His words had been convincing and her father had been swayed, but despite his dire straits, had insisted that while he would give his blessing to the union, it was only if she was willing. Unfortunately, Christiana had been easy enough to persuade. Dicky was handsome, well off and an Earl. Any girl would be flattered to be courted by such a man. And what a courtship! He’d been the sweetest of men, calling her his little rosebud and romancing her with touching poems and declarations of undying love. It had all been rather heady to a simple girl who had spent her life quietly in the country with only her sisters and one neighbor boy for company, and in no time at all he’d swept her off her feet and gained her agreement.

Christiana grimaced at the thought of the naïve idiot she’d been, and now saw that she should have questioned his motives and insisted on more time to make her decision. But her father only had two weeks to pay off his gambling debts, and she’d foolishly believed every word Dicky had said to her.

She’d been sure he must love her and that there could be no other purpose for his rapturous courting. After all , what other reason could there be? It was not as if he knew about the outrageously huge dower that her mother’s father, Baron Sefton, had bestowed on herself and her two sisters in his will. That was a family secret.

Of course, once they’d married and his behavior had changed so dramatically Christiana had begun to suspect he’d known about the dower after all and that gaining it had been the true target of his courting. She just didn’t know how he could have learned about it.

“Father said he didn’t mean to,” Suzette said unhappily, drawing Christiana’s mind back to this new problem. “He feels horrible about what’s happened and has been scrambling to try to figure out a way to pay off his debts, but can think of nothing.”

Christiana grimaced. He’d felt horrible the last time too. “When did it happen? And how? He has not even been to London and there is nowhere near Madison for him to—”

“He has been in London this last month,” Lisa corrected quietly. “Didn’t you know?”

“No,” Christiana admitted with dismay. “Why didn’t he come to see me?”

“He did,” Suzette assured her. “In fact it was his original reason for traveling to London. He was worried because Dicky hadn’t brought you home to visit, and we weren’t getting responses to the letters we were sending.”

“I haven’t received any letters, and I have been writing faithfully every week,” Christiana said quietly, anger beginning a slow burn in her stomach. Not getting responses to her own letters had left her feeling even more lonely and depressed. Now it seemed Dicky had somehow been ensuring none of her letters went out and that she didn’t receive any in return. What else had the man been doing? She wondered grimly.