Page 67 of Wedded to the Scottish Duke

She had been so small compared to their father, prostrate on the floor, curled up, afraid.

Keith hadn’t hesitated. He’d leaped across the room before his father could bring down his hand. At seventeen, he was already taller than his father and growing muscle every day. He grabbed hold of his father’s wrist. The anger was plain on his father’s face.

“Ye dare to stop me, laddie? Ye’ll pay the price for this.”

His father then tried to hit him, but he wasn’t strong enough to do the job. Keith had knocked him back instead.

“This ends. Ye will never hurt any of us again,”Keith had demanded.

It was that day that Keith had vowed never to marry a woman for love or any sort of attachment.

Elizabeth had always feared the man who was so obsessed with her, and clearly, with good reason.

I am my father’s son. What if the monster he was rises inside me? I can’t let it happen.

“What did you get up to last night, then?” Grace asked as she looped her arm through Celia’s.

The two of them were promenading through the parkland, though Celia was distracted enough that she hadn’t paid too much attention to where they were going. She was only aware of the fact that they had wandered aimlessly back and forth, past the lake and through the trees.

“Oh, nothing,” Celia lied.

“Nothing?” Grace elbowed her with a laugh. “Philip tells me that you went to the boxing warehouse. Is it true? Did you go?”

“Well… perhaps.” Celia gave a small smile. “But rest assured, I was not there that long anyway.”

“Ha! I could never be so bold as you. What gives you the confidence to do it?”

“To do what?”

“To do as you wish,” Grace said with a shrug. She steered Celia along a different path. “I would always fear what the ton would think of me if I was so bold. I’d definitely end up on the scandal sheets again…”

“I don’t care what they think of me. They already think ill of me, so I suppose I stopped trying a while ago.”

“Even so…” Grace paused. “Speaking of what they think, don’t you think people are staring at us quite strangely today?”

“Staring at us? Why would they stare?”

Celia looked around. Ahead of them on the path, a young group of women were staring at the pair of them. The moment they saw they had been caught, they looked away.

“Perhaps a little. Let’s think nothing of it.” Celia pulled Grace down another path. “Let’s talk of something else instead. How’s Diana faring with her bouts of sickness?”

“She’s doing a little better, I believe.” Grace nodded. “She’ll be welcoming that child into the world before you know it. She’s so excited to meet the little one, whether they be a boy or a girl.”

“She’ll make a wonderful mother, I don’t doubt it. She’ll be sweet and doting, all in one.” Celia smiled broadly. “She’d be wise to keep her child away from her mischievous friend.”

She offered an impish look that had Grace tapping her arm.

“Well, that depends. If your mischief is going to boxing warehouses, Aaron might be happy enough to let you take his son there. If it’s a girl, I don’t know what they’ll think.”

Celia and Grace turned onto a new path, under the cover of some trees. Far ahead of them, a bandstand was filled with violinists playing a happy tune. One of the violinists faltered, though they quickly recovered.

Celia paused when she realized the violinist had made the error because he had noticedtheirarrival.

Has something happened?

“Shall we listen to the music?” she suggested, pointing at the chairs before the bandstand.

“Yes, let’s.” Grace hurried to a seat. “Do you wish for a child of your own? Motherhood is like nothing else you know.” She smiled widely, her happiness palpable.

---