Her mother’s bottle-green eyes, the same green as Daphne’s own, narrowed. “I don’t trust you to handle things anymore. Not after you interfered with the Duke of Virginia and lost us our titles.” “You mean, when Father lost our titles?” The slap was so unexpected that at first Daphne didn’t process what had happened: that her mother had pulled back her hand and struck her across the face. Her cheek burned. Tears sprang to her eyes, not so much from the pain, but from shock. Her mother certainly was a believer in tough love, but she had never hit Daphne before.
