Page 3 of A Bride for the Wicked Duke

“Why would they --”

“If not for the smell of wine on your breath, Lady Hawkins, the dusting of sugar on your lips.” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “They are proper gentleman, these friends of mine, and where I am sure that some men find your particular brand of uniqueness charming, I can assure you they are not of that same mind. Is that clear?”

Aurelia’s face dropped. Despite herself, she raised her hand to her mouth, breathing on her hand to smell her breath, which indeed had a linger stench of wine. She saw the duke chuckle at the gesture, which had her blood boiling.

“I will have you know --”

“Enough of this.” The duke stepped between them and took his sister by the hand. “As I said, another time.” His smile was smarmy and self-righteous. “As always, a pleasure seeing you, Lady Hawkins, may you have a pleasant evening.”

“I wish I could say the same,” she said under her breath.

Rosalind allowed herself to be pulled, for she had never been much good at saying no to her brother. As she was led away, she looked helplessly to Aurelia, an apologetic grimace. In response, Aurelia mouthed the word ‘later,’ because despite this small interruption, she had every intention of going through with her evening plans.

As to what those plans were? Nothing good, to be perfectly frank. Such a wicked idea, and a most devilish risk taken that she found herself smiling at the thought of His Grace, unaware of what his sister intended, and how stricken he would be if he was to ever find out.

A part of me wishes that he might, for that would wipe that cocky smirk from his face. A handsome face, mind you... not that it matters. He might be the most gorgeous man in the world and still I would loathe him. Just as I know he loathes me.

* * *

“This is a bad idea,” Rosalind said for the hundredth time. “This is a bad idea. This is a bad idea. This is --”

“Will you stop that!” Aurelia snapped at her friend. “You are making me nervous.”

“You should be nervous!” Rosalind cried. “Perhaps then you will see reason! It is not too late, Aurelia. We can still turn around.”

“You know that is not an option,” Aurelia said.

“But --”

“As I told you, you do not have to join me,” Aurelia cut her off. “And if you wish to go home once we arrive, I will not hold it against you. But I must do this, Rosalind.” She met her friend’s eyes, making sure that she could see the desperation in them. A sense of desperation that colored her tone and added a weight to the air which was heavy. “You know I have no choice.”

Rosalind fretted and bit into her lip. Brow furrowed, she looked at pains with the world, caught in the middle of a storm, not sure if it was safer to proceed ahead or turn around.This is not her world, and I am grateful that she even considered helping me. Such is how much I cherish her friendship.

“I am staying,” Rosalind said with a firm nod. “You need me and...” A final moment of hesitation. “You need me, and I am not going anywhere.”

Aurelia took Rosalind by the hand and squeezed it, smiling as she did, needing her friend to see how much she appreciated her. She might have been here for moral support only, but it lifted some of the weight from Aurelia’s burdened shoulders, instilling her with a sense that this wasn’t the stupidest thing she had ever done.Even if it very much is that, and it’s not even close.

The two girls were sitting beside one another in a carriage as it slowly made its way toward their destination, one which neither was certain what they would find once they arrived. Rosalind was dressed in a cloak, the hood pulled up over her head to hide her face, should she need to. Aurelia, on the other hand...

She was dressed as a man. Boots. Pants. Gloves. A shirt. Her dark hair tucked underneath a hat. She had even gone so far to smear some dirt on her cheeks to hide her rosy glow. A tad extreme, and not a mode of disguise that she was used to. But desperate times and the measures she was willing to take were just as desperate.

The idea had come to her last week, even if the cause for such a wonton act of danger started years earlier. It was her father’s fault, Aurelia knew, a man who was two years dead but still managed to ruin hers and her family’s life in ways that he must have known would have happened, likely having not cared because that was simply the kind of man he had been.

“I cannot believe your father left this on you,” Rosalind said, as much out of nerves than anything else.

“What can you expect,” Aurelia sighed. “He was a gambler and a drunk. If anything, I am more surprised it took me so long to find out about his debts.” She shook her head to herself in dismay. “I suppose my mother was hoping that Violet’s marriage would solve the problem before it became that. A problem.”

“Why did it not?” Rosalind asked with a hint of desperation. “She married a duke! Surely he should have been able to cover what was owed?”

Aurelia scoffed. “That just tells you how large the debts are.”And then some…It was just last week when a letter had arrived at Aurelia’s home, addressed to her older brother, Daniel, detailing the exact amount, who it was owed to, and what would be the consequence if it was not paid immediately.

“We should not be doing this…” Rosalind was shaking. “You know what these gambling houses are like! It is dangerous.”

“And it is the only way.” Aurelia said with a firm nod. “The types that run them, yes they might be seedy, violent types. But at the end of the day, they care for one thing and one thing only. Money,” she said with certainty. “Daniel is too proud to seek them out himself and ask for an extension of the loan. So, it falls on my shoulders.”

“It is not right!”

“It is that or leave the burden to Eveline…” Eveline was Aurelia’s younger sister, the key to her family’s salvation, as Daniel and her mother hoped to marry her off to a rich lord who would pay out the rest of the debt. A fine plan, but not one Aurelia wished on her younger sister, because only a lord of the most repugnant reputation would take on such a loan as that. “I will not allow it. I will not.”

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