“Taylor, a real suitor doesn’t simply disappear.”

Lord knows, Taylor was aware of that.

“And people are saying you’re engaged.”

“Falsehoods, I swear it. A real engagement involves a proposal of marriage and an acceptance. It is a verbal agreement between a man and a woman. Not a father pressuring someone to take his unsightly harpy of a daughter off his hands.”

“You are neither of those things. You make me so angry when you talk about yourself like that.”

“Be angry all you want, but I need you to support me in this.”

Millie sat quietly for a moment. “I know almost nothing of the details, but from what I understand, the man is a duke. How can the earl influence someone of that rank?”

“The man stepped into a trap.” Taylor wrapped her arms around her waist, recalling the most embarrassing moment of her life. “The duke came upon us after a carriage accident and, out of sheer kindness, stopped to help. Naturally, my father thought it was the perfect time to throw me at him. I believe he tried to sweeten the deal with pair of goats.”

Millie smiled. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“I wish I were. I’m all too familiar with his methods. Influence, plead, beg, promise, lie, embellish. Stay after him like a hound on the scent of a fox. Whatever he had to do, he did over the weeks that followed…and somehow managed to succeed.”

It was only when they’d returned to Edinburgh that she’d been able to find out more information about the duke.

“Franz Aurech, the Duke of Bamberg, is financially strapped. His estates are on the verge of collapse.”

“I see.” Millie paused, her brow drawing together. “And he’s looking for a rich wife?”

“An heiress,” Taylor answered. “His Grace is looking for a woman with substantial wealth. And from what I gather, the moment he arrived and his intentions were known, he had invitations to every salon and assembly from London to Bath to Edinburgh. The social circles are still abuzz with a list of prospects.”

“But I doubt there’s any woman richer than you.”

Taylor cringed to think what exactly her father had revealed to this total stranger.

“Why would the earl want this?” Millie asked. “You and I both know that without you handling the business of the family estates, Lord Lindsay and your brother would be…well, ruined.”

It was true. They’d be lost. While Taylor was growing up, her mother had controlled the finances of the family. And when she’d grown ill, Taylor had taken over her role. She had an aptitude for it. She enjoyed the manipulation of funds and stocks, as well as the budgeting of estate revenues. Her father, who had absolutely no interest in such responsibilities, had been off somewhere serving in some ceremonial capacity during the war when her mother passed away. Since then, under Taylor’s management, the family’s fortunes had grown, and Millie was correct that the two men would squander their fortunes in no time without her.

“I imagine he expects that I’ll somehow continue to do from a distance the same thing I’ve been doing. But more important, having a duke in the family tree is a prize beyond his wildest dreams. Never mind that it settles the question of his daughter’s future,” she explained. “I believe in his own twisted way, he worries about me. My fortune is independent of his. He’s said outright that it’s only matter of time before some no-good, penniless swindler will seduce me and steal all my money.”

“He doesn’t know you very well, does he?”

Wealth brought attention. But Taylor was invulnerable to the flirtations of fine-looking men. At least, she thought she was, until she met Bamberg. That chest. That accent. “You’re correct. He doesn’t.”

“What else do you know about the duke? Other than his name and that he’s looking for a rich wife?”

“To be honest, he’s quite accomplished. He’s an explorer. A world traveler. I’ve been trying to learn what I could, aside from the gossip, and there’s actually quite a bit of information out there. Lord Bamberg is highly celebrated in academic circles. After the war, he partnered with Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied in an expedition into the jungles of Brazil. He’s even published journals on the ethnography of people living in the Amazon.”

“I’m surprised. I was half expecting you to tell me he was a ne’er-do-well, living a dissipated existence in gaming hells all over Europe.”

“Nay, that would be my brother, as you know.” She took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. She couldn’t allow her memory of her first meeting with the duke to influence her judgment. “Bamberg is well-respected as an explorer and a scholar. But his accomplishments have come at a price. I imagine his absence and neglect might be the cause of the dire situation of his estates in Bavaria.”

Millie frowned. “And that, of course, would all be remedied as soon as he finds a rich wife.”

“Apparently.”

Her friend asked for a glass of water, and Taylor brought it for her.

She still didn’t know how it was that Millie had found out about Bamberg. Her friend was not a person with any interest in or access to society natter. She doubted that any of the city gossip rags were delivered to the Abbey.

“Tell me, what is he like as a person?” Millie asked, handing back the empty glass.

“I don’t really know.”

Millie’s eyes rounded, and a smile tugged at a corner of her lips. “You mean, you haven’t spent any time in his company?”

Taylor was suddenly interested in the pattern of the rug at her feet.

“I would have thought this strong opinion of yours, this outright rejection of the man, would be based on personal observation, along with what you’ve learned. Are you telling me it’s not?”

Taylor slipped a hand into the pocket of her dress, touching his handkerchief. Foolishly, she considered it a gift. A keepsake of the man that she dreamed of at night and ran away from by day.

“We exchanged a few polite words the day of the carriage accident.”

They’d exchanged more than a few words. He was gallant, charming, handsome. He was every woman’s dream and Taylor’s ultimate fantasy. Her father’s assertion that the duke was going to call made her the happiest of women. It was only later, when she found out that he was impoverished, that Taylor realized her mistake and started running.

“Since our first meeting,” she continued, “I’ve evaded the meetings my family has engineered. When he was invited to dinner in Edinburgh, I dashed off to the Borders. When a messenger from my father arrived to tell me they were coming and to remain where I was, I bribed the man and fled to Fife to visit your sister Phoebe. And there were other occasions that I narrowly escaped. Still, the earl has managed to keep the duke on the hook. Last word was that he hasn’t given up on me.”

Millie rested her palms on her round belly and gazed critically at Taylor.

“So, you’ve avoided him. You don’t know him, but you’re dead set against him. Do you truly believe this man has nothing to offer? There’s nothing about him that interests you?”

Millie the peacemaker. Millie the organizer. Millie, who was known for her wisdom and ability to set any wrong to right and formulate remarkable suggestions, was frowning at her.

“It’s not that Bamberg has nothing to his credit.” Taylor considered how to answer. How could she convey, without sounding like an idiot, that the mere thought of the man was enough to make her insides flutter like a country lass at her first ceilidh? That this was a nobleman with unexpected compassion. A man who was not afraid to get down in the mud to help others. A man with the face and body of a god. Even now, she still felt herself growing warm deep in her belly at the recollection of their bodies pressed against each other as he helped her after the fall. “He certainly has qualities that would make him attractive to some.”

“Such as?”

This was also the Millie she knew. Line up the positive virtues. Then line up the negative traits. Then decide.

“In terms of his looks, he is striking, I’d say. Impressively tall. His voice…well, I never knew how charming an accent could sound. And we must credit him for his integrity. He’s announced publicly his financial hardship. No woman who marries Bamberg can accuse him of having an ulterior motive for the marriage. His Grace is not searching for love. He’s looking for an economic arrangement.”

Perhaps if they’d met somewhere else, without her family present. Maybe if he’d come to her rescue when she’d been traveling alone. Or if there were no coercion by her father involved. And he had no knowledge of her wealth. Maybe then, Taylor would have been receptive to…no, excited about his pursuit. She shook her head and turned her attention back to her friend.

“A union with him does seem to offer something,” Millie said quietly. “Even if it’s not a love match.”

“Your union has far more. Your marriage has it all.”

“Mine has.” She smiled, patting her belly absently.

Since marrying, Millie and Dermot had settled here in the Highlands. And Taylor knew how important this baby was to her friend. She’d survived the trauma of surgery and recovered as quickly as one could expect after having a breast removed because of cancer. This child would be proof that she could live a normal life. No one wanted that for her more than Taylor.

“The prickly relationship you have with your family should be considered, don’t you think? They constantly chastise you for everything, regardless of all you do for them. That hasn’t changed, has it?”

Millie had witnessed some of that treatment over the years, in London and in Edinburgh and at their estate in Fife. Millie’s family presented a far different picture. Taylor never knew such affection and respect could exist between siblings…and now between their respective families. And she knew the Pennington family values could all be traced directly to Lord and Lady Aytoun.

“My father and brother will never change. How is that relevant?”

“I can’t help but think that snaring this duke might be the relief you need from your family. Imagine if you never had to live with them again. Unless there are real points against the duke. Are there?”

Not to have to hear her family’s daily complaining or be mortified by their self-interest was a dream, but there was a reality about the situation that Taylor had to face.

“Bamberg is a world traveler. An adventurer. I have no interest in marrying, only to be stuck in some cold, empty castle in Bavaria—knowing no one and having nothing to do—while he traipses about the world.”

That was important, she told herself. A point her friend could understand. Millie and Dermot were here together, building a future. One was not off in the wilds while the other sat at home doing nothing.

She strode to the window and gazed out at the golden fields spreading east. Beyond the stables, a series of fish ponds descended in the direction of the River Don, and cottages and farm buildings snuggled between heather-covered knolls. She loved it here. What would life be like in the forests of Bavaria?

Also, there was Taylor’s own insecurity about how she compared with all the women who must constantly be throwing themselves at someone with his looks, his title. She would never stand for infidelity. She didn’t want the pain that was unavoidable with such a husband. She wouldn’t be made to play the fool. No, even when she’d been young and gullible enough to hope for marriage, she’d wanted it to be for love. Not for some tawdry financial arrangement. Not for some empty title. What could Bamberg possibly offer her in return for her hand in a marriage of convenience such as this?

She looked over her shoulder at Millie. “I can’t do it. I can’t marry him.”

Her friend sat in silence for a moment. “Then say no to him, Taylor. But speak to your father first. He’s the one that started all this.”

“But that’s the problem! I can’t openly defy him. I can’t tell the duke no when my father is hounding me to say yes. He’ll make my life miserable. He’ll remind me at every opportunity how I ruined a connection for him.” She wrung her hands. “The answer lies in Bamberg backing away and withdrawing his offer. I still believe if I continue to hold him off, refuse to see him, he’ll grow tired of the chase. He’ll find another heiress. Please allow me to stay here.”

A pained look creased Millie’s face, and Taylor rushed to her, wondering if the moment had come. “Shall I run for your husband? Is it time?”

Her friend shook her head. “He…he’s coming.”

“Who is coming?”

“The Duke of Bamberg.” She took Taylor’s hand, stopping her from running to the door. “Dermot received a letter from His Grace this morning. He mentioned you by name. His message said he would need to impose on our hospitality for a short visit.”