Page 72 of The Insufferable Duke
“That could be anyone.” He matched her tone in vigor. “You cannot seriously believe this condemns my family.”
“Who else would have cause to stop this wedding but a Moore? I have just stood in this room defending you and your family,” she said, stepping toward him. She moved so close that Christopher felt a heat in her presence and had to bend his neck to look down at her. More than anything, he wished neither Percival nor Robert was in this room. He watched her as her eyes widened and a muscle twitched in her face as if a sudden thought had occurred to her mind. “Was it all a distraction? Did your family plan such an argument so an accomplice of yours could take her away?”
“That is mad!” Christopher declared with vigor. “Helena, you cannot think such a thing.”
“She’s gone,” Robert said from across the room, capturing their attention. He moved sharply, hurrying to the door. His fury was so plain that his boots stomped on the floor. This time, he did not let himself be stopped by Helena. “I cannot stand here and do nothing with her missing. It is outrageous to expect me to stay here.”
“I want an explanation,” Helena demanded.
“You cannot have it from me when I know nothing. I must do something; I must find her. I’ll ask the staff and see if anyone saw her leaving.” He moved to the door and flung it open with his movements so fast that the door ricocheted off the wall behind it.
“Percival,” Christopher called to his cousin. “Follow him, watch who he talks to, and for God’s sake, try to make sure he doesn’t end up in a fight. We don’t need any more bad news from today.”
Percival nodded and raced from the room, hurrying after Robert. The moment the door closed behind them Helena moved from Christopher. She walked around the nearest standing potted plants, putting the plants between the two of them.
“Helena.” He couldn’t soften his voice. He was too stunned at her accusation. “My family did not do this.Idid not do this. You have to believe me.”
“Did you not see this argument?” she asked wildly. “The passion of it all, the vigor to despise one another. Goodness, I wonder why your family even bothered turning up at all to this wedding.”
“Have you lost all sense?” Christopher demanded with equal fury, unable to calm himself. He walked around the potted palms, trying to get closer to her. She walked the other way, keeping distance between them at all times. “You know as well as I how much I have fought for my brother’s happiness these last few weeks. It has not always been easy, but my family see sense, and none of them would do this.”
“How can you be so sure?” Helena asked. When Christopher abandoned one path and ran around the ferns the other way, she yelped and scurried back. He caught up with her this time.
“For one thing, my cousin finds the wedding an exciting thing. My aunt cannot stop speaking of how romantic it is, and as much as my mother may dislike your family, she likes Julia. So, she would not do anything against the marriage. As for my uncle, he is too forgetful to possibly structure this kind of scheme.” He stopped in front of her, cutting off her escape from him. “I will not suffer your blind anger now,” he said firmly. “You must see the truth — that none of us had anything to do with this.”
“Then explain that note.” She blinked madly, trying to assuage tears. Those tears changed things. Where the anger had been before there was a sharp realization. She didn’t trust him. Maybe his own anger had made this situation much worse than it ever needed to be. Had they responded differently to one another, he could have persuaded her that they had nothing to do with this. As it was, they had both made the argument spiral out of control.
He looked down, seeing the ‘M’ written with some flamboyance as if someone relished in signing the letter with that initial.
“You know I cannot,” he said, his voice deepening. Seeing her on the verge of tears did something to him. His gut twisted, and his heart pounded so much in his chest, he could feel it thudding against his ribcage.
I cannot bear to see her like this.
He took a step toward her, thrilled when she didn’t pull away. She raised her hand and wiped away the tears that had escaped her cheek.
“Helena, these last few weeks you have started to trust me at last.”
“That was an error on my part —”
“It was not. It was natural. All of what passed between us,” he muttered in a whisper, casting a glance at the door to make sure they were not interrupted. “Please, trust me now. Trust me when I say that my family did not do this.”
When fresh teras spilled down her cheeks, he raised a hand toward her. It was a reflex action. His palm cupped her cheek, and with his thumb, he wiped away an escaped tear. Her full lips parted with a gasp escaping between them. She didn’t pull back at first but let him dry that tear.
“I wish to believe you,” she whispered in the smallest of voices.
“Then believe me.” He moved toward her, standing so near that had they been seen in this position, it would mean fresh scandal. They could be rushed into their own wedding. Despite knowing he should pull back, that he should not take the risk, he couldn’t help himself. All that mattered was comforting Helena, to show that he was there for her, and that he was not guilty of this crime. “Please, Helena?” he whispered.
She looked on the verge of believing him. Her lips were still parted, and she inhaled, ready to say something, then she faltered. His close proximity to her meant he could have kissed her. The memory of the kiss that had passed between them in the garden coursed through his mind and made him burn for her. When his thumb dried away another of her tears, he nearly bent forward, nearly took that chance on another kiss, but she jerked back before he could.
His hand abruptly left her cheek as she stumbled away. She walked into a potted fern and toppled it from its position. It fell over but did not smash as the last one had done. It fell on a rug instead and tipped out soil from its pot.
“Leave me alone,” Helena called to Christopher as she raced to the door.
“Wait, you do not believe me?”
She didn’t answer him. As she left the room, with her skirts flicking through the door, she didn’t look back at him. Not once.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
