Deceiving the Duke of Kerrington (Ladies of Deception) (19 page)

            Noelle bit her bottom lip
and shook her head back and forth, “I—I am Noelle, I promise.”

            Before she knew what he was
about, Pierce had dropped to his knees in front of her and began rustling with
the hem of her dress. She gasped in shock, “Beg your pardon, but what do you
think you are doing?”

            “Finding out if you’re lying
to me, now hold still and we can do this the easy way or put up a fight and
we’ll do it the hard way.”

            “You wouldn’t dare harm me,
I will make sure my father hears of this and—” before she could finish
threatening him she felt her satin slipper come off with a small tug as his
head dipped down to inspect her foot.

            After a brief inspection he
glanced up at her, “Take off your stocking.”

            “This is the inside of
enough! I demand you stop this nonsense right now and escort me back home
immediately. I will not tolerate this forward and rather odious behavior any
longer,” she shrieked.

            “Take it off now or I’ll do
it for you,” he snarled threateningly.

            Noelle heard the precarious
tone of his voice and knew he would make good on his threat if she didn’t
comply. Her hands held her skirt stiffly as she snapped, “At least have the
decency to look away.” Pierce complied and as she quickly went about removing
her stocking as modestly as she could she barked, “I insist you tell me what
this is all about and make it quick before I scream so loud your butler comes
running.”

            “That would not be
advisable,” he warned without bothering to explain himself further. The minute
she had removed the stocking from her foot he reached down to inspect it more
fully. The minute he was done with his inspection he let her foot go and
returned to standing. Noelle was just about to demand an explanation when she
felt his strong hands grasp her shoulders and shove her back into the wall. She
could’ve sworn that she saw flames leaping in his obsidian eyes, eyes that had
somehow managed to grow darker with barely controlled anger.

            Pierce felt out of control
as he leaned in so that his face was at eye level with hers, “Who are you and
what have you done with Noelle?”

            “I told you that I am
Noelle…I’m not sure what this is all about.”

            “Oh aren’t you? I have a
feeling you’re hiding something and I want to know what.”

            Noelle swallowed hard,
unsure of how to respond. She knew at that precise moment that he knew she
wasn’t the girl he had spent time with the last couple of weeks, but a battle
warred inside of her on what she should tell him. She was terrified to admit
her plotting and scheming that had led her to this moment. She was terrified to
admit to the truth for fear of the ramifications.

            He watched her closely,
noting the indecision flitting across her face. She was hiding something and he
wanted answers. “I’m warning you, tell me what you know now or you’ll regret
the day you were born.”

            The only words that she
managed to squeak through her dry lips were, “How did you know?”

            “Oh, besides your sudden
change in personality and behavior?” She managed a small nod and he continued,
“The proof I needed was on your foot.”

            “My foot?” She asked
quizzically.

            “Yes your foot. The real
Noelle has an elongated heart shaped birthmark on the arch of her foot that
matches the birthmark her father, the earl, has on his forearm.”

            Noelle remembered her
father’s birthmark well, though she hadn’t had many occasions to see it over
the years since fashion dictated that his arms were usually covered in long
sleeves. She remembered walking into his study when she was a little girl and
watching him sitting at his massive desk, his shirt sleeves rolled up revealing
his arms as he wrote. She would wait until he noticed her and invited her to
come sit in his lap before crawling up and making herself comfortable while he
explained his correspondence to her. She had often commented on the heart
shaped birthmark that branded his arm, asking why she hadn’t been given her
very own heart. He would just laugh and tell her that she was lucky that she
didn’t have such imperfections marring her beautiful porcelain skin before
telling her that God had given her a fine heart all her own but he had kept it
hidden in her chest where it could be protected from the world.

            She hadn’t ever known that
Hope had a similar birthmark on her foot, but then again, she had never had
occasion to inspect the bottom of her foot and briefly wondered when the duke
would’ve had such an occasion to do so. She wasn’t sure what it was all about
or if it was all just some bizarre coincidence that Hope had a birthmark that
apparently matched her father’s, but what she did know was that somehow that
mark, or lack thereof, had given her away. Pierce knew she wasn’t the same girl
he had been keeping company with the past few weeks and he was furious for her
deception.

            Pierce softly pushed her
once more against the wall, his grip tightening tentatively on her slim
shoulders, “Please, I need the truth.”

            “Maybe it’s best if we both
sit down.”

Chapter 23

            Pierce silently congratulated
himself on his patience as he watched Noelle move to the settee, for all he
wanted to do was to shake her until she gave him the information he yearned
for. He refused to sit, instead opting to stand in front of her, his hands
clenched in tight fists at his sides.

            “My patience wears thin, I’d
recommend you spit out the truth and make it quick,” he warned.

            Noelle cleared her throat
and tried to gather her thoughts before tentatively beginning, “Your grace,
this whole misunderstanding is all my fault. You see, I am indeed Noelle
Parrish. The girl you’ve been spending time with was merely my lady’s maid, or
at least she was.”

            “Impossible!” he roared, “I
said I wanted the truth and I very well meant it.”

            “No, it is the truth. I know
it sounds preposterous but if you’d only let me explain than you might
understand. Her name is Hope Hillburn and she’s been my maid for the last
several years. This whole thing started before I ever knew about you and
the…uh, the arrangement you and my father had made.”

            “What thing?”

            “You see I met this man by
chance, an American who caught my fancy,” Noelle had to stop and wipe and a
stray tear that had escaped the corner of her eye. It was more painful than she
imagined speaking of Soren but the callous look on the duke’s face implored her
to continue, “I knew there was no way I could possibly manage to meet with him
unless I did something drastic. That’s when I noticed the odd resemblance
between Hope and myself. I begged then nearly commanded her to take my place so
I could sneak out of the house disguised as her, a mere servant, and meet with
him.”

            Pierce’s jaw was clenched
tight as Noelle watched a muscle twitch in aggravation. He finally sat down in
a nearby chair before running a hand through his thick hair. “I swear to you
that if you’re lying to me you will live to regret the day I ever met your
father and won your hand in marriage.”

            Noelle nervously gnawed on
her bottom lip as she shook her head back and forth frantically, “You have my
word that this is all true. When my father finally told me of the arrangement
he had made with you I was furious. I left that night to go tell the man, the
American,” she could still not bring herself to say his name, “what had
happened. That’s when he offered to take me away to America and make me his
wife. I knew I had to convince Hope to take my place permanently.”

            Pierce snorted, “And of
course, what servant wouldn’t jump at the chance to act as a lady and marry a
duke?” He could’ve sworn he saw red flashing behind his eyes. He felt angry and
sick all at once as he realized that he had been foolish enough to fall into
the same trap as before. It was a different woman but the same story—she had
been out to marry him for his title and his wealth. Maybe her motives had been
different than Eliza’s had but the end result was the same. When the anger
finally subsided he hung his head in his hands and stared at the ground feeling
utterly and completely defeated. It was as if his heart had stopped beating and
his reason for living had disappeared with the elusive Hope. He groaned at the
irony of her name, for at one time she had given him hope and now that he knew
the truth it was as if she had taken that hope and dashed it into a million
pieces.

            Noelle watched Pierce slump
in the chair and wished she could know what he was thinking. The silence
stretched out before them in painfully long minutes. She could hear the clock
on the mantle ticking away the seconds and she thought she just might go crazy
if she had to listen to the repetitious sound much longer. Finally she cleared
her throat and said, “If you truly believe that about Hope then you don’t know
her at all.”

            Turning dark, cold eyes on
her he spoke, “Apparently I didn’t know her at all, I didn’t even know her real
name for crying out loud. And you—you were going to let me marry a servant
while you gallivanted off to another country with some foreign man all to
satisfy some selfish desire. Did you think about anyone but yourself?”

            Noelle reared back as guilt
flooded and consumed her. She had been selfish, not realizing the extent to
which her decisions were affecting anyone else.

            “You would never have known
had I not come back.”

            “And why did you come back?
Did this illustrious American decide he’d had enough of you?”

            Though Noelle knew he had
every right to sound upset and bitter, his coldness still managed to surprise
her. She took a deep breath and tried to will down the lump of emotion clogging
her throat, “No, he died, so I had no choice but to come back. There was no
life for me without him and the only thing I knew to do was to come back to the
life I had left behind.”

            “And poor Hope was probably
devastated to have to give up the life of luxury and ease you had so generously
bestowed upon her.”

            Noelle had had enough, “Stop
that! You are talking about her as if she’s some cold-hearted, gold-digging
wretch.”

            He looked at her, one
eyebrow raised insolently, “Isn’t she, aren’t all women?”

            “No, I mean I can’t speak
for all women but I can speak for her. You’re acting as if she jumped at the
opportunity to take on the role of lady and it was actually quite the opposite.
I had to force her, almost threaten her to do me the favor. I knew I couldn’t
just leave my family with the scandal my absence would’ve created so I
convinced her to take my place. She never wanted any of it, the dresses, the
balls, you.”

            For one blessed second, the
insolence was wiped from his face so she took that for a good sign and
continued, “I thought she’d be relieved when I came back to reclaim my life. I
honestly would never have thought that something would’ve developed between the
two of you, that you could have feelings for one another.”

            “No, it’s apparent that you
don’t think much when making your decisions. I on the other hand have some
thinking to do and it would be best if you left. I’ll have my driver take you
home and in the meantime I’ll try to figure out a way out of this marriage. If
there’s one thing I do know, it’s that I will never, never marry you.”

***

            Pierce had spent the last
two days moping around his house, refusing to leave the premises and refusing
to accept any callers. He felt despondent in a way that he hadn’t felt in his
entire life. He despaired when he thought of the future and what his life would
be like without Hope. It still felt odd calling her that. Part of him was
fiercely angry at the situation, at her for her perfidy. He couldn’t help but
wonder what else was a lie between them and how much he really did know about
her.

            Whenever he thought of the
real Noelle his stomach turned sour and he wanted to hit something. He kept
trying to contrive ways out of their engagement that wouldn’t make him look the
fool. He knew that if a man were to cry off it could very well destroy the
lady’s reputation beyond repair. Why he cared about Noelle’s reputation was
beyond him, but he wanted to find a way out of the marriage with as little
scandal as possible but he knew that now that the bann’s had been read that
would be next to impossible. He entertained the idea of fleeing the continent.
He could admit to himself that this desire to flee had crept into his thoughts
a few too many times where Noelle Parrish was concerned but it was the only
plausible and somewhat satisfying answer he had come up with yet.

            He looked up from his desk
as he heard his butler enter the study. “Your grace, you’ve a visitor.”

            “I said I wasn’t seeing anyone.”

            “As you wish your grace,”
but just as his butler bowed his head and turned to leave, Elliot marched
through the door.

            “I had a feeling you’d try
to turn me away. Enough of this hiding, I haven’t seen you at White’s for
days.”

            Pierce shrugged his shoulders,
“I haven’t been feeling very social.”

            Elliot walked over and
poured himself a brandy before coming to sit in the chair across from Pierce’s
desk. He noted the shadow of stubble on his friends face and the tired look in
his eyes. His attire was unusually unkempt and his hair looked as if it hadn’t
been combed in days.

            “I’m afraid to be the bearer
of bad news, but you my friend, have seen better days.”

            “Please accept my apologies;
I hadn’t planned on entertaining today so I’m sorry if my appearance offends
you.”

            Elliot leaned forward and
placed his glass on the desk, “What’s wrong with you man? Has the magic of love
already faded between you and Noelle?”

            “She’s not my fiancée, I’m
not marrying the chit.”

            “What?! Are you serious?
Have you finally decided to take my advice and cry off?”

            “No, I mean it literally—that
woman is not the girl I was going to marry.”

            “You mean she’s not acting
like the girl you thought you were going to marry, right?”

            “No, I mean that it’s not
her.”

            Elliot eyed him quizzically,
“I think you better explain yourself.”

            Taking a deep breath, Pierce
pushed his chair back from the desk and propped his booted feet on his desk,
both hands clasped behind his head as he began to recount the story.

            When he had finally finished
explaining the tale Elliot had sprung to his feet and leaned over-animatedly
across the desk attempting to get as close to his face as was possible, “Why
the devil are you sitting here brooding when you should be out looking for the
woman you love? I can guarantee you that if I thought even for a minute that I
had a chance to find my love that I would be doing everything within my power
to search her out and bring her back.”

            Pierce lowered both feet to
the ground, shocked by the emotional outburst of his friend. He had never seen
him so incensed. “Oh like you did with Felicity?”

            Elliot’s voice turned cold
and menacing, “You know that I did everything I could to find her, I searched
everywhere.” Pierce instantly regretted asking when he saw the haunted look
that flitted through his friends icy eyes and realized that he was being
unfair. He remembered vividly the tortured weeks and months after Felicity’s
mysterious disappearance when Elliot had spent days searching out any lead he
could find that might possibly give him a clue as to where she had gone. He had
left no rock unturned in his search for her and had never been the same when he
failed to discover her whereabouts.

            “This is different,” Pierce
reasoned.

            “You’re right, it is
different. It’s different because you’re different. I wouldn’t be so foolish to
the let the best thing that had happened to me slip away without a fight. At
least I had the gumption and the conviction to search for who I loved. At least
I can feel peace knowing I did everything I could to find her.”

            “Is that what you’ve felt
all these years, peaceful?”

            “Lud no!” Elliot exclaimed,
“But imagine how much worse I would feel if I hadn’t done anything. You’re a
bigger fool than I thought if you won’t even bother putting up a fight. People
like you don’t deserve the love of a good woman. I would give up everything
that I have just to spend one more day with Felicity.” He scrutinized Pierce
one final time before turning and making his exit before his uncontrolled emotions
could embarrass him any further.