Page 67 of A Duke for Hire

“My brother can be incredibly overprotective,” she began. “He does not seem that way to most, but with the women he cares about, he can become very…possessive.”

Suddenly memories of their odd courtship flashed through Seraphina’s mind. How he scared off Lord Fellon and Lord Repington. How he stopped her mother from striking her again. He had always seemed to appear right as she entered a truly uncomfortable or unwanted situation.

“A few years ago I had fallen in love with a man named Charles. His rank is not important. I had thought he had loved me too, and that we would get married, but…but I discovered that he was only trying to use me to get to our family’s fortune,” Leah explained. “It devastated me,” she went on, her heartache clear in her voice. “When he discovered that I would no longer marry him, he attempted to force me into an-” she paused, clearing her throat as she shifted uncomfortably in her saddle, “-an unsavory position that could have caused quite the scandal if revealed.”

“Oh, Leah,” Seraphina whispered, reaching out to her new sister. “I am so sorry.”

Leah gave her a weak smile as they gripped at one another’s hands.

“I told Hugo, of course, and he challenged Charles to a duel. Only Charles had paid one of the servants to disarm Hugo’s pistol so that he would have an advantage. But my brother was quick; know something was wrong with the gun the moment it was in his hand, and instead of firing, he charged at Charles; earning him a bullet to his left shoulder in the process. It did nothing to stop him though, and he bloodied Charles’s face to a pulp. I think he would have killed him if I hadn’t been there to beg him to stop.”

“Oh, my heavens,” Seraphina whispered, picturing the bloody scene. “You were there? You saw it?”

“I knew something wasn't right, so I followed Hugo,” Leah replied, finally looking up at her. “I know. It was dangerous. But I am glad I did it. I am glad that though Charles may have deserved it, Hugo did not kill him.” She hesitated, peering closely at Seraphina for an instant. “He’s never told me this, but I believe my brother is terrified of becoming our father. And that day, he really stepped into our father’s shoes. All that rage, that power. It became unleashed, and Hugo finally did to someone what our father did to him. It changed him.”

Realization hit Seraphina as she recalled her first night in Merrivale. Things had seemed to start to go well in his office until she touched his one scar.

“Your father,” Seraphina asked carefully, “Is that how Hugo got all of his scars?”

Leah locked eyes with Seraphina and gave her a grim nod.

“He did that for me too. Took all the beatings so I could be saved. People say my brother is a savage. But it is people that made him into one.”

The two women shared a silent moment. Leah calling her traumatic memories back into their mental trunks; and Seraphina putting all the missing pieces to her husband’s mystery together until she got a clearer image.

“You can make changes here, Seraphina,” Lead said after a while, turning back to face her. “Just as you changed your life in London. Take charge of your new staff. Find a way to break my brother of his ways. I know you can. You just have to have the determination.”

“Determination,” Seraphina murmured as the sound of approaching hooves drew near.

Yes,she realized. She could do that.

“Leah?”

Both women looked toward Hugo’s voice, and Seraphina was caught off guard by how handsome he looked. He was no longer in a fine suit, but instead a simple white linen shirt that dipped open and low over his chest, light brown trousers, and a pair of worn dark brown boots. His dark wavy hair was a mess from the wind, and he had the starting of a beard on his chin.

Her eyes snapped back up to his exposed chest, drawn to the muscles there, but a flicker of sympathy ignited in her when she saw the outline of several circular scars clustered near his shoulder. Even without ever seeing such things before Seraphina suddenly knew what they were. Leah said he’d been hit…but did she know he’d been burned, too?

She clamped her teeth down on her bottom lip, picturing the pure torture of such an assault, and dragged her eyes away from him.

“Brother,” Leah said gaily from her horse.

“When did you come back?” He asked her, not yet looking at Seraphina.

“Just this morning, but do not worry, I am not staying long. I only came to meet my new sister and teach her a few things.”

Hugo gave his sister a curious look before turning to Seraphina, and then his eyes widened as he took her in. She finally looked back to him, and though saddened by her new discovery, gave him a warm smile.

“Seraphina,” he said with awe, “I almost did not realize that was you. You look so different out here. Especially with your hair unbound.”

“You look quite different yourself, Your Grace,” Seraphina replied coyly, giving him the same measuring look he had given her. To her relief, he chuckled, and rode closer to them.

“I owe you an apology,” he stated, “It turns out my Steward just ran off and abandoned his post the moment he made a mistake with the town’s livestock sales so I decided to fix his mess myself. I did not mean to be gone this long.”

“Perhaps you could make it up to me by joining me for dinner this evening?” Seraphina asked tentatively.

“Yes, I believe I can,” Hugo answered instead, surprising her greatly. “Where shall I join you?”

“Why not have an evening picnic right here, you two?” Leah offered.

---