‘You really don’t think that you are going to marry her, do you? People will never accept the likes of her in society. Doors will be closed on you should you stupidly wed the likes of her,’ Mariette sneered.
‘As they will to you,’ Morgan drawled.
Mariette’s face hardened. She stared at her brother. She knew she couldn’t forbid him to marry. ‘You have the entire female population in the ballrooms at your disposal. Any of them would be more than happy to be your wife, yet you have to choose her? Why? She has no money, no connections, no title. Don’t you think you should keep your infatuation as your mistress? Everyone in the village knows she is already. What is there to lose?’
‘And who has told them that she is my mistress, Mariette?’ Morgan was furious. He stared hard at his sister. He knew. He knew exactly who had given the villagers the impression that Sissy was his mistress. ‘I don’t know what has happened to make you so self-righteous and cruel, but I am not going to tolerate it any longer. How dare you besmirch Sissy’s name? Well, make no bones about this, Mariette, if there must be a choice between you and Sissy, there is no contest. You can go to Scotland and damned well stay there. Until you conduct yourself with more decorum you will no longer be paid your allowance. You won’t need it where you are going anyway.’ He turned away only for Mariette to grab his arm.
‘Wait. Where am I going?’
‘Did you not know?’ Morgan smirked. ‘You are going to stay with Cousin Henry in Scotland. Up there, you won’t need much in the way of money, or the height of fashion seeing as there is nowhere for you to go.’
‘I am not going to Scotland,’ Mariette snapped.
‘Oh, but you will. Mother is going to escort you just in case you take it in mind to try to escape it. You are going, Mariette,’ Morgan growled.
He was spared Mariette’s tirade by Alicia, whose carriage rumbled to a stop outside. It had barely jolted to a halt before she jumped down. She raced toward the front door as if she had the Hounds from Hell nipping at her heels. Alicia barely spared him a look as she sailed into his large entrance hall to stand firmly before her daughter.
‘Have you invited another group of guests to the Dowager House?’ she demanded of Mariette without preamble.
‘Yes, she has,’ Morgan replied before Mariette could.
‘Why would you take it upon yourself to defy us? We told you expressly that you were not to entertain anybody else,’ Alicia bit out.
‘It was too late to tell them that the invitation was rescinded,’ Mariette cried.
‘Don’t you dare lie to me,’ Alicia spat. ‘Those people turning into our driveway right now only live a few miles away. There is no reason why you couldn’t have told Hargreaves to hand deliver notes telling them that something has come up and you can no longer entertain them. You have expressly gone against our instructions, haven’t you?’
‘I will deal with them,’ Morgan growled, stomping toward the door.
‘You will look a fool if you do,’ Mariette called after him. ‘Besides, it isn’t my friends who are coming up the driveway. It is your darling Sissy.’
She nodded at the familiar black carriage rumbling up the driveway and smirked contemptuously only for her view of the carriage to blocked by the dark glare of her mother. She had never seen her mother so angry before and warily stepped back, but Alicia stepped closer until they were almost nose-to-nose.
‘As far as I am concerned Morgan can cut off your allowance. You are far too spoilt and opinionated to ever grace the ballrooms of ton. Your behaviour is petulant, spiteful, and far beneath your station. I am coming with you to deliver you to Scotland and will give Cousin Henry instructions that you are not to visit people until your manners improve. He doesn’t socialise much, thankfully. We don’t want you embarrassing yourself any more than you already have, do we? Now shut up, and don’t you dare speak until you are spoken to from now on, Mariette. You are going to stay by my side, and not utter a word to Sissy or Norma, do you understand me?’
Mariette’s expression remained frozen but the anger coursing through her flooded her cheeks with vibrant colour.
Alicia saw that sneering look Mariette raked her with. Furious at the arrogance of it, Alicia didn’t hesitate to slap her across the face. The loud snap of flesh striking flesh echoed around the silence of the hallway leaving Mariette clutching her wounded cheek and staring at her mother with wide-eyed horror.
‘Dare cross me again, and I am not above throwing you out on the street myself,’ Alicia snarled. Without taking her eyes off her daughter she called in a louder voice: ‘Boris.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘Tell Hargreaves that our plans have changed. We are leaving for Scotland tonight. Tell Izzy to make sure all of Mariette’s belongings are packed and loaded onto the carriage. We are taking Stuart with us so we can keep travelling overnight and will only stop when we have to change horses. Mariette is going to be staying indefinitely at my cousin’s house and won’t be returning for the foreseeable future,’ Alicia bit out.
Stepping back, she raked her daughter with a dark look. She knew that had her husband been alive he would have fully supported the action she was taking.
‘I fear we have all indulged you far too much since your father passed away. You have become ungracious and an embarrassment to the family name. I am not going to risk you damaging everything your father and I worked for, no matter who you think you are. As soon as the guests have been either entertained or dispatched, you are to go to the Dowager House and prepared to leave it for good.’
Turning her back she went to join Morgan at the bottom of the stone steps. He was just in the process of handing Norma down from the carriage.
‘Boris,’ Alicia snapped. ‘Make sure that tea is brought to us in half an hour, please.’
Mariette descended the stone steps at the front of Morgan’s house and stared at the woman she blamed for both Alicia and Morgan turning against her. In that moment, she had never hated anybody as much as she hated Sissy Finchley. Mariette knew that had Sissy not decided to try to scheme her way into the house by seducing her brother, she would have been allowed to stay and life would have carried on as normal. Everything had been working well. She had no doubt that had Morgan not had his head turned by Sissy he would have eventually accepted Doralee, the friend she had planned Morgan would one day marry. Now, everything was being swept out from beneath her and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.
Well, I have a few hours before I go to Scotland. I have nothing to lose. What I am not going to tolerate is having th
at woman in my family.