Free Wonderful by Cheryl Holt

slave. We’re barely acquainted, and you have no authority over me. It’s none of your business if I depart.”
    “And who does have authority? My cousin?”
    “He would think so.”
    “He’s an idiot.”
    She didn’t respond to his insult. Obviously, she’d have liked to, but what would be the point? Unless or until the betrothal was severed, she was engaged to Iggy, and the notion aggravated Aaron beyond his limit.
    “You can’t marry him,” Aaron insisted.
    “Easy for you to say.”
    “You can’t. I won’t let you.”
    “ You won’t let me?” She snorted with disgust. “Would you go? I appreciate your checking on me, but I can’t have you barging in.”
    “It’s my bloody house,” he crudely snapped. “I can behave however I wish.”
    “My betrothal is difficult enough for me. I can’t have you making it worse.”
    “How am I making it worse?”
    “You seem to want something from me, but whatever it is, I can’t give it to you.”
    Did he want something? He thought he probably did. He was so happy when he was with her, so optimistic and hopeful, as if a remarkable future could transpire between them. But he wouldn’t tell her that. Such maudlin drivel was completely foreign to his character, and he wasn’t about to provide any hint of how deeply she affected him.
    “Iggy is all wrong for you,” Aaron said.
    “So? In my experience, husbands and wives are never compatible. I expect my marriage to him will be very typical.”
    “Why would you agree to the match?”
    “Because I didn’t have any choice! Why do you suppose? It’s not as if I have a hundred friends and family members lined up with other options. Should I have refused him? Would I be better off living in a ditch?”
    “He claims you had a fine dowry. Why didn’t you use it to pick someone more suited to your personality?”
    “It wasn’t up to me. I simply did as I was told.”
    “Pardon me, but you don’t seem all that submissive. Why blithely consent?”
    She scoffed and shook her head. “We’re not all rich and lucky like you. Some of us— me in particular—are just scrambling to get by.”
    “Is that how you’ll view your marriage? As just getting by?”
    “Yes. What else is there for a woman in my position?”
    When he found her to be so magnificent, the prospect of her being abused by her spouse was extremely wrenching. He couldn’t bear to imagine her in a bad situation.
    “Let me help you,” he said.
    “How could you?”
    That was a question for the ages, wasn’t it? What assistance was he prepared to bestow?
    With his own wedding swiftly approaching, he couldn’t take her to London. Nor could he leave her at Fox Run. He and Priscilla were moving to Fox Run after the wedding was over. He could hardly arrive with Priscilla and have Miss Etherton greet them in the driveway. There would be no way to explain her presence to his wife.
    Iggy had mentioned that she’d been a schoolteacher, and Aaron didn’t know why the post had ended. She could probably return to that dreary existence, but he couldn’t picture her toiling away at such a dull endeavor. She was like a brilliant comet streaking across the sky. She ought to be in London on the stage, but he’d cut off his tongue before he’d put that idea in her mind.
    If she flitted off to London, she’d wind up like Florella, with an empty purse, loose morals, and every libertine in the city begging her for indecent favors.
    He pushed himself to his feet and marched over to her. She watched him warily, as if he was a rabid dog that might bite. And, he had to admit, he wasn’t sure himself what he might do.
    For months, he’d been raging and out of sorts. He’d traveled to Fox Run to ease his stress, to come to grips with his engagement, but since he’d met her, he was more dissatisfied than ever.
    He truly thought he’d meant to storm out, but once he was next to her, he couldn’t walk on by. He reached over and shut the door so they were