Her relief at finally having arrived at that conclusion was, however, very short-lived. Refusing Killin was one thing. Accepting Sebastian was quite another. The ever-present band of pain tightened around her head. She loved him. He loved her. It ought to be a straightforward decision, but it was not. A world well lost to love was a seductive vision, but Sebastian wasn’t the one who was going to have to bear the burden. That would be borne by her and her alone, and it would be a formidable undertaking. His life wouldn’t change much at all, but hers would change irrevocably. Louise’s letter had forced her to confront what she had known from the first. If she chose Sebastian, the price would be complete estrangement from everyone else, all her family and every one of her friends. His world would become hers. She would be leaving her old life behind forever. Her family would never utter her name, save in a scandalised whisper. She’d have to read about Montagu marriages and births and even deaths in the press. Her exile in Dalkeith had given her a taste of what it would be like. Only this time, it would be a life sentence with no hope of reprieve.

She couldn’t do it. The price was simply too high. Did that mean she didn’t love him enough? Perhaps, but it made no difference. Marriage to Sebastian would be, albeit in a very different way, as impossible as marriage to Killin. This simple, clear thought had the solid feel of a fundamental truth. Margaret stared, dazed, out of the window, wondering that the view remained unchanged when she felt as if the world had shifted on its axis.

The church bells stopped ringing. The duke would be working in his study. Her father was the key to unlocking the tangle she had got herself into. She had to persuade him that he must reject Killin’s request for her hand in marriage. Once that that particular sword of Damocles was no longer hanging over her head, she could buy herself time to find a way to let Sebastian down gently.

She would have to stand her ground with the duke for the first time in her life. She’d have to persuade her father that she was not, once again, procrastinating, but had made a grown-up, carefully thought through decision and that she was entitled to have a say in her own future.

Could she do that? She had to, otherwise she may as well resign herself to doing his bidding. Terrified but determined, she rang the bell to summon Molly and prepared to confront the lion in his den.