An Infamous Marriage Read Online Free PDF Page B

how? Surely Giles didn’t speak of it.”
    “No, he didn’t. Mrs. Purvis mentioned your maiden name, and I recognized it. A friend of mine, George Lang—we were lieutenants together in the Forty-Ninth at the time—lost most of what he’d had saved.”
    “Good God. I’m so sorry. I hope—that is to say...” She couldn’t finish the sentence, for it wasn’t as though she could do anything to help this man her father had harmed.
    Colonel Armstrong shook his head. “Don’t trouble yourself. It may have slowed his promotion to captain a little—he’s a major now—but he exchanged into the Fifty-First, so he’s on the Peninsula with Lord Wellington. Better for an officer to be fighting the French than to be rusticating in Canada, waiting for the Americans to decide whether they’ll try to invade.”
    Elizabeth wasn’t sure she agreed. At least, it seemed to her healthier for an officer to be garrisoning a border with a nation that was peaceable for now and had no Bonaparte to direct its armies should that change. But such concerns were beside the point.
    “Knowing all that,” she said. “You would still marry me?”
    “I gave my word.”
    His word meant a great deal to him. Elizabeth supposed that was a good sign. He kept his word, and he was pleasing to look upon. And, as little as she wanted to force him into this marriage, what else could she do, really? She had no money of her own and few skills to earn her bread. Even if she’d been the most accomplished musician and painter of watercolors in the world, no one would want a thief’s daughter living in their house and instructing their children as a governess. If she had any other options, she couldn’t see them.
    “Very well,” she said with a heavy heart. “We gave our words.”
    He nodded once. “It isn’t as though the benefit is all on your side, you know. Have you met my mother yet?”
    “I have.”
    “Then you know her condition. As my wife, you will be in charge of her care while I am away. While the Forty-Ninth is abroad, you’ll be on your own. When we’re in Upper Canada, it can take four months or more for even a letter to arrive from England.”
    “I understand,” she said. “I have some experience of that sort of thing. Before Giles and I—” her voice shook a little, “before we married I lived with my great-uncle. His mind was sound, but I took care of him for several years as his health failed.”
    “I’m glad to hear it. Dr. Adams said it’s impossible to know how long a woman in my mother’s condition may yet live. You may have a long watch of it. You wouldn’t credit it to look at her, but she’s just sixty-six.”
    “I don’t mind the responsibility. But is there no one else, no one who could spare you having to marry a stranger to secure her care? No brothers or sisters?”
    “I’m not marrying you to secure her care. I’m marrying you because I gave my word to my oldest friend. That you have experience nursing the aged and infirm is only a fortunate coincidence.”
    That wasn’t quite true, Elizabeth thought, or Giles wouldn’t have used it as an argument to persuade his friend to agree to so mad a scheme. “Nevertheless,” she said.
    “I have no brother or sister still living. No matter what becomes of me, you’ll be mistress of Westerby Grange. Mama was the last of the Westerbys, and I suppose I’m the last of her. Not that it’s much—more a farm than an estate.”
    “It’s more than I ever expected to have.”
    “Perhaps, but we’re nothing grand, I assure you.”
    “But I’ve already heard Westerby Grange horses are the finest in the county.” Elizabeth knew little about horses, but if the splendid gray outside was a sample, they must be. “And Giles told me something about a high-and-mighty uncle of yours.”
    Colonel Armstrong smiled. He quickly sobered, but not before Elizabeth noticed his face was even more handsome and lively when he looked happy. “That would be my Uncle