The Unexpected Duchess(80)

Derek tried to follow her but she backed away. “Damn it, Lucy. You’re being unreasonable. Cassandra and Swift, if he lives, will understand this.”

Lucy couldn’t stop shaking her head. It was as if the entire thing were a bad dream. If she shook her head hard enough, perhaps she would wake up from it. “But who will Cass marry? She doesn’t have Julian and she won’t have you.”

“There are other men,” Derek said simply.

Lucy paced again. “But you know as well as I do that Cass needs someone to take care of her. Someone who’ll cherish her, treat her well. Julian chose you for her. That means everything to Cass.”

Derek’s chin dropped to his chest. “I can’t do it, Lucy.”

“You must,” she nearly shouted.

“I won’t,” he nearly shouted back.

Lucy’s entire body shook with grief, rage, confusion. She squeezed her hands together tightly. How could she get through to him? How could she make him understand? She lowered her voice and spoke softly. “If you make that decision, so be it. But you won’t have me.”

Derek clenched his fist and pressed it against the bridge of his nose. “Think about it yourself, Lucy. How will it be, me married to Cassandra? Having to see you regularly? It will be torturous. Or do you intend to forsake your friendship with her for the sake of her marriage?”

Lucy squeezed her eyes shut. She would not cry. She would not. “We can do it. Be friends. Pretend as if nothing ever happened. And if it’s too difficult, then yes, I’ll leave you both alone. But I won’t be a part of ruining Cass’s life and chance at happiness.”

“I’m telling you that I cannot do it. I cannot marry Cassandra and remain your friend.”

Lucy’s shoulders slumped. “So be it.”

“What does that mean?”

“We’ll never see each other again.”

Derek turned on his heel, a savage look in his eye. “Is this about Berkeley, God damn it?”

“What? No!”

A muscle ticked in Derek’s jaw. “Blast it, Lucy. Don’t do this.”

Lucy ran from the clearing. She stopped at the trellis that led outside and turned back to face him, desperately struggling to hold back her tears. She tilted her head to the sky. “It’s the only way. Derek, I refuse to see you again. Ever. Do the right thing, marry Cass.”





CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE



Derek had been back in London for exactly twenty-four hours before his brothers arrived. He’d barely had time to contemplate the mess he’d left with Lucy and Cassandra in Bath. Lucy was scared. She was scared and she was under the mistaken impression that she was doing the right thing. But by God, if Derek had an inkling that it was really because of Berkeley, he’d hunt the viscount down and—

“The Misters Hunt,” Hughes announced, snapping Derek from his thoughts. Derek glanced up to see Collin following a bedraggled Adam through the door to the study. The two men fell into a heap on the sofa.

Derek crossed over to the sideboard to pour them both stiff drinks. “You must be exhausted I’m having Hughes make up rooms for you immediately. You’ll stay with me until you’re rested.”

“We have an appointment at the War Office,” Collin said.

Derek splashed liberal amounts of brandy into two glasses. “No. You’ll wait until tomorrow. They’ll understand.”

Adam was silent. Derek turned, a glass in each hand, and ran a watchful eye over his youngest brother. The remnants of a black eye and bruising elsewhere upon his face bespoke the torment he’d no doubt endured. Their mother would be coming as soon as she heard her boys were safe. Derek could only hope Adam healed a bit more quickly so she wouldn’t have to know what he’d suffered.

Adam must have known what he was thinking because his split lip cracked into a smile and he said, “Believe me, the broken ribs are much more painful than the blow to my ego resulting from the damage to my face.”

Derek strode over to stand in front of the sofa. He handed each man a drink. Crossing his booted feet at the ankles, Derek leaned back against a solid oak table and braced his hands behind him. “Adam—”

Adam took a long swig from his glass, scrubbed a hand through his hair, dropped his head back against the sofa, and closed his eyes. “Don’t say it, Derek.”

Derek arched a brow. “I find it interesting that you know what I was about to say when I don’t.”

Collin smiled at that and took a long drink.

Adam glanced up at Derek. “You’re going to say I shouldn’t have been there. Put myself in danger. Put the mission in danger. But I—”