Page 79 of The Dark Duke's Virgin

“How did you know?” he sighed, bowing his head and looking at the table.

“I heard yelling when I walked past your study earlier,” she explained simply. Strange that she didn’t sound upset, for surely, she would be. Nor surprised by the looks of things. “And I caught a glimpse of her as I made my way to supper—hurrying from your study with tears in her eyes and cheeks as red as freshly plucked tomatoes.”

Frederick winced. “I had no choice.”

“I am sure you did not.”

“She lied to me, grandmother.”

“I do not doubt it for a second.”

“I—” Frederick went to press his argument, as if that was what he and his grandmother were doing. But he took note of her words, the tone of them, the at ease expression she wore as she looked at him. There could be no doubt that none of this was coming as a shock to her. “You… you knew?” he gasped.

His grandmother sighed, looking as resigned as she did upset. “I did, sadly.”

“But… but how?” he studied her, unable to fathom what was going on. If his grandmother had known the truth, why would she let it go on? Especially knowing that Miss Dunn was trying to take advantage of him. It was absurd to think!

“I assume you are referring to her true identity, then? Miss Dunn, daughter of Viscount Edgerton? Oh, of course, you are,” she then dismissed with a wave of her hand. “Why else would you throw the poor girl out.”

“Grandmother…” Frederick gaped. “How… how is it that you knew? And that you did nothing!”

“Did nothing?” she frowned. “What was I to do?”

“Tell me is what!” he cried. “To think, you were… you were pushing her on me from the beginning. And yet, you knew?” He leaned back, as if to get to close might see him succumb to some sort of poison. A curled lip of revulsion, still unable to fathom that his grandmother was involved. “You supported it!”

“Of course, I did. She is a lovely girl, despite circumstances.”

“Circumstances!” Frederick exclaimed. “She was using you, grandmother! Using us! Lying on her father’s behalf to get her hands on my fortune. And you knew! I don’t… I cannot… I—What is that look?” he cut through his stammering at the sight of his grandmother’s brow furrowing.

“Is that what you think she was doing?”

“Yes! She told me as much.”

“Oh, Frederick…” she sighed as she reached out and took Frederick’s hand, pity now, a look that had Frederick’s stomach dropping because he sensed that the story he knew wasn’t near complete. “I should have told you sooner, and I might have if I thought it was my place. Now, I wish I had.”

“Told mewhat?What on earth is going on!”

“When Caroline first came to me two years ago, she accidentally let slip her real name. She didn’t think that I caught it, and her desperation to pretend that she was somebody else led me tobelieve that there must have been a good reason. Naturally, I wasn’t about to let it go unchecked.”

“So, you’ve known the entire time?”

“I did a little digging,” his grandmother explained. “I learned that her father was Lord Edgerton, a man who I had never heard of until I looked into him. And when I did…” She sighed and shook her head. “… I realized there was a good reason that Caroline had lied.”

Frederick’s stomach turned. “Wh - what? What was the reason?”

“His wife, Caroline’s mother, died only a week or two before Caroline turned up on my doorstep. The general consensus is that she died of natural causes. An accident.”

“What does that?—”

“She slipped and hit her head on a table, or so they say. However, I asked around, and there were more than a few who theorized that this Lord Edgerton might have had more to do with it than he claimed. He was a cruel man, many said. Vindictive. Rumors of his abuse were told with few even suggesting they might have been exaggerated.”

“He murdered her?” Frederick said as if it was fact.

“I think so,” his grandmother agreed. “And Caroline—now, this is only a guess, of course. But I assumed she fled the householdrather than risk her father’s wrath. When I put all of this together, I saw no harm in letting her stay and playing along with her cover story. The girl was clearly terrified.”

“But why lie?” Frederick pressed, his mind spinning, the guilt growing. “Why not tell you? Or tell me—if her father did kill her mother, and she saw it happen, then surely, she would want to seek justice?”

His grandmother sighed and then shrugged. “That is a question for Caroline, I am afraid. Perhaps she was scared? Perhaps she was feeling guilty? Perhaps she thought we would send her back if we found out, so she thought it safer to say nothing. As said, only Caroline knows the truth.”

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