The Runaway Bride. Noelle Marchand

      Chapter Six

      Lorelei gasped in shock at her father’s ridiculous statement. He couldn’t mean it. He just couldn’t. “You cannot be serious.”

      Caroline sent her a warning look. “We certainly are.”

      Sean leaned forward in his chair. “What about Mrs. Greene?”

      Her father shot a glance at his wife. “I think we may have figured out how to handle her. My plan is to try to get the woman on our side in this. We’ll thank her for bringing this to our attention, assure her of our intentions to see you two married and ask her to help.”

      “I think she’s done quite enough to help,” Lorelei scoffed, feeling her shock give way to anger at the situation. “What else could Mrs. Greene do?”

      “Amelia has been a friend of mine for ten years,” Caroline said. “I think if I appeal to her sense of decency, she’ll help us preserve your reputations by staunching any negative gossip and correcting it with our own messages. From what Richard has told me of his confrontation with her, I believe her concern is to see that the proper thing is done. If the two of you marry, that should satisfy her.”

      Sean shook his head. “Good luck with that. She doesn’t exactly love the O’Briens.”

      “I think she’ll do this favor for me.”

      “So you want him to propose in six weeks if Mrs. Greene is merciful. I suppose you expect us to fall in love in six weeks, as well.” Lorelei shook her head at the hopelessness of their predicament.

      “I expect you to try,” her father replied. “Whether you do or not should be between you and only you. I want the town to think this is a perfectly normal romance. There will be fewer questions that way.” He glanced at Sean. “Do I have your word on that?”

      “Before I agree to anything, I have a few questions of my own.” Sean shot to his feet and began to pace. “How could people think our courtship is normal when Lorelei was supposed to marry my best friend less than two weeks ago? People might think we’d been carrying on behind his back.”

      “Your dislike for each other has been rather apparent the past few years. I doubt anyone would believe that.”

      Sean crossed his arms. “Then why would they believe these silly rumors?”

      “They aren’t rumors,” Caroline answered gently. “We’re looking at the facts here. Y’all did spend days alone together in the wilderness.”

      Mr. Wilkins picked up where his wife left off. “Sean, the two of you could let all of this come to light. If you’re right and no one believes the allegation, your reputations might weather the storm. If people do believe it, you’ll still end up married because the town would see to that. The only difference is that you’d also be publicly disgraced. My wife and I would like to spare you that, but it means you’ll have to cooperate. Will you let us help you?”

      Sean met Lorelei’s gaze for a long moment. She watched his emotions battle in his eyes until defeat won out. He gave a short nod. Lorelei’s fingers bit into her palms. “You’re really agreeing to this?”

      “I don’t want this any more than you do, but it looks like there is no choice.”

      For him to be that…fatalistic about even the thought of marrying her hurt more than she’d ever admit. She shook her head. “With a proposal like that, how can I say no?”

      He sank onto the settee beside her. “I didn’t mean for it to sound that way, Lorelei. It’s just that this is so much bigger than us. It isn’t only my reputation I have to consider—any gossip that’s spread about me would reflect badly on my family, too. I can’t do that to Ellie or Kate, not when it’s my fault for letting this situation occur. I knew the moment Miss Elmira went missing that this had the potential to blow up in our faces. I’d like to control the explosion however I can.”

      She forced herself to calm her rapid breathing as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Sean was agreeing to marry her. For so many years, she’d longed for a moment like this between them—now she deplored it. It didn’t mean that he loved her. It simply meant that he was doing his duty. Logically, it was the best option. Emotionally—it just felt plain awful. At least she didn’t love him anymore. That would have sealed the hopelessness of her fate.

      A wry smile touched his lips. “You look like you’ve been assigned a fate worse than death.”

      She nodded slowly. He seemed to think so. Why shouldn’t she? “Maybe I have.”

      His jaw clenched, and he stared at her for a long minute, then stood. “I think I’d better go. Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Wilkins.”

      “You’re quite welcome.”

      “Goodbye, Lorelei.” He couldn’t even seem to make himself look at her before he turned away to search for his hat.

      Once the door closed behind him and Caroline rejoined them in the parlor, Lorelei let the silence close in thick around them. Both of her parents were waiting for her reaction. It took a few moments to gather her thoughts. “Maybe I should go to California after all. If I leave, this might all blow over.”

      “And leave Sean to deal with this alone?” her mother questioned with obvious disapproval.

      Richard sat down on the settee beside her and took her hand in both of his. “Running away is what got you into this problem in the first place. It won’t solve anything. Besides, didn’t you just tell me this morning that you wanted to prove the town wrong about you? This is your chance.”

      “No, there has to be a way out,” she muttered desperately. “We could hire a detective. We could find Miss Elmira.”

      “To prove that she left you to travel for several days alone?” Caroline shook her head sorrowfully. “Darling, there is no other way.”

      “No other way,” Lorelei breathed, then glanced at the door Sean had walked out of moments before. “He’ll hate me for sure now. If not now, then in ten or twenty years.”

      Richard frowned. “Why would he hate you?”

      “I’ve taken his every chance at happiness, just as he’s taken mine. Oh, how will we bear it?” Her parents protested, but she tuned them out with a quick shake of her head and fled to her room. Her desperate gaze flew to her large window. Opening it, a warm breeze washed over her along with the scent of the wild roses that she only bothered to tame when the mood struck her.