My Fair Duchess (A Once Upon A Rogue Novel Book 1) (35 page)

Amelia hurried through the terrace door toward the foyer, determined to dispatch Lord Edington kindly but quickly and return to Colin. By the look on the daft man’s face when she had left him, he did not yet understand that she loved him with all her heart. As she rounded the corner into the foyer, she stopped in her tracks with a gasp. Great hairy willow herb filled the room so completely it was as if the flower had become part of the wallpaper and the fragrant scent one with the air. Rushing to the foyer table where she saw a card, she plucked it up and opened it.

I hope to always give you your favorite things.

Colin

Her heart nearly wrenched out of her chest at the sweet gesture.

She found Lord Edington in the parlor, and after listening to his proposal with as much patience as she could muster, she very gently told him she did not think they would suit. Once she saw him out, she rushed back toward the terrace and down the steps to go finish what she and Colin had started. As her shoe touched the grass, a voice called out behind her, “Lady Amelia!”

Botheration! Amelia paused in her rushed flight while gritting her teeth. She had hoped to slip away without her lady’s maid accompanying her, but either Lucy had taken it into her own head to do so, or the maid had told Lady Langley that Colin was here and his aunt had insisted Lucy accompanied Amelia out to the maze. She did not care one bit for propriety or her reputation at this moment, all she cared about was returning to Colin.
Alone
.

 Amelia planted her hands on her hips. “Did Lady Langley send you to me?”

“Yes, my lady. She―”

A burst of annoyance lit through Amelia like a spark taking to flame. “I am perfectly safe speaking with the duke in the maze without your chaperoning me.”

Lucy gave Amelia the oddest look and lifted her hand to point behind her toward the house. “But the duke is in the parlor, my lady. I only came to tell you so.”

Now Amelia was confused. She studied the maze in the distance. Colin must have gone inside as she was speaking to Lord Edington. “Oh, I see. I’ll just go in to speak with him, then.”

“You’ve no need to come to me,” a male voice cut through her whirling thoughts. “I’ve come to you.”

Twisting back around, she frowned at the sight of the Duke of Scarsdale. This was untimely indeed. He was early. “Your Grace, the Duke of Aversley is here.”

He quirked his eyebrows. “Is the plan working?”

She could not help but laugh nervously when she recalled the stormy kiss of moments before, but then the memory of Colin’s anguished confession made her frown. “I think so,” she said, darting a glance at Lucy. Unwilling to have this conversation with her maid, so obviously interested in every word they said, Amelia pointed to a bench far enough away that Lucy could observe them but not hear. “Please do wait over there, Lucy.”

The maid bobbed a quick curtsy and scrambled off to settle herself. As Amelia faced the Duke of Scarsdale he said, “So is my work here done?”

“About the work,” she murmured. “I have a feeling it would behoove me to know as much as I can about Colin’s past, and my brother was not willing to tell me what caused your and Colin’s, er, disagreement.”

“You mean the cessation of our friendship,” the duke said blandly.

“Yes.” If he didn’t care to mince words then neither would she. Directness would get her back to Colin sooner.

“I bedded his mother, and he found out.”

Amelia tried not to flinch, but really, it was impossible. For one thing, that was utterly disgusting, more so of Colin’s mother than anything, especially since the duke had to have been close to the same age as Colin, since they were school mates together. Amelia swallowed hard.

“How old were you?”

“Sixteen and damn well old enough to know better. I don’t offer you excuses because I don’t deserve to, but I was lonely. So very lonely.”

The way his voice cracked made Amelia’s heart squeeze.

“My parents had died the year before, and I hated everything about life. Frankly, I did not want to live, and you are going to find this impossible to believe, I’m sure, but neither did Aversley’s mother. I was visiting for his birthday, and one night when I could not sleep, I stumbled upon her in the gardens. She was weeping, and I knew that gut-wrenching sound came from deep loss.”

The duke didn’t say how he knew, but Amelia was sure it had to do with his parents’ deaths.

“We talked all night and the night after, and on the third night, she drank entirely too much at the big celebration. I knew she had, and when she stumbled up to bed, I went to check on her. That’s when she invited me in. She was swaying and kept calling me Alexander, her husband’s name, and then she undressed me, and I let her.”

As he made a sound of disgust in his throat, Amelia tried to picture such a young man in so much pain, and Colin’s mother, obviously wracked by her own demons.

His Grace caught her gaze. “I’m sure you can deduce what happened next. That’s all the sordid details. I’m disgusting, and I lost my best friend for what I did, and I also lost the friendship of your brother. Rightly so. Your brother has forgiven me, thankfully. I don’t expect Aversley to do so, but I wanted to help him find some happiness since I know I had a hand in helping to cause him years of pain.”

Amelia did not even realize she was crying until warm tears trickled down her cheeks.

“What’s this?” the duke said, surprise evident in his tone.

Amelia sniffed. “There is so much pain, and it’s so tragic what’s happened to you, Colin, his mother and his father.”

His Grace wiped her tears with his hand, which lingered on her cheek. “If I were a free man, and you had so obviously not already given your heart to Aversley, I’d be very crushed when you walked away from me in a moment.”

Seemingly from out of nowhere, Colin loomed behind the Duke of Scarsdale. Before Amelia could make a peep, the duke was jerked around and all Amelia saw was Colin’s fist connecting with Scarsdale’s nose. Blood instantly appeared, but he did not raise his fists to retaliate, much to Amelia’s relief. Her heart thundered as she stood there.

Colin’s burning gaze cut from her to Scarsdale.

“Don’t you ever touch her again,” Colin snarled.

“Why?” the Duke of Scarsdale growled back. “Because you love her and want to marry her or because you
have to
marry and figure she’ll do just as nicely as any other debutante?”

Amelia’s split second of worry for the Duke of Scarsdale’s safety at pushing Colin too far was swiftly replaced by confusion. What exactly did he mean by
have to
? Was he referring to Colin needing an heir? Before she could utter a question, Colin’s fist flew through the air again, and in the next instant, the men tumbled to the ground, arms flying and legs tangled. Their bodies rolled left and then right as, punches and grunts punctuated the oppressive silence.

She moved forward to try to stop them before they killed each other, but a hand clamped on her arm. Swinging around, she stared up into her brother’s grim face.

“Let me.”

He let out an ear splitting whistle that caused both men to pause momentarily in their attack and when they did, Philip swooped in and tore them apart. “Gentlemen,” he said, in a stern tone one would use with a child, “there are better ways to solve your differences.”

As the men struggled to their feet, disheveled, bloody, and panting, Amelia stepped toward Colin. She resisted the urge to wipe away the blood trickling from his nose. First things first. “What exactly did the Duke of Scarsdale mean about you having to marry? He is referring to the fact that you need a wife to beget an heir, correct?”

Colin said nothing immediately and his narrowed gaze shifted from her to her brother to Scarsdale. Why wasn’t he simply confirming what she had asked? Suddenly, her knees trembled, feeling quite rubbery, but she locked them in place and stood while her heart took to roaring in her ears.

“I don’t know exactly what Scarsdale was referring to,” Colin said quietly, “but I have to marry and not just to beget an heir.”

Her throat was terribly dry, but she forced a swallow.

“What do you mean? Please tell me you did not lie to me, even after I specifically asked you if there was anything else you should reveal to me.”

She winced at the pleading note in her voice.

When Colin stepped toward her, she stumbled backward out of his grasp. “Don’t touch me,” she whispered in a choked voice. “Tell me the truth if you even comprehend it.”

“My father’s will stipulates that if I don’t marry by my twenty-sixth birthday I will lose almost all of my money.”

The ground she stood on seemed to tilt, but yet she stayed upright. Somehow. Someway.

“You…you…you lied to me. I’m so stupid.” She blinked because it seemed the world around her was closing in and shrinking. “I thought you might be falling in love with me.”

“Amelia, I am,” he started, “I did! I do love you! I want to marry you, and it doesn’t have a thing to do with the will.”

Colin grabbed her arm, but she wrenched it away. Her stomach clenched. How she had longed to hear him say those things, and now she could not be certain if he did truly love her or if marrying was just so he could keep his money.

“Don’t you touch me. Don’t you dare.” She took a deep breath and struggled to gain control. “How am I supposed to believe you when you’ve lied to me from the very first?”

“He’s telling you the truth, Amelia,” Philip said.

She swung her gaze to her brother. “And I am to believe you?
You
, my own brother, who apparently knew this secret all along but helped him keep it a secret.”

“Don’t be mad at your brother. I’m sure he thought I told you,” Colin said.

“Actually, I suspected you hadn’t,” Philip mumbled. “But it seemed harmless enough to me that you didn’t know, Amelia.”

“Harmless?” she huffed. “You thought it harmless to not know that I was no more than a pawn for the duke to not lose his fortune?”

She balled her hands into fists, wanting so badly to box Philip and Colin’s noses, but she was sensible. Or at least she used to be. Her chest tightened unbearably as she focused on Colin. She stepped toward him, wanting him to hear clearly hear every word.

“Well, Your Grace, you will be pleased with yourself to know I have changed as you predicted just not
the way
you predicted. I will
never
marry a man with a title. You are a twisted, dishonest group who wouldn’t know true love if…if…if it slapped you in the face!”

And with that, her sensible side fled, and she smacked Colin as hard as she could before abruptly turning on her heel and marching toward the house.

Behind her, footsteps pounded, so she swung around to be met with the sight of Colin racing toward her. She held up her hand to stay him in his progress. Thank goodness he listened for once and stopped. “Do not come near me,” she said, her voice quivering. “There is not a word you can utter I will believe. I am going home, and I don’t want to ever see you again.”

Philip started to move, but she shook her head. She was so angry with her brother that she didn’t want him around, either. “Please stay here, Philip. I know I cannot order you to, but I am so angry with you that I simply wish to be alone for a bit.”

Philip nodded.

With her heart wrenching in her chest and tears blurring her vision, she hurried up the stairs to find Lady Langley and request Colin’s aunt lend her coachman and carriage to take Amelia home. Now. This instant. She had to get away. She didn’t care about leaving with any of her things. Philip could bring them back eventually. All she cared about was putting distance between herself and Colin immediately.

Colin started after Amelia once again, but someone grabbed him from behind. He swung around and glared at Harthorne while ignoring Scarsdale, who was standing there, as well. “Let go, damn it.”

“I wish I could, but you have to adhere to her wishes. Just as I do. Besides, there is nothing you could say at this moment that she is going to believe.”

“I have to try. I love her. I swear I do.” Colin jerked his arm away, but as he turned back toward the house, someone tackled him from behind and crushed him to the ground. With a roar, he tried to flip over, but a knee dug into his spine.

“Give her time, Aversley,” Scarsdale said from on top of Colin.

Colin yanked his head out of the grass, and as he did, he caught sight of his aunt’s carriage pulling away down the side drive. His pulse exploded with the surety that Amelia was fleeing from him at this very moment. He bucked up and threw Scarsdale off him. Colin sprinted toward the house and didn’t stop. He threw open the door from the garden and raced down the hall toward the front door, almost colliding with a servant as he ran. Behind him, footsteps pounded. He’d bloody kill Scarsdale if the man so much as breathed on him again.

Colin rounded the corner into the foyer and went sliding on the slick floor, almost crashing into the door, and unfortunately, colliding with the footman. By the time Colin was up again and out the front door there was nothing to see in the driveway except the dust from the carriage wheels and his aunt, who, turning to look at him, simply shook her head and brushed past. “Give her some time, Aversley,” she murmured. “Give her time. But truly, when you do go to her, please do try complete and utter honesty.”