Page 13 of Married to the Ruthless Duke

George was standing in the garden, his hair disheveled like it was caught in something, or more likely someone had run their hand through it, pulling at it. His shirt sleeves were buttoned wrongly, and he had rouge on his lips. A lady she recognized to be Miss Veronica Martins, an American heiress his mother was sponsoring, whom he had claimed to detest severally, was hiding behind him, in a disheveled state as well.

The picture before Margaret was drawing her to a very terrible conclusion, and she shook her head vigorously. Someone was screaming the word “No” repeatedly, and it was some time before she recognized that that person was her.

She could not believe that George was frolicking with Miss Martins, and of all things, he had been caught in a scandal on the day that he was supposed to make one of the happiest days of her life. She screamed till her ears started ringing and darkness crawled into the edges of her vision.

When she woke up again, she was tucked in bed, with Helen holding her hand, a compassionate look in her eyes. Apparently, she had screamed until she swooned, and she was brought back home to rest. Margaret was aware that she was supposed to be mortified, since she had made a spectacle of herself and that she was now going to be fodder for the gossip mill of the ton.

But at that moment, she felt an overwhelming sense of betrayal and heartbreak. She had trusted George with every fiber of her being, and she never would have imagined that he could betray her in so callous a manner. She had loved George since she was old enough to know what love was and insisted that there had to be some other explanation for the situation she had encountered, and try as she might, she could not shake the hope that he might be innocent and that everything that had happened the previous night was just that… a big misunderstanding.

By noon, Margaret had already dressed and had asked her maid, Jenny, to apply a little more powder to disguise the dark circles and bags under her eyes. Jenny was quite skilled with the use of cosmetics so that when she was done, there was little evidence that Margaret had spent most of the night and early morning crying.

Margaret arrived at George’s house, and she was let in to wait for him in the receiving room. After quite some time, George came down to meet her. He looked remarkably fine compared to her, and she felt like she had been turned inside out.

“George,” she greeted, rising from her seat to run to him.

“Margaret,” he answered, holding her away from him and looking everywhere else but at her.

There was a long, uncomfortable pause until Margaret decided to break the silence.

“What really happened between you and Miss Martins?” she asked in a shaky voice.

At that, George’s face turned red in embarrassment.

“Miss Martins approached me just when I was about to make our engagement public and insisted that she had something of great importance to tell me. I tried to inform her that we would have to reschedule. She burst into tears, so I took her outside, where she then proceeded to kiss me. I tried to push her away, but she held me tightly. We struggled till Mrs. Martins saw us and proceeded to alert her companions to the situation at hand.”

Turning to her, he took both her hands and looked at her with so much remorse that Margaret was in danger of forgiving him even without hearing the full story.

“You know I love you, and I would never do anything to hurt you,” he said, staring at her with pleading eyes.

She wanted to believe him at all costs

“So you were set up by Miss Martins?

“I’m afraid I was.”

“If that is the case, it can be easily resolved. Make an announcement to the ton explaining that it was a mistake.”

George shook his head in amazement at her naïveté. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. I was caught in a compromising position with Miss Martins. If I do not do the honorable thing and marry her, she will be ruined. Forever. Unable to secure a good match for herself. And I would prefer not to have that on my conscience.”

Margaret paled in horror.

“Besides,” he continued, looking away and staring at some point beyond her shoulder, “you know my family has been in dire financial straits, and Miss Martins’ fortune would definitely come in handy in solving that.”

It was at that moment that everything became clear to her. It was all too convenient that he was caught with an heiress who had the key to solving all his financial problems, and even if he was truly trapped, he was all too happy to remain in the trap.

Margaret turned on her heels and fled. Blinded by her tears, she found her way to her carriage. She spent her entire journey back to the manor in heart-wrenching tears, but by the time she had arrived at the manor, a strange numbness enveloped her and continued for the several weeks following the incident. When they attended one of the ton’s many balls, and George and Miss Martins, now Lady Wesley, were in attendance. She watched him pander to his wife’s whims, and the wall that protected her heart melted like it was never there, and she fled.

That night, she broke down again in the privacy of her bedroom because she had attached herself to a man who abandoned her, and she developed an inability to move on, even though he had crafted a satisfactory life for himself.

She would love to be able to stop her heart from hurting, but she had come to realize that when the heart loved very deeply, it was not easy to just stop. But perhaps it was time she moved on despite the pain, and her father’s scolding today had driven that home. She could not afford to allow her pain to turn her into a selfish and irresponsible person. Her sister didn’t deserve that.

* * *

“You know I don’t usually care about Father’s scolding. I… I don’t know why I am a watering pot now,” Margaret said while wiping her tears with her hands.

Helen didn’t bother asking what she was talking about, but she understood.

“Maggie dearest, nobody truly gets used to being scolded—we just ignore it. But you are human, and you cannot be strong all the time even if you want to. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for my part in this whole mess. I don’t know why Father insists on comparing you to me. You are amazing, Maggie, and I have always looked up to you, and I’m sorry if you have been made to feel less because of me,” she said, hanging her head in guilt.

---