The Prodigal Daughter Read Online Free PDF

about how I conduct my business in the future?  If not, I will do what I must.”
    His hands balled into fists, but she no longer quailed under his stare. She had seen too much in recent years to be cowed by one arrogant nobleman. That fact alone gladdened her heart as some of the weight of her childhood slid from her shoulders. Jack had told her many times that she would never fear Thorne again. She had always replied that she knew he would protect her. But Jack had not allowed that to be the last word, pointing out that because Thorne was powerless to coerce her, she would find the courage to face him down the next time they met.
    And she had. Her muscles relaxed as she watched her father pace restlessly around the library under the disapproving frown of the previous marquess, whose portrait hung from the chimneypiece.
    Several minutes passed in silence.
    “You will have your allowance,” he conceded finally. “But there are conditions.”
    Amanda kept her face impassive with an effort.
    “I will provide one thousand pounds a year,” he continued. “But you must move back home. You will behave like the proper widow you should be and may choose between overseeing this house or looking for a new husband.”
    She burst into laughter. “You surpass yourself in arrogant blustering,” she said once she had regained her voice. His face resembled a thundercloud, but she was no longer intimidated. The freedom that fact brought swelled her heart. “I will never again live in this house. You have no legal authority over me, and I thank God every day for that..” She rose to leave, but a gesture stayed her.
    “Perhaps I have been too hasty.”
    She could hear the effort it cost his pride to admit even that small error. Her heart began to race.
    He continued slowly. “I repudiated all connection with you when you cast aside your breeding to elope with a common soldier. If you refuse to come home, I will continue to disown you. But it is improper for a woman to live in London alone. The offer of an allowance stands, but only if you move to a cottage in the country where no one knows you, and comport yourself as befits your station.”
    “You are being deliberately obtuse, my lord,” she stated coldly. “My station is what I choose it to be. And what I chose was to sever all connection to a family that has done nothing but denigrate me since the day I was born. Unfortunately, fate seems to have other ideas, and I am left with making a damnable decision between openly declaring a connection or secretly accepting an allowance. But I will not give up my freedom. I am not ashamed of my life and will never act as though I were. Nor will I give up teaching.”
    Thorne again paced the room. In his newly opened countenance she could read his conflict. He despised the idea of reneging on his word, yet duty demanded he assist his daughter. Playing shuttlecock between those extremes were his ingrained beliefs on the proper role of ladies.
    He finally halted next to his desk, absently fingering the letter opener as he spoke. “Aside from propriety, it is not safe for a woman to live alone in London. I cannot offer you even a shilling in support of so foolhardy a notion. Nor will I allow you to trade on the family name to make a living there. If you persist, I will make your name a byword in town until no family of any class will employ you.”
    Amanda remained motionless. That possibility had occurred to her before, but she had not believed that he would drag his own name through the mud to such an extent. She still did not.
    He continued. “If moving elsewhere smacks of cowering in shame, then live in Middleford. Show the neighborhood how low you have sunk. But don’t expect to trade on the family connections. We will have nothing to do with you, and you will not be welcomed here again.”
    She considered his words, trying to discern his real thoughts. Manipulating people was second nature to him. The demand that she hide away