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her life forever.
    Arthur stared sternly at his sister, just as any loving brother would to a baby sister in this situation. He didn’t say anything. He knew that her feelings were justified. “Father is in the process of making a match for you.”
    Angela’s jaw gaped.
    “Or rather two matches…”
    Her jaw gaped further. “What the hell do you mean two matches?”
    Daniel winced at her language as well, but he too understood it. “What our brother means, is that father has decided that you are well old enough to be married. He’s tired of all the ‘games’ as he called it. And he’s tired of us chasing everyone away.”
    “Brother you wound me!” Arthur clutched his heart in an act of humor but no one laughed. “I prefer to say that we’re saving our dear sister from a life of misery!”
    “And us from losing her.” Richard’s voice spoke for everyone and then no one spoke at all.
    After a second Daniel took this moment to continue. “Whatever the case, he’s ready for you to find a husband. He’s picked two men that he finds suitable and if he has his way, which as we all know he normally does, you will be engaged to one of them by the end of the week.”
    Angela clenched her jaw together tightly and squeezed Mary’s shoulder to keep balanced. Mary reached up to grab her cousin’s hand, squeezing it back for reassurance.
    This time it was Richard who answered. “Joshua Duncan, his grace the Duke of Corning and the Earl of Bankston, Alexander Langdon.”
    All feeling drained from Angela’s body. “What?” Angela cried. “There have been plenty of other suitable bachelors before! I suppose Lord Bankston is not a horrible choice but the Duke of Corning? Why?”
    Arthur took a deep breath before responding, “Because as hard as it is for any of us to admit… maybe it’s just time.” He reached out and took a hold of her hands. “Angela, my Angel, it’s just time for us to all grow up.”
    Daniel reached out and tenderly took hold of her by the arms. “Are you interested in either of these men? If you had to marry one of them, which one would make you most happy?”
    Angela was close to tears now but all she really wanted to do was to find her father and give him a piece of her mind. “I prefer neither. I will marry neither.”
    “Sweetness, we have cheated the inevitable already. More than once. It is time.”
    She pushed Daniel away and then pushed her voice out. “But you are supposed to protect me…”
    Daniel looked into the eyes of his sister and softly rubbed a tear off of her left cheek. “We have done what we can but in the end it is up to father.”
    And Angela exploded.
    “You have not done what you can! You have not or this would not be happening. I tell you! I swear… I swear it! You will see me dead before I marry either of those men!”
    She wanted to run away, as far away as she could, but in the end all she could do was cry, and her men held her tightly until the sobs subsided.
    ***
    She tried to hide. It was the only thing she could think of at the time, but in the end, as she knew it would be, her attempts were in vain. Angela’s first dancing partner was Lord Bankston. She studied him with eager eyes, trying to find something special about him that might draw her in. He spoke well and seemed to have an intelligent enough mind. He wasn’t much for looks and the only real thing that could be said in his favor was that at least he wasn’t as old as the Duke. He was tall and strong but his sandy blonde hair somehow sat just slightly wrong on top of his head. She noticed at once that his clothes did the same, falling in such a way that the shape of his body just seemed wrong. Angela had the sudden vision of a little girl in her mother’s shoes trying to fit in with the rest of the world.
    Try as she might nothing about him sparked her interest but at least she was not entirely repulsed. At least she could stand his presence, and in this situation that was all she could