His other eyebrow flew up at that, but Suzette didn’t notice. She was looking about, and spotting a bench under a tree a little further into the garden, caught his hand and dragged him that way, saying, “Come, I shall explain all.”

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

“So you see, I need to marry and claim my dower so I can pay off Father’s gambling debts before they become common knowledge and we are all sunk in scandal,” Suzette finished in a rush. Truthfully, she had rushed through the entire explanation of the trouble their father had got them into as quickly as she could. Fast as she had been though, she’d included everything, even that Robert Langley’s letter had drawn their father to town to check on Christiana. Now she bit her lip and waited, watching as Daniel Woodrow considered all she’d revealed.

Suzette was desperately hoping that he wouldn’t be put off by what she’d told him, but had seen no way to avoid explaining it all to him. Besides, he had a right to know, she supposed. Still, she’d rather not have had to tell him. Daniel was the first man tonight who had matched the imagined suitors she’d dreamed of before the ball. Well, she supposed there was Danvers. He’d been about the same age as Daniel, but while he’d been average in looks, Daniel was . . . well, she supposed he wasn’t much more than average in the grand scheme of things, but now that he was no longer dragging her about, there was just something about him that appealed to her for some reason. Perhaps it was his lips, she thought, peering at his full lower lip below the thinner upper one and wondering what it would be like to be kissed by him.

“Why you and not your sister?” he asked. “Lisa was it?”

“Yes, Lisa,” Suzette answered and then shrugged. “I am the older of us by a year. It seems more responsible for me to take on the task this time.”

“Hmm.” He was silent for a moment and then murmured, “So Christiana married Geo—Dicky to claim her dower and pay off your father’s first round of gambling debts?”

“Well, Dicky paid them off himself, but got it back through the dower when he and Christiana married,” she said slowly.

“And that was the first time your father had ever gambled in his life?” he asked, eyes narrowing.

Suzette sighed and nodded. “Yes, he’d never bothered with things like that before then.”

“But now he’s gambled again for only the second time, and for the second time lost so much that one of his daughters—you—need to marry to claim your dower and pay off those debts again?” he asked. When Suzette nodded, he frowned and asked, “And you say Geo-Dicky took your father to the gaming hell where he lost the money this last time?”