CHAPTER NINE"My real name is Rona Trafford. The man who burst in here is my father, and he's trying to force me to marry Lord Robert Horton. I'll die first."
Rona was sitting with the Earl in the library of the Thierre house. The evening was over and their hosts had kindly left them alone.
"I've met Lord Robert," the Earl mused. "Cannington's son. I've never liked him, or his father, come to that. From what I hear he needs an heiress."
"Exactly," said Rona bitterly. "Lord Robert wants me only for my father's money, but he's been making love to a friend of mine. Insofar as he has a heart at all, it belongs to her. But he abandoned her, so that he could court me."
"When I found out the truth, I was determined to do anything to get away. Then I saw your advertisement in the newspaper. For
