Free The Wedding Wager by Elena Greene

room.
    “Lord Debenham is here to see you, Miss.”
    “Heavens! What is he doing here so early?” Harry exclaimed, jumping up from her chair in a panic. “What am I to do?”
    “I don’t understand, Miss. Don’t you wish to see his lordship?” asked Martha, a look of puzzlement on her normally placid face.
    “Yes, of course, but I can’t—not yet!” she replied, trying to collect her thoughts. “Go tell him to wait. And bring me some hot water. No, there’s no time for that! Bring me one of Aunt Claudia’s caps.”
    “One of your aunt’s caps? But you don’t wear caps, Miss,” said Martha, her look of confusion deepening.
    “I do now. Hurry, please!”
    Martha returned from Aunt Claudia’s room with a lace-trimmed cap. Then Harry realized she couldn’t exchange her bonnet for the cap with Martha looking on.
    “Martha, I am not certain I like this one,” she said. “Please fetch me another.”
    Martha looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. Harry decided it was not far from the truth, and forced herself to suppress the hysterical giggle that rose in her throat.
    Hurriedly, she removed her bonnet and put the cap on her head. She tucked her hair up into it, and tied the strings under her chin. Looking into the mirror, she blenched. She’d managed to hide her hair, but she looked dreadful, her pale face and darkly shadowed eyes framed by the fussy, heavily trimmed cap. She looked like a scrawny, overwrought chicken.
    “I can’t see him like this,” she muttered. “I can’t !”
    “Is something the matter, Miss?” said Martha, bustling in with another cap in her hand.
    “No, nothing. I have decided this cap will do, after all.”
    “Are you quite sure, Miss?” asked Martha, still eyeing Harry as she might a madwoman.
    Harry nodded. It didn’t really matter how ugly she looked. Perhaps it would convince Julian he was well rid of a bad bargain, she thought, searching for a handkerchief.
    She blew her nose, squared her shoulders and went down to the drawing room where Julian was waiting. She found him pacing the room, and felt an ache rise in her throat at the sight of him. He turned, and she saw that his face looked haggard. She wondered how long he’d stayed at the ball after she’d left. He didn’t look as if he’d slept at all. His expression seemed hungry as he gazed at her, but then it gave way to a look of concern.
    “Harry, are you well?” he asked.
    “Yes, perfectly,” she replied. “Oh, I see you are looking at my cap. I have decided that I have reached the age where I should start wearing them.”
    “You are only three and twenty!” He gave the cap another puzzled look. “I suppose you know best,” he added awkwardly.
    They sat down on the sofa where they had sat together so many evenings when he’d visited, but now a strange silence fell between them as Harry struggled to summon up the courage to make her speech.
    “There is something I have to say to you,” said Julian, just as she said the same words.
    They both laughed, in embarrassment, and Harry realized that Julian seemed no more comfortable than she.
    “You first,” he said.
    “No, you start,” she said, grateful for any delay.
    “Harry, I want to release you from our wager. I can’t hold you to it. It was a silly idea for me to ever propose to you in such a way.”
    It seemed that Julian himself had finally seen the wisdom in what she’d been saying about his plan. She should be relieved; now there was no need to ask him to release her. Instead, she felt more wretched than before.
    She struggled to find the right words to thank him, but they caught in her throat.
    “Please let me finish,” he said, and took her hands in his. “I still wish to marry you, more than anything I’ve ever wanted.”
    “You don’t have to say that,” she replied, trying to look cheerful. “I know everyone thinks we are engaged, but I can cry off, and no one will blame you.”
    “I don’t care what everyone thinks,”