Marie is probably the first character I really had an understanding of and is the main character of my best-selling book, With Proud Humility. I think I’m always going to have a soft spot for this character and I think, out of all of my standalone works, she’s the one who most tempts me to write a sequel, just to get to visit her world again.
She’s not too dissimilar from Anya, although Marie is a little more gutsy and manipulative, when there’s something she wants. Marie is very young when her story starts and is rather naive in every area except money and the power it brings. She knows what she wants and her father has never really been able to stop her getting anything. He does also indulge her quite a bit, but she’s still not overly spoilt, probably because her two friends are significantly older than her and are used to encouraging Marie to think through her actions.
Love is an odd concept for her at the beginning of the story. She’s only really had her father around in her life as her mother died early on in Marie’s life and she’s always been aware of cruelty and hatred. Apart from her closest friends she isn’t shown any affection so when Hayes pays some attention to her it totally bowls her over and she succumbs to his portrayed interest without a second thought to it being genuine or not.
Once burnt she finds it hard to know what to do. Her pride is seriously injured but her hatred of the pirate who killed her mother is so much stronger she works with Hayes anyway. Finding he cares about her after all is something she never expects but despite that she decides to try and make her marriage to him work. She also knows well enough that she can only flaunt society’s rules so much. Having a marriage annuled is a step to far even for her.