Page 18 of Three Nights with the Beastly Duke

“Since when do you forget me?” Timothy asked, anger touching his hurt expression.

Growing impatient, Lavinia pulled her arm away with more force. This time, Timothy let her go.

“I have much to deal with regarding my family, Timothy,” Lavinia stated in a short tone. “Now, if you’ll excuse me—”

“No. Wait,” Timothy urged, stepping in front of her. “Something is wrong. Tell me.”

“Please,” Lavinia pleaded, stepping around him. “You and I shall talk later. But for now, let go of me, this instant.”

Timothy stepped away from her as if slapped, but Lavinia felt no guilt, as she was finally let free to go outside. The gardens at the conservatory were vast, but she didn’t have to walk far at all to find Arthur waiting for her. The moment their eyes met, he nodded to a shadowed place nearby.

After making sure no one was paying attention, she made her way quickly over to him and joined him in the darkness.

“You’ve made your decision,” she stated, sparing pleasantries. It wasn’t a question.

Even in the darkness, Lavinia could make out the outline of Arthur’s face. His scar, in particular, seemed to glow. But she was not looking at that and was instead focused on his grimly set expression.

“I have,” Arthur confirmed, and she knew by his tone that she had failed. “Your efforts have been valiant, Miss Dennis. You have done more to protect my reputation in the last two weeks than anyone has in my entire life. But sadly, that does not change things.”

Lavinia could hear the disappointment in his voice and knew his apology was real. He didn’t want this marriage to Rebecca any more than Rebecca wanted this marriage to him.

“You played me, Your Grace,” Lavinia whispered bitterly. “You knew from the start of tonight that you were not going to accept my offer.”

Arthur gave her a pained look, and for a moment, his hand gravitated toward her, as if to reach for her. But then, he suddenly let it drop to his side, then clasped both hands behind his back.

“I enjoy my time with you, Miss Dennis,” he confessed. “I wanted one more night to play with the idea of having you as a wife instead of a sister-in-law. But I believe we’ve played this game to its end. You know it, and so do I. Our parents have moved the wedding up to the end of the month. There is nothing more we can do about it.”

“But my sister,” Lavinia countered, struggling to whisper. “She despises you! And she is in love with someone else. You truly want to be married to a woman who will forever yearn for another?”

“I have no choice,” Arthur stated, his voice annoyingly calm. “And besides, I accepted long ago that a woman would never love me enough to see past my scar.”

Lavinia was growing frustrated. This damned scar. Why did it bother people so? If it hadn’t been for the scar, she wouldn’t be in this position. Neither would he and neither would Rebecca. For a moment, she thought of never meeting Arthur, and that only made her more frustrated. Why were her feelings so damn confusing?

“You must understand, I will never mistreat your sister,” Arthur went on. “She will be perfectly provided for, and I will never bother her unless it is absolutely necessary…”

Arthur kept talking, but Lavinia was no longer paying attention to his words. Instead, she was focused on the soft sound of footsteps approaching. There were quite a few coming their way. A whole group that would soon catch them together. She could have told Arthur to stop talking or pushed him further back into the darkened space. But instead, she gripped his lapels, pulled him close, and kissed him soundly on the lips.

Arthur’s words stopped immediately, and his arms quickly wrapped around her waist.

A low moan left his lips as he pulled her away just enough so that he could take control of the kiss, and then brought her back to him again. Immediately, Lavinia’s thoughts became scattered as pleasure scrambled her brain and melted her body. She released her hands from his lapels only to wrap her arms around his neck and meld herself to him.

Using her body weight, she pulled herself backward so that Arthur moved with her, and they both stumbled out of their hiding place and into the path of the group walking nearby. Gasps could be heard all around them as they appeared in front of their audience, and Arthur struggled immediately to get out of her embrace.

Lavinia let him go, breathless from their kiss, and felt a well of remorse as Arthur stared at her with accusing eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she mouthed as the people around them started to talk.

“Look, it is the beast and spinster!” A man laughed.

“My word, the indecency!” an older woman’s voice called out.

“Lavinia,” Arthur whispered, looking at her as if she’d just stabbed him. “What have you done?”

“I sacrificed you for my sister,” she whispered as her father, Rebecca, and the Dowager Duchess of Whitekin all came toward them.

The look of betrayal on Arthur’s face was more than she could bear, but as she was surrounded by her father and Rebecca, she knew she had no choice but to focus on what was coming next.

Within a matter of seconds, they were pulled from one another by their families, and Lavinia was being walked to their carriage. Her father all but threw her into the small compartment, and when he closed the door after he and Rebecca climbed in, he slammed it so hard that it shattered the glass plating of the window.

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