Page 88 of The Unwanted Duchess

“Again, I do not care. You will have to excuse me, but I struggle to find any sympathy for the man that treated you so terribly. Even the child that he cared about has received nothing but lies.”

“But —”

“He is right,” Adam said gently. “Go home. I shall take care of this.”

“You will not touch me,” their father yelled. “Some son you are. I have done everything for you, everything, and you turn your back on me for her?”

“She is my sister. If I am to be any good at this, I shall need the influence of two duchesses with me. That is what you meant when you told me to make powerful allies, is it not?”

The Earl seemed to be at a complete loss for words. Before he could answer, Graham took Samantha and guided her out of the room.

“We will talk about this when we are home,” he said quietly yet firmly.

“There is nothing to discuss.”

“There is, and you know that there is.”

“Wait!” Adam called out to them, running towards them.

“What is it, Adam?” Samantha asked.

“I wanted to apologize. I did not mean to intrude on what the two of you felt you had to do. In all honesty, I completely understand why you both feel the way that you do.”

“You did nothing wrong,” Graham said kindly. “I thank you for bringing me here.”

“And Samantha, I hope that we can arrange some time with Diana soon. I also hope that you are right and that she has even the smallest amount of interest in getting to know me.”

“I will do what I can, but she might not be so easily appeased.”

“And if she is not, then that is also completely fine. I know that I have done so much harm simply by existing, and I regret that more than you could ever know.”

“You are not to blame for your own existence,” Samantha said gently. “I will speak with you soon. First, I must discuss all of this with Diana. I cannot imagine what she will think of all of this.”

“No,” Graham corrected her, “first you must come home so that you can rest.”

Samantha felt cold, for she did not know if he truly wanted her to rest or if that was his way of covering the fact that she was going to receive some harsh words when they returned home.

Regardless, she followed him out of the household and into the carriage. She pressed herself as far away from him as she could and focused on what was outside rather than what was inside. She did not want to look at him incorrectly for fear of angering him, so she did not look at him at all. That had to be the right thing to do, had it not?

Walking inside their home, she thought it might not have been, for he stood in the doorway and did not follow.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It is as I said,” he replied bluntly. “You need your rest. We can discuss this tomorrow.”

“I do not want to discuss it tomorrow. I shall not be able to sleep if we have not discussed whatever it is that you believe we must.”

“Do you truly not know what I wish to talk to you about?”

She knew that it was likely her disappearance, but if she pretended not to, then it was more likely that he would tell her himself.

“Not at all,” she lied.

“Very well, then,” he sighed. “We can do this right now.”

CHAPTER 29

Graham wondered if there was any point at all in discussing issues with Samantha if she was so quick to ignore any agreements made when it suited her. They had only just agreed not to disappear and to talk about problems before they got out of hand, but she had ignored both instantly and left to confront her father.

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