Bride By Mistake by Anne Gracíe

collect this defective package that no other gentleman would want.
    Grateful that she had no choice in the matter, that she must go with a man who clearly did not want her but was prepared to regard her with
forbearance
.
    Foolish Isabella Ripton, dreaming of love when her lot was to be forbearance.
    She twisted the handkerchief, tightening it around her fingers until it hurt. She would be just as trapped in an unwanted marriage as she had been by convent walls.
    “Isabella? Do you understand what I am telling you?”
    Bella nodded, as if reconciled, but her aunt wasn’t deceived. “It is a good marriage,” she insisted. “Lord Ripton is not of your father’s rank, but he is a titled gentleman, a good man of good family, and his war service was very distinguished.”
    “How do you know about his war service?”
    She snorted. “Did you imagine that I would make no inquiries about the man who married my niece?” She stood.“For heaven’s sake, Isabella, stop looking so tragic. You will live a rich and privileged life with a kind and handsome gentleman. You will go to elegant London parties and wear wonderful clothes. No other girl here has half as much to look forward to—and any one of them would take your place in an instant if she had the chance. Now pull yourself together. Lord Ripton is waiting to speak with you.”
    “
Now?
” Isabella’s hands flew to her hair. She must make a terrible sight.
    But nuns had no patience with vanity. “Yes, now. You’ve kept him waiting long enough.”
    L uke paced back and forth in the cloisters. He was considerably dismayed by Isabella’s reaction. It was clear to him that she’d cherished… expectations of him.
Romantic
expectations.
    Women often did that—took one look at his face and imagined he was someone else entirely, some blasted Byronic hero, to be sighed and swooned over. Spin fantasies about.
    He was no fit subject for any young girl’s fantasy.
    He recalled the way her face had crumpled when she’d realized he’d tried to have the marriage annulled. He swore silently. A girl who’d lost both parents in a war, who’d fled her home in fear of a forced marriage to a despised cousin, who was brutally attacked on the road, and who was desperate enough to agree to a sham marriage to a stranger—how could such a girl cherish any kind of fairy-tale expectations, let alone eight years after the event?
    Judging by her reaction, it seemed this one did. And Luke was going to have to deal with it.
    It would be cruel to encourage any expectations she might have. The sooner she realized that this marriage would be a practical arrangement, the better. It might not have been what either of them planned, but with the right attitude they could make the best of the situation and forge a marriage of… of contentment.
    With all that she’d experienced, she must surely realize—deep down—that it was better this way. That fantasies and romantic dreams were dangerous delusions, a trap for the unwary.
    Life was grim, and looks could—and did—deceive. Bad things happened, even to people who didn’t deserve it. Especially to people who didn’t deserve it. She must know that.
    And if she didn’t, Luke would set her straight. Because life wasn’t a fairy tale.
    “Lord Ripton?”
    Luke turned. “Reverend Mother?”
    “Isabella is ready to talk to you now.”
    H e found her sitting on a stone bench in a small courtyard.
    “I’m sorry you were upset,” he told her. “I didn’t realize you hadn’t understood about the annulment. It wasn’t a secret.”
    “I know,” Isabella said in a small, stifled voice. Her face was turned away.
    “It was no reflection on you.”
    “I know. Reverend Mother explained it to me.”
    Luke nodded. He felt awkward, because she was obviously still distressed, but he was determined to say his piece. “But just because it hasn’t ended up the way we planned it doesn’t mean it won’t work out well in the end. As long as we know