Page 71 of Wedded to the Scottish Duke

“Do you deny you did this now?” Elizabeth squeezed his shoulder to get his full attention. “Would you run back to Scotland, deny any knowledge of Lady Celia, and leave her with her reputation so in tatters?”

Bile rose in his throat. He hastily took a huge gulp of coffee to push it back down. The mere thought of abandoning Celia now disgusted him.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Keith said calmly as he stood up from his seat. Both Elizabeth and Frances backed away from him. “I need to understand this first. How can this story possibly have broken?”

He started pacing around the breakfast table, only for both Frances and Elizabeth to follow him, their anxiety palpable.

“That’s what everyone asks when they see their names in scandal sheets. No one really knows how they get their information,” Frances hurried to explain. “It’s presumed most of the writers are ladies or gentlemen of the ton. Someone must have seen you two together.”

“When were you together?” Elizabeth asked, placing her hands on her hips.

“I never confessed to the action, Mother,” Keith reminded her, walking around the table once more.

This situation was bad enough without suggesting that he had bedded Celia already.

“I’m asking because someone must have seen you. There must have been someone at both events who could have given your names to the scandal sheets,” Elizabeth hurried to add.

“Well…” Keith ran his hands through his dark hair, deep in thought.

On that night of the opera, all of Celia’s friends had been there, as had the Dukes. Yet, he found it hard to believe any one of them would give such a story to the scandal sheets when they were working so hard to protect her.

There was Lady Dawson and Lady Alicia, but now that Keith came to think about it, there were others too. He was certain he had seen Lord Crampton in the audience, and Lady Arundellhad definitely been there, for Elizabeth had waved at her so enthusiastically from their box.

“Anyone could have seen us when we…” He paused, noting the wide-eyed, panicked look on his mother’s face. “When we talked.”

Behind Elizabeth’s back, Frances rolled her eyes and folded her arms. Clearly, she was not going to be persuaded so easily.

“What truly happened between you doesn’t matter.” Elizabeth shook her head. “What matters is what peoplethinkyou did, and right now, they believe that you and Lady Celia have crossed every line imaginable. What are you going to do, Keith?”

She stepped toward him. “In the Highlands, sometimes such scandals can be brushed away, forgotten very easily. I’ve seen such things, but here in London, it’s entirely different. The tonremembers.Scandals are like scars—they never quite go away, especially if they’re ignored.”

He flinched. He stood tall, thinking about the way the material of his shirt brushed against the scars that stretched all the way down his back. He would have given anything to have a life without those scars, but that was not within his power. They would be with him, forever.

“Keith?” Frances whispered. “What are you going to do?”

“Did ye even need to ask me that?” He marched out of the house.

CHAPTER 20

“Imust see him.”

“The master of the house is indisposed.” The butler shifted uncomfortably on the step so many times that it was a wonder to Keith that he managed to keep his voice level at all. “There have been express instructions not to admit visitors this morning. They’ve had some… some news.”

“News? Or a scandal sheet?” Keith said pointedly, watching as the butler paled even more than he already had. “Trust me, the Marquess of Pembroke will want to see me. I have something important to say to him.”

“What is all this noise?” a voice sounded from inside the house.

The butler did his best to close the door and block out the view of Keith, but he stepped to the side and pointedly wedged his boot into the gap, refusing to let the butler shut the door completely.

“Oh!” the butler yelped in alarm and stepped back, allowing Keith to thrust his hand against the door and push it open. “This is a disgrace, Sir, you cannot just barge into the house.”

“Yer Grace,” Keith corrected him.

There was something amusing about seeing the butler instantly recoil as he realized just who exactly he had offended.

Something Keith had noticed time and time again since becoming a duke was the way people fell over backward when they discovered his title.

“I must see the Marquess,” he said again, now shifting his focus to the other person in the hallway.

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