you’ve married us all off to aristocrats.’
‘That’s not true. I...’
Amanda picked up her napkin and waved it at him, as if shooing away his words. ‘It is true and we’re not like you, Dominic. My sisters and I have always wanted to marry for love, not social position, just like Mother and Father did.’
Dominic could hardly believe what he was hearing. How could she say she did not care that the family had become pariahs, that their mother had lost all contact with her family and friends, that everyone looked down on them? ‘Amanda, that’s a foolish, sentimental...’
She waved her napkin again. ‘Mother and Father were in love, they were happy. Mother never really cared that her family had turned their backs on her. It was a sacrifice she was prepared to make in exchange for love. And she could see what sort of marriages her sisters had made and was pleased she had escaped their fates. Her sisters might have maintained their position in society by making supposedly good marriages, but they were miserable. Mother didn’t feel sad that they wanted nothing to do with her, she felt sorry for them. And she never wanted that for us. She always told me that I should follow my heart and marry for love, nothing else.’
Dominic stared at his sister as he tried to formulate an argument to prove to her just how absurd she was being.
‘And that’s what she would have wanted for you as well, Dominic.’ She replaced her threatening napkin and reached her hand over the table towards him. ‘I think she always assumed that as a man you would have choices and would choose to marry someone you loved, so perhaps that’s why she never spoke to you about it. She would never have wanted you to sacrifice yourself to advance the family’s social status. She would have wanted you to be happy, wouldn’t she?’
‘Well, yes, but...’ It seemed Nellie Regan wasn’t the only one who was making Dominic question everything—his sister was starting to do the same.
‘You’ve been moping around for the last week and I know it’s got nothing to do with Lady Cecily breaking off the engagement.’
Dominic was not going to discuss such things with his sister, so he gave a hmmph in reply and took a sip of his coffee.
‘You’re miserable because of Nellie Regan.’
Dominic spluttered on his drink
