Page 67 of Duke of Seduction

“It is a sedative,” Luke confessed, his tone pitiful. “I do not know what it is called. My father instructed me to give it to her. He said it would not hurt her, but it would make her more… susceptible and easier to manage. It does not work though, not on her. It makes her weak, yes, but she still denies me.”

“You drug your soon-to-be-wife in the hope of bedding her?” Morgan rasped incredulously, his rage expanding. “You are not a man at all.”

“I just wanted my father to accept me,” Luke choked out, shaking his head as tears began to pour down his bruised, pathetic face. “Let me go now, please.”

“Not a chance,” Morgan and Ezra growled in unison, both yanking Luke up from the wall.

“You are coming with us,” Morgan seethed, pushing the stumbling man towards his carriage.

The moment he got Luke inside, Morgan wiped his hands across his trousers, unable to wait one second longer to remove the man’s vile tincture.

CHAPTER THIRTY

“Helena, darling, are you sure are all right?” Barbara asked.

Helena stumbled but offered her a genuine smile as she was helped into her chair.

“I am getting better by the moment,” she replied, and truly felt like she meant it.

Though she was still having bouts of dizziness and fatigue, Helena had noticed a vast improvement in her physical ailments since returning to her brother’s house.

“I am sure by the end of our visit I shall be back to full health,” she said assuredly, but felt her face blanche as the world around her spun again.

“I hope you are as motherly to your own children as you are to that girl,” Reuben Knight harrumphed, cutting into his meat with a look of annoyance.

“I assure you, Reuben, she will be a wonderful mother toourchildren,” Ambrose replied, his tone harsh.

The look of annoyance on Ambrose’s face quickly vanished as he turned towards Helena.

“Helena, are you sure?” he implored, looking as worried as Barbara.

“Perhaps it would be better if she ate in her room,” Reuben grunted. “Her piqued complexion does little for my appetite.”

“Lord Knight, I do apologize for interrupting your visit with Barbara,” Helena apologized as Barbara and Ambrose both shot him a glare. “It is my fault that I did not forewarn them of my intention to visit. But please, my time in London is growing brief, and I would very much like to spend it in their presence while I have the opportunity.”

Reuben grumbled something about manners and politeness, then turned his full attention to Barbara to discuss his great nephew. As the two talked, Ambrose looked anxiously at Helena. He and Barbara had both been worried from the moment they had laid eyes upon her, claiming she was too pale and too thin.

Helena had lost count of how often they had asked if she was all right, and she felt guilty for worrying them.

In truth, she had been so dazed over the last two weeks that she had not noticed that her dresses had become heavy and loose, but now — under Ambrose’s watchful eye — she felt every gaunt inch of her. She picked up her fork, and although she was not hungry, forced down a bite of pheasant.

“Has your soon-to-be-husband been taking care of you, Helena?” Ambrose asked, his tone low. “Has he been cruel? You can tell me.”

“No,” Helena replied. It was true. Cruel was not necessarily the right word.

Not wanting to stay long on the subject and unable to stave off her own curiosity any longer, Helena cut up another piece of meat and as casually as possible asked, “so, how are the others? Barbara has enlightened me on Alice and Lydia, but how is Ezra? Duncan?” She swallowed hard as her heart skipped a beat. “Morgan?”

She tried to say his name as carelessly as possible, but even so, she and Ambrose both went rigid upon hearing it. She had been informed of some little argument between the two after he had not shown up to her party, but even Barbara was unsure what their disagreement was about.

“Fine,” Ambrose said, his tone tense.

Only a second of silence ticked by before the doors to the dining room flew open, and through them spilled a bloodied Luke, followed by Ezra, Duncan, and Morgan. Helena felt her heart stop, then beat in double time as she took in Morgan’s face. Yearning filled her as their eyes met, and though he wore a murderous look, his eyes flashed with pure relief upon seeing her.

“What in the bloody hell is this?” Ambrose growled, jumping from his chair.

“I tried to tell you,” Morgan snarled, throwing the letter at Ambrose’s feet. “I tried to tell you he was no good for her!”

“Christ in Heaven, Curtis, do your dogs even possess a modicum of couth?” Reuben snarled as he stepped away from the table.

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