Page 2 of A Virgin for the Cruel Duke

“There is no need of insult. She will be well cared for with the wealth I have.” Stephen knew that Albert envied the Westall estate and the riches that exceeded his own and felt a little cold pleasure at the way that the old man tried and failed to hide his bitter anger over the reminder.

“So it shall be,” Albert said, a rictus of a smile on his face. “We are agreed.”

“And once the wedding is had, there will be peace between us.” This was the true prize after all, this was what Stephen was here for with his pride kept carefully at bay. They would put an end to the fighting and the killing and those of his who came in the future would not need to look over their shoulders in fear of a Barnes blade.

“You will leave mine be, I shall yours.” Albert looked across at his son, whose face was contorted in a most unbecoming scowl. “That is agreed.”

“Very well. Who is the lady?”

A smile crossed the old man’s face, twisted and mocking. “Come forwards, Elizabeth, my dear daughter.”

Stephen looked over at the ladies. He recognized the Duchess easily, and two of the younger ladies looked familiar from events he had attended amongst his duties. The woman who stood and approached her father was not one he could recall having seen before.

She was short, that was the first thing he noticed. Small enough that he was sure she would not come to his shoulder if they stood side by side. The second thing he noticed was the proud tilt of her chin as she met his gaze. And the third, the third thing that he noticed was her clothing.

While the other two young ladies wore chemises of fine cloth cunningly embroidered, this one was dressed so simply that he would never have guessed her to be a member of the familyif he had been asked. Her hair was fair, a warm golden color completely different to the rest of her family and her eyes were not the watery icy blue of her father but a warm brown.

She held his gaze steadily, a challenge in her eyes. He was the first to look away, glancing to her father.

“I had thought, Rosenburg, that you had two daughters. How is it that your bounty has been increased now to three?”

“MydearElizabeth was a gift from her dead mother,” Albert said, that same twisted smile still playing on his lips. “While she is certainly my daughter, she is not a daughter of my wife and so she is not out in society.”

The younger two Barnes daughters lifted their fans to cover what Stephen suspected were cruel smirks and the Duchess looked across at her husband, her cold beautiful face unsmiling and set.

He was being given a bastard.

It took a moment for the insult of it to sink in, to really settle in Stephen’s mind. He was asking for a family connection and instead this was what he was being offered, this insult was all he was worth. His lips thinned. “What of the lady’s sisters?”

Albert barely glanced back at his two legitimate daughters, smiling even wider. “They are spoken for, Westall.”

They were not. Stephen would never have come to the Rosenburg estate had he thought there was no Barnes daughter he could tie his fortunes to. He knew that the elder was promised to the Duke of Seymour but there were two of them.

Albert met his gaze. He could see the old man knew that he knew he was being insulted, that he was just waiting for Stephen to call the whole charade off, insult the young lady to her face and cast her aside as a marriage prospect. It was the best they could possibly expect from him, it was all he could be expected to do.

But Stephen was not a common man. He was a man with a driving purpose. Both families wanted the feud to end, Albert just as much as himself. While he was not willing to concede peace without trying for one last win over Stephen’s family by offering a bastard child, he still didn’t want his only son and heir murdered in the bloody battle between the families.

No. Stephen would not allow Albert Barnes to win. He would have Elizabeth Barnes for his wife. He would end the enmity no matter the cost.

“Leave us,” Stephen said coldly. “Clear the room so I may propose to the young lady.”

The titters and murmurs from the younger ladies stopped dead. Dudley stilled, even Albert froze in a moment of unguarded shock as they all looked at Stephen and then at Elizabeth Barnes and back again.

Stephen almost smiled.Choke on that, you devils.

It took a minute or two for the rest of the family to leave them. It was clear that none of them were eager to give in to his demand, but he was in the right of it and it was how things were done. So, slowly and reluctantly, they left and it was him and the young woman alone.

She had still to say anything.

“Won’t you sit down,” Stephen said, his tone flat and cold. Whoever and whatever she was to this family, she was to be his wife. But she was also the daughter of the man who had made it his business to try to erase the Wilkins family name from the history books.

Elizabeth kept looking at him, her eyes warm and brown and her face set so still that he wondered if she knew how to smile. “I shall not,” she said firmly in a voice as clear as a bell. “I will meet my fate head on, on my feet.”

Stephen almost fell back a whole step in surprise at her boldness. Did she not understand the importance of what they were doing? It felt as though he could not escape the piercing intensity of her gaze and it made him feel frustrated, ill at ease in his own skin. “Very well. What is it that you think of this union, Lady Elizabeth?”

“Would my thoughts have merit to a duke, Your Grace?” she asked, her hands folded so demurely at her front that one could almost imagine that she was not speaking knives. “I am but a woman, after all.”

“I have never held a woman’s thoughts at a lower merit than a man’s,” Stephen said firmly. “My sisters have my ear as much as my brother and their words have as much worth to me. I would know your mind on this matter as you are just as much involved as I.”

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