The Duke's Revenge (31 page)

He made love to her slowly and tenderly.
When he finally came to her, it was one long, explosive sensation
that he had never experienced before. He felt as though he had
finally found the reason to live, the reason for him to breathe,
and the very reason for him to exist. He admitted that until that
very moment, he had never actually lived his life. She was his
other half now, and for that reason alone, he would not allow
anything to happen to her ever again.

***

“
What are you telling me?”
she screamed, her eyes flaring a fiery green as she glared at him.
He did not answer her and folded his arms across his chest as
though he was tired of her useless fury.

“
Are you telling me that
she is still alive?”

He stretched out his legs on the sofa and
rested his head back in a lazy posture.

“
They said
he
found her in the
chamber you locked her in. They said he nursed her, day and night.
Seem mighty pleased, too, those servants,” he mumbled and fisted
his hands in balls at the thought of Maximilian, the
bastard.

“
It’s not supposed to be
like this!” Grace snapped.

He raised a brow at her.

She sighed and dropped to sit beside him. “I
have to get rid of her.”

Sherington turned to look at her. Though his
eyes were bright, inside he was disgusted with her. Surely, he had
never seen any woman as mad as she was, and to plan murder of her
own daughter? Unthinkable! He made no comment on that in front of
her, however, and reached his hand out to stroke her cheek instead,
gently, to calm her unpredictable anger.

“
I am sure there are ways
to deal with this,” he said, moving his fingers down to her throat.
She purred like a fat, lazy cat being pampered by its rich owner
and cocked her head back, allowing him more access. He moved his
fingers lower to her breasts.

“
Hmm, there are other
ways, I suppose,” she said with her eyes half-closed at the
wonderful feeling.

“
M’ lady!”

His hand froze as he was about to cup her
breast. He turned to look at the maid appearing from the
shadow.

“
What now, Gale?” Grace
snapped and sat up straight.

“
The duke knew that it was
us,” the maid said, her eyes shifting from Grace to
Sherington.

“
What do you mean he
knows?”

“
He knows that it is us
who beat her up and...”

“
He doesn’t know! Dominic
is a bull!” Grace snapped with her eyes narrowed. “Men are all the
same. They don’t see when a plan is laid out in front of them. They
are blind, even Liam?”

“
Aye, that is true.” Gale
nodded with her dark eyes still on Sherington who began to caress
Grace again, at the woman’s cleavage.

“
Yes, Gale, we will go to
Westwood Castle once again, and this time, we will rid ourselves of
that girl.” Grace smiled and rested her head on Sherington’s
shoulder. “Please leave now, Gale.”

Gale glared at Sherington who was now
kissing her mistress’s neck. She fisted her hands and stalked out
the room.

CHAPTER 27

It was three days later that Ivy found
herself out of bed. She had begged her husband and Mrs. Price who
believe that she was still not well enough to be wandering about
the castle in such a delicate condition. She got her way in the
end, however, by convincing them that she needed fresh air and
being stuck in the master bedroom did nothing to improve her
health. She had suggested to her husband that they should have a
breakfast picnic near the lake since it was, after all, a beautiful
sunny morning. He had reluctantly agreed and was now busying
himself with the ordering of food.

She had just finished putting on her chemise
and picking up the corset when he walked in through the door.

“
What are you
doing?”

“
Getting dress, your
grace.”

“
Back to that again, are
we?” He raised his brows and walked to her. “You are to call me
Max, is that too hard?”

“
Nay, your grace—I mean,
Max.” She blushed.

“
There, it’s not that
hard, is it?” He roughly touched her cheek with his thumb and
laughed.

Her heart sang with the joy of hearing him
laugh, and she smiled.

He nearly choked on his own breath. By God,
she was beautiful for her face was radiant when she smiled at him.
He cleared his throat and said, “Getting dress, are we?”

“
Aye, Lisa is quite busy
preparing our food for the picnic. She told me to wait until she
returned, but I’d rather get dress myself. I don’t want to feel
useless.”

“
Hmm.” He picked up the
white muslin dress lying on the bed. When he turned, he saw her
putting on the corset. “Madam, what do you think you are
doing?”

“
Getting dress,” she said
as she pulled the strings about her body and tried to tie
them.

“
You will not wear that
horrendous thing. Take it off immediately.” He tugged the strings
from her hand and tossed it aside as though they were useless
things.

“
But ‘tis what all the
women wear,” she protested.

“
I do not care. You are
beautiful as you are without that thing on. Now take it off. You’ll
suffocate yourself and the baby. How can you breathe in that? You
are pregnant, wife, take it off.”

Without further ado he took her corset off,
threw it away, and helped her put on her dress.

Once she was dressed she shyly said, “Thank
you, your grace--I mean, Max.”

“
Good girl.” He kissed her
forehead. “Now come along, you need breakfast. You are eating for
two now, no skipping meals and no eating like a sparrow.” He
laughed as they walked to the door.

They arrived at the ground floor’s corridor,
and Mrs. Price and Lisa was there with their picnic basket.

“
Here, your grace,” Lisa
said, handing over the full basket.

He nodded, and pulling Ivy about her waist,
he led her toward the door.

“
Oh, she looks so happy,”
Lisa said, sniffing as tears threaten to spill out her
eyes.

“
Aye, I’ve never seen her
this happy before. Let’s just hope nothing will come to spoil it,”
Mrs. Price said.

The couple chose a spot near the lake under
a willow tree where its branches hung low and touching the ground.
Max spread out the blanket and took out the food.

“
The air is nice here,”
Ivy commented and turned to look at her husband. “Max?”

“
Hmm?” He handed her two
plates and took out toasts, hot rolls, and cakes.

“
I want to clean the
nursery.”

“
The nursery?” He looked
at her with his eyebrows rose.

“
Aye, for when the baby is
born,” she said, blushing and lowering eyes.

He found her shyness amusing and
chuckled.

“
Do not laugh, Max,” she
muttered.

“
I’m sorry, my dear wife,
I shall look into it myself,” he said, and because she looked so
damn beautiful and he couldn’t helped himself, he pulled her into
his arms and kissed her soundly on the lips. When he lifted his
head up, he said, “When do you want it finished?”

“
I don’t mind. Why don’t
you have a look in the room today when you’re free?”

That sounded like a fine plan to him. He
nodded and kissed her forehead. She laughed.

“
Madam, did you know that
every time you laugh, you make my nuisance member turn his
head?”

“
Oh, Max, how could you
say that in front of me?” She frowned and turned to pick a small
piece of the roll. “Here, eat this,” she said and pushed it against
his lips.

He laughed. It was long and loud. The sound
of his happiness rumbled within his chest and it echoed in her
ears. He narrowed his eyes at her and opened his mouth. He took a
bite, and before she could move her hand away, he caught her wrist
and started to lick her fingers.

“
Max!”

He smiled with mischief, and ignoring her
cry of outrage, he moved his lip toward the inside of her wrist. He
kissed her long and gentle.

Ivy felt excitement rushing through her
stomach. She groaned and rested her head against his shoulder.

From afar within the thick bushes, a shadowy
figure glared at the two loving couple. The woman clutched her
hands into fists and vowed to get her revenge.

***

Lady Grace Westwood had disappeared, and Max
wasn’t sure where the woman had run off to. She had disserted
London according to his bow-street runner. By the time his private
man had reached the woman’s town house, she was gone. His wife’s
uncle and the servants were still there, however, and they had
begged the man to take them to the Duchess of Lynwood. Once they
had arrived at Westwood Castle, Max suddenly found himself
confronted, for the first, a real family reunion. The impact had
left him breathless and he realized, with an overwhelming emotion,
that a happy and loving family does not need to be wealthy.

He glanced up at his wife sitting across the
table from him sipping her tea. He remembered how she had been
crying and smiling at the same time when she met her uncle and
servants only yesterday.

He drank the last of his coffee and leaned
back, his eyes were still on her. She looked up to him and smiled.
“Would like more coffee?”

He shook his head and stood up. “I’m going
to see how the nursery is coming along.” He came around to her and
kissed her on her lips. “Don’t tire yourself,” he said, saw her
nodded, and left.

He climbed up to the second floor and was
just coming through the door when he heard the two maids
talking.

“
I’m so happy for her
grace,” Rena was saying as she reached up to clean the spider webs
with a damped cloth. “I knew she would get a very nice husband in
time. God doesn’t over look good people. If his grace hadn’t come
in at the right time, she might be married to that crazy old Lord
McNeil by now. He would probably make her cry every day. Oh, I’m so
glad the duke came in on time.”

“
I agree,” Tracy said,
vigorously wiping the wall cleaned of dust with her damped
cloth.

“
What color do you think
her grace will put in here?” Rena asked curiously.

“
Don’t know.”

“
You think his grace will
let her choice for herself?”

“
Don’t know.”

Max folded his arm across his chest and
leaned his weight against the door frame. The nursery, he saw, was
cleaner now. Truth be told he had never really look in this
particular room before. In fact, he had never really took
particular interest in anything in life expect to concentrate his
mind on avenging his brother’s death.

“
It would ever be so nice
if he allow her to. Her grace had never been allowed to make her
own decision before. Her ladyship won’t permit it, poor thing. I
remembered how she was whipped by that witch.” Rena sighed, dipped
the cloth into the bucket of water, and twisted the cloth
dried.

Max frowned and straightened up.

“
Aye, starved almost
weekly, too,” Tracy said, nodding her head. “I’m glad they’re
gone.”

“
What do you mean?” he
demanded.

The two maids gasped and turned to see him
at the door.

“
Oh, your grace,” Rena
began, her voice shaking, “We shouldn’t really talk. We’re sorry.
Oh here, we’ve finished cleaning,” she said, and Tracy agreed by
nodding her head vigorously. They curtsied, took their cleaning
materials, and rushed out the room.

Max frowned as he watch them hurried
away.

Had Ivy being whipped, he wondered.

He walked into the middle of the room and
examined the maids’ handy work. As a whole, the room itself was
clean of dusts and spider-webs, but there were crakes on the wall
on certain places. More work needed to be done, he thought.

He was about to leave when he saw a crake
that was far too big for his liking and moved closer to inspect it.
He kneeled down and tapped on the wall. It was loose, and as he
tapped, crumbles of thick debris fell down. He tapped harder and a
thick chunk of stone brick fell out. It landed inches from his
knees. He picked up the block of brick and peered into the dark
hole. He couldn’t see anything and moved his head back. He slipped
his hand into the hole and searched around. He touched something
hard. He put his other hand in and felt his way around the item. It
was a box. He secured it in his hands and brought it out.

It was small and covered with dusts and
spider-webs. He blew the debris away and cleaned the box with his
hands.

The item was beautifully designed with
fairies and exotic flowers. He found that it was not locked, and
curiously, he opened the lid.

Inside were various treasures that seemingly
belonged to a little girl. There was a pack of neatly bound up
papers. There was also an old, miniature portrait of a couple. He
picked it up and cleaned the dust away with his fingers.

The portrait was incased in a lavish setting
of gold and pearls. He brought it closer for a good look. His eyes
lit up when he realized that it was a portrait of Ivy’s
parents.