The Dissolute Duke(9)

The vapidity of her thoughts held her mute.

‘Frowning does not suit you as much as laughter does,’ he remarked.

‘Of late there has not been too much to be delighted by.’

‘I am sorry for that.’

‘Are you?’ Even amidst a crowd of family friends she could not leave the question unvoiced.

She saw him glance around to check the nearness of those in his vicinity before he gave a reply.

‘I lived with lies all of my childhood, Duchess, and do not wish to encourage them. If you insist on such deception then that is your prerogative, but I will never understand it.’

Both her new title and his unwarranted anger made Lucinda step back, the same scene she had remembered at the breakfast table a week ago replaying over and over in her head.

His nakedness, the red wine, the feel of his warm skin against her own. The door locked and the key hidden. No opportunity to simply leave.

‘London is a haven for gossip, Duke, and because of your actions my name has been slandered from one edge of it to the other.’

‘A reputation lost for nothing, then.’

Lucinda paled. Did he speak of her virginity in such scathing terms? She was glad her brothers were nowhere nearby to hear such an accusation.

‘For nothing?’ She could barely voice the question. ‘You are a reprobate, your Grace, of the highest order and the fate that flung us together at Alderworth will be regretted by me for the rest of my life. Bitterly.’ There was no longer any conciliation in her tone.

He had the temerity to smile. ‘Then it is a shame you did not make full use of our evening together and understand the true benefits that uninhibited sensuality can bring. Better to have enjoyed a night in my bed learning all you needed to know about the art of love and regretted it, than repenting the “nothing” you have been crucified for.’

Shocked, she turned on her heels and left him, not caring who saw her flee. He would castigate her for her poor performance in bed when she could recall none of it. Her blood rose to boiling and she hated her pronounced limp.

‘Are you feeling well, Lucinda?’ Emerald waylaid her before she had reached the door.

‘Very.’ Even to a beloved sister-in-law she couldn’t betray him entirely, a trait she did not understand at all.

‘Alderworth will be gone before the end of this week and you will never need to see him again.’

The absurdity of such a statement suddenly hit her, the first glimpse of her life after today. Was she destined then to always be alone, marriage-less and childless? Would she now linger in the corner of society with those hapless spinsters who spoke of unrequited love or of no love at all? Not ruined, but blighted by her lack of adherence to the normal conventions and suffering because of it.

The headache she had been cursed with all day bloomed with a fierce pain, blurring her vision. A migraine. She had had them badly ever since the accident.

Understanding her malady, Emerald took her hand and led her from the room, the familiar flight of stairs to her childhood bedroom welcomed. A refuge. A place to hide.

With care Emerald helped her undress and pulled down her hair till it fell about her waist, the heaviness of it causing her temples to throb harder.

‘Marriage has made everything worse, Emmie.’ The ring Alderworth had brought with him glinted on her finger and she looked down at it. A single ruby in white gold. Surprisingly tasteful. ‘Before it was only my reputation immured in the sludge, now it is my whole life as well.’

‘When your head does not ache as much and you realise you can once again participate in all the things you love doing, the world will look rosier.’

‘As a widow? As a wife? As a spinster for ever doomed to sit in the corner, waiting for a husband who is gone?’

‘You are saying that you wish he would not disappear?’ Her sister-in-law’s voice was sharp.

‘No.’ Shaking her head violently, she remembered Taylen Ellesmere’s caustic disparagement of that which had been between them. She also remembered the way it had felt when their arms had touched and he had not pulled away.

She shook away the thought with a hard anger. Her husband saw her as a woman to be pitied, a poor excuse of a girl with her puritanical take on life and her inability to embrace his darkness.

They would ruin each other. It was as simple as that. All she wanted was to be between cool and crisp linen sheets, the world dissolved into dreams and ease and far from the reality of being bride to a groom who had not said even one kind word to her across the whole awful charade of their wedding day.

The Bride of Ruin. Indeed, she was exactly that.

‘Lucinda is in bed with a headache and won’t be joining the family again this evening. To say that she is disappointed in you would be putting it mildly.’

Asher Wellingham stood before Tay, a glass of brandy in a sizeable goblet in his hand. He did not offer the chance of the same to him. Taris Wellingham leant against a window in the far end of the library. As reinforcement, Taylen supposed, the quiet stillness of the middle brother as alarming as it always was.

‘You will be allotted a chamber here, Alderworth, to allay any rumour or gossip. Then you will accompany Lucinda to the Parkinsons’ ball tomorrow evening. The Duchess and I will attend as well, to make certain that you play the part of a doting and besmitten groom.’

‘Another staged affair, then, though I cannot quite understand what you plan to do about the legal fact of our union   in the future. Marriage is usually for ever.’

‘Death negates a marriage.’ The words were said without any emotion whatsoever as amber eyes met his own.

‘You are threatening me?’

‘I am the head of a family who is trying to make sense of a senseless act of treachery.’

‘Treachery? I kissed your sister once and then bundled her into the carriage to bring her home. An accident prevented us from reaching this town house. Where is the treachery in that?’

‘I am more inclined to believe my sister’s version of the story above your own.’

‘The ravished, ruined version?’ Tay could not help his sarcasm and the Duke of Carisbrook’s brow furrowed.

‘If I hear even the slightest hint of rumours that you say differently, I will make it known you demanded money from us for the sole purpose of your own benefit. Blackmail, if you will, with no thought for your innocent bride.’

‘A fabrication that will have me drummed out of London whilst you condemn Lucinda to the life of a nun?’

‘Better a nun than the harlot you have already made her.’

‘Better than a misguided girl who invents tales to trap me?’ Tay had had enough of carefully tip-toeing around the issue and the gloves were off.

Intent darkened his adversary’s eyes. ‘You came into our lives by an accident, Alderworth, and you can depart on one just as easily.’

‘More threats?’

Turning away from Asher Wellingham, Taylen took in a breath. Let him strike like a coward and see what happened next. He had had it with headaches and warnings just as he had had it with utter lies. This was his wedding night and the only one he might damn well ever get, given these ridiculous edicts, yet here he was trading insults with his … new brother-in-law. Such a thought made him maudlin.

He could not win any concessions here tonight when tension, mistrust and fury coated every word between them. Better to wait until the morrow and have a conversation with his new bride that was long overdue.

‘I am returning to my own town house and, short of rendering me unconscious and tying me up to a bed here, you can do nothing to stop me going. I will be back tomorrow after midday in the hope that your sister will be well enough to sit down and talk sense. Make sure that she is here, Carisbrook.’

As the door closed and Alderworth’s footsteps receded into the distance, Taris rose. ‘There is a note in his voice that concerns me, Ashe.’

‘How so?’

‘He seems to genuinely believe he is the innocent party.’

‘The guilt of the damned is never simple. His is just more complicated than most.’

Taris drained his glass. ‘Emerald said that Lucy never wants to see him again.’

‘A difficult emotion, given that a marriage ceremony has just been performed and he was promised a week.’

‘We might be rid of him if we were to leave London at first light and make for somewhere he could not find us. I think both parties need some time to take stock of what has happened and see a way through this. I doubt he would make a fuss with the threat of the removal of the promised remuneration hanging over his head.’

Possibilities roared between them as the fire carved shadows across the ceiling. A clean break would make certain that Lucinda was safe and it would also calm the troubled waters until they might make something else of the conundrum. The fine strong brandy in each of their glasses after such a harrowing day made their best intentions seem more … persuasive, less highhanded.

Always they had cared for their little sister, rescuing her from this scrape and then that one, smoothing down conjecture and controlling any whispered gossip. Always, until now.

‘Have we made a mistake, do you think, insisting on this damn marriage?’ Asher’s voice was grave, copious liquor and contrasting emotions clouding certainty.

‘Too late for second thoughts.’ Taris swore even as he said it, a ripe curse that reverberated around the library. ‘We did what we could. It is far past time for Lucy to understand the repercussions of her mistakes.’