Page 12 of His Accidental Duchess

“I don’t believe you.”

He shrugged. “Don’t believe me, then. You won’t be allowed to search my home, so my word is all you’ll have.”

She was breathing heavily again, and he wondered if she had been running. She must have earned herself a few stares, running through the streets like that. Hiring a hackney when she didn’t have the money to pay for it.

“He promised,” she said, her voice cracking on the last word. “Perhaps I pressured him alittletoo much, but we’re friends. We’refriends! I thought… Oh, what does it matter what I thought? I bought this ridiculous, expensive dress because of him.”

“I don’t believe that’s quite true, Miss Belmont,” Theodore drawled. “Henry bought the dress, and Henry has no money, you know. He gets an allowance—a generous one—from me, which I suppose would have kept you comfortable. However,Iam the one who bought that dress for you. You’ve been remarkably careless with it. Really, I should ask you to give it back this moment, as you have clearly ruined it.”

Her head snapped up, her gaze accusatory. Theodore felt a twinge of guilt. He reminded himself that he was talking to a gently-bred lady, not one of the girls at his favorite, less-than-savory haunts.

“Listen,” he continued, waving the folded piece of paper. “This note is very clear.”

“It isn’t,” she insisted, shaking her head. “There must be something else. A note, a letter, a…”

“Henry has jilted you, that’s the plain truth. Now, it’s not exactly gentlemanly behavior, but I believe a little bad behavior is worthwhile in order to avoid a lifetime of misery.”

She stared at him, her eyes remarkably large and green. Shewaspretty, he acknowledged, possessing a combination of beauty and spirit that would have drawn him across the room at the controversial Clara’s Heart, his favorite club.

Club was perhaps a grandiose word, but never mind.

“What are you trying to say, Sir?” she snapped. “A lifetime of misery? I intended to make him happy. We are friends.”

“Perhaps, but it’s clear that Henry did not want this marriage. Otherwise, you would be Lady Stanley right now. To be frank, Madam, you must have trapped him into it.”

There was a half-minute of silence. Then Miss Belmont flew across the room, swinging her hand back.

Even as Theodore realized in amazement that she intended to slap him, his arm came up of its own accord. His hand wrapped neatly around her wrist, effectively blocking the blow.

They stood there for a heartbeat or two, her breaths coming hard and fast. She seemed almost surprised he’d blocked her blow.

“That,” Theodore said levelly, “wasnotvery ladylike. And in my own house, too.”

She had the grace to blush.

Yanking her hand free, she spun away from him. “You provoked me!”

“I believe I spoke only the truth, my dear. My brother and I do not see eye to eye on many matters—least of all this marriage—but I don’t wish to see him miserable. And nor will I turn him over to you, even if I knew where he was.”

She stood stock-still for a moment, her back turned to him.

The wretched girl belongs in an asylum.

Then she let out a short wail, pressed her hands to her face, and crumbled to the floor in a flurry of white silk and long locks of black hair, hunching over.

Theodore eyed her warily. “What are you doing now, Miss Belmont?”

“He was my last chance,” she said, her voice low and tight, and he realized with a jolt that she was crying. “I didn’t care about him being rich, I just needed to save my mother and sisters. My father’s debt has never left us alone. Three years he’s been dead, and we’re still poor as church mice. Getting poorer, in fact. I fully intended to make Henry happy. I didn’t… didn’t expect apropermarriage, you know? He’s never wanted to marry. I couldn’t care less about children and a doting husband. I know… I know it’s not what Henry wanted. I would have made him happy if I could. Things could have gone on as before. I suppose a true friend wouldn’t have put him through such a thing.”

Theodore chewed on his lower lip. He wished Stephen would return. The wretched man was likely kicking his heels in the hallway downstairs, leaving him to sort all this out.

Theodore edged around the room until he could get a proper look at Miss Belmont’s face. Her expression was blank and exhausted. Her hands hung limp in her lap, and she was staring off into space.

“I’ve ruined everything,” she whispered to herself more than anyone else. “I don’t have a dowry, so nobody wanted to marry me before. But afterthis… well, nobody will ever have me.”

Theodore took a hesitant step forward, before dropping into a crouch. “Are you angry with Henry?”

She nodded. She paused. She shook her head.

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