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“Because it takes a long time to change the way the world works. And sometimes, we need immediate action. And at the moment, I need to marry Miss Lewis.”

“Miss Lewis? The lady who lost Button?”

“Actually, she was the one who found him—”

“I don’t want Miss Lewis to be my mother!” Millie scrambled from Rhys’s lap and stomped her tiny foot. “I don’t want a mother! Why can’t we live like before?”

Rhys slid from the sofa and crouched before his daughter. “I promise you, nothing will change in this house. Nothing will change with us. She will just help us, that’s all.”

Tears slipped out of Millie’s eyes. “I don’t want anyone’s help. Why do we need help?”

Rhys’s heart squeezed at Millie’s reaction. My fault. “You’re growing up, and you need to know things… Things that I can’t teach you. And I need to take up the reins of my responsibility in Parliament.”

“Did I do something wrong? Is it because of me?” she whispered.

“No, my darling. Trust me. You are a perfect little angel. But you need education. You need to learn how to be a lady.”

“I don’t want to be a lady. Please, Papa!” Millie directed her liquid eyes toward him, and he almost relented. He could never refuse her anything.

But the situation with Miss Lewis was beyond his control. And for the first time in her entire life, he had to say no to his sweet daughter.

“I am sorry, darling girl. But it is done.”

* * *

“You are not marrying that man, and that is that!” Richard roared into Isabel’s face.

Isabel reared back, wisps of her hair moving from impact, then unhurriedly took out a handkerchief and wiped her face. “I am. He shall come to visit you on the morrow to sign the marriage contract.”

“While you were out, running around and getting compromised all over again, I made some inquiries. Do you know that man is accused of murdering his own wife?” Richard scrubbed his face and started pacing restlessly.

Isabel frowned. “Accused? By whom?”

“Rumors, Isabel. There are rumors about this man and not the flattering kind.” Richard irritably threw his hands.

“Since when do you put much stock in rumors?”

Richard halted. “Since they are about a man my sister is willing to marry!”

Isabel crossed her arms over her chest. “What do the rumors say, exactly?”

Richard waved a hand.

“No. You are not about to tell me he killed his wife and wave your hand at details.”

Richard resumed his pacing. “Does it matter? Because to me, it does not. I have enough trouble worrying about Sam. I am not about to hand you over to an abusive man.”

Isabel crossed her arms over her chest. “I am not leaving until you tell me.”

“Lord, why do you have to be so stubborn?” Richard threaded his fingers through his hair in frustration. He walked toward his side table, poured himself a drink, and downed it in one gulp.

Isabel stared at him, unblinking. He must have been truly beside himself to drink in the middle of the day, in front of Isabel no less. “Richard?”

He turned to her, his eyes wild. “Apparently, there was gossip around the ton that he mistreated his wife. After about a year of what everyone thought was a happy marriage, his wife started appearing at balls and other functions by herself. And she started telling people that he was cruel and unkind.”

“She was walking around London spreading those rumors herself, and everyone believed her?” Isabel had a hard time believing that a cruel man would just let his wife spread those vile stories about him.

“Not at first. Everyone thought she just wanted sympathy and attention—things she probably did not get from her husband. But a year later, she ran off with her lover. That was enough reason to start the rumors, but when her ship was lost at sea, the rumors took a more ominous tone. Isabel, what woman would leave her husband and face ruin if he hadn’t treated her badly?”