Stand Up

"Will you be my wife?" The marquess stretched those words in no time, his eyes full of hope.

Riel gave him a smile. "I'd have to decline again, my lord." She too, had wasted no time. Not his, and most certainly not hers.

"Will you really not reconsider my offer?" The gentleman had asked, laced with disappointment.

She did. Several times over. In fact, the first time he popped the question, she had almost worn the ring herself. A prominent member of the nobility had asked her to wed him, how could she refuse?

An advantageous marriage, gaining everything a lady would want to. And he was handsome too.

But she'd lose herself. Her own self, that she had never begun to discover.