Chapter 4 Love Forsaken

"You're determined to do this?" Dorian's voice was deceptive in its calmness. She could feel the fury emanating from him. "You will marry this man despite your feelings for me?"

"I would encourage you to accept Thornbury's offer before he finds another suitor for his daughter, Dorian. You run out of time."

"I see you have thought of everything, Aubrielle." He gave her a bitter look. "Have you any idea how I will feel knowing you marry another man?"

"Don't make this harder than it has to be!" She turned away from his condemning stare. "I won't allow us both to be ruined."

"You love me!" Dorian stared at her rigid back, wanting to shake her to make her see reason. "I won't do it!"

"Dorian, you have to marry Miss Thornbury. You won't get another offer."

"No, I will get no better offer, such as it is," Dorian fumed in resentment. "I'm to be sold as a titled stud to his fat, absurd daughter. Don't remind me of it."

Aubrielle wanted to cry at his look of despair as she turned back to face him. "I do this for us, my love."

Dorian snorted rudely. "You do this for yourself, Aubrielle. When have you ever stood up to Rafael? Not once. You allow him to sell you, and go further to entrap Evercroft in such a disgraceful way. Be warned, Evercroft hasn't earned his blackened reputation for nothing. What will you do when the man realizes he's been duped?"

Aubrielle bristled with unease. Lord Evercroft was quite ruthless by all accounts. One of the wealthiest and most eligible peers in society; he was determined to remain a bachelor. That was, until Rafael came to visit, bringing his sister in tow.

The manner in which the jaded nobleman stared at her that morning when they were discovered haunted her. His handsome features were tight with rage. Those piercing green eyes glowed with the fires of hell to be undermined by a young woman. The disturbing gleam within them promised she would pay for her part in the deception. He might have no choice but to marry her, but his demeanor was far from pleased.

"When Thornbury pays off the debts levied against the estate, you will realize this is what must happen for all of us." Aubrielle clasped her shaking hands, disturbed by the recent memory of the man she deceived.

"When Evercroft realizes what you've done, and he will, you'll wish you had never agreed to this farce." Dorian's dark eyes snapped in outrage, undermining her courage.

"He doesn't know what we've done," she whispered in a hollow tone. "Even if he suspects it, he can do nothing."

"Not a good way to start a life together, you would agree?" Dorian regarded her with distaste. "I will ask you one last time to not do this thing, Aubrielle."

Aubrielle gazed at him, tears brightening her gaze, seeing his determination to marry her despite what it would cost them all. He loved her, she knew, with a feeling of elation and despair. Even as bad as his circumstances were, he didn't care.

His shirts were sewn from whatever linen his mother could find; bed sheets, no doubt. The frock coat and breeches he wore were once his father's, worn and almost tattered, and attested to his family's reduced status. The servants couldn't be paid. They ran off months before. He and his mother scratched out a meager existence these days. Even so, he would turn down Thornbury out of his love for her.

Alaric Thornbury was a wealthy textile merchant, considered one of the richest men in Europe. He wanted a title for his only child and daughter. He and the dowager Countess of Gale were determined Dorian wed Selvina Thornbury. Dorian immediately balked. For her, she knew, and no other reason.

The girl was rumored to be quite homely, dubbed 'the eyesore' by all, as soon as she entered the marriage market. Even with the vast fortune, the man dangled over his daughter's head, it took Thornbury latching onto the St. Laurent's financial woes to find a willing suitor for her.

"I've made up my mind." She took a deep breath and ignored her aching heart. "I won't allow you to give up everything for me when the solution is available to us both."

Dorian's dark eyes filled with anguish. "You destroy both our lives."

"I save both our lives." Aubrielle refused to meet his gaze, determined he would not break down her determination.

"When Evercroft punishes you for the rest of your life, tell me then it was worth it. The man will destroy you, Aubrielle."

"The rumors of him are much exaggerated," Aubrielle countered with very little confidence. Just thinking about her intended terrified her. Garland Sloane, the Marquis of Evercroft, was just as intimidating as he was rumored to be, maybe even more so.

Dorian raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Aubrielle, the rumors of the man are far kinder. His reputation is the worst of them all! Now you've set yourself up to earn the man's spite. And for what, I ask? Some misplaced loyalty to a brother who cares nothing for you?"

"I won't allow you to give up all for me, Dorian. I do this for you as well." Aubrielle quaked inside to be reminded of the scandalous stories swirling about the marquis. Lord Evercroft was completely immoral. His illicit exploits dotted the gossip pages weekly, outlining his tendency to live his life as he saw fit. Determined not to marry, he flaunted different mistresses for every season. He was a decadent womanizer of the worst sort; the very last choice on any list for a husband. His misadventures with the fairer sex became his moniker; his lack of propriety and flaunting of convention, his creed.

"Don't use me as the excuse you need." Dorian flung her a contemptuous frown. "You will pay for what you do here, Aubrielle, mark my words."

Aubrielle stiffened at his angry, bitter predictions. He headed for the window. Her heart ached to see him swing himself back out on the tree limb without a backward glance at her. Before she shut the window, she met his wounded look with one of her own.

"You will never have cause to regret this, Dorian," she assured him tearfully, "I do this because I love you, please believe it."

"No, the regret will be all yours, Aubrielle. You speak of love and would marry another? You have already ruined us both." Dorian gave her one last look of despair before inching down the tree without another word.