Page 18 of The Insufferable Duke
“I could not think of a worse tale. The two end their lives at the end of the play over a misunderstanding more than anything else. What could be worse than that? I also could not imagine being so intoxicated by another being as to fear living without them.”
Whispers grew in the assembly room into such loud murmurs that Helena couldn’t help looking away from her friend, curious as to what had drawn people’s attention. Updos decorated with feathers flicked in the direction of the door as the Duke of Bridstone walked in.
He’s here.
“Perhaps it is a good thing after all?” Nancy said quietly. “If they love one another, this could be good.”
“Or it could drive two warring familiar into one another’s path repeatedly until the fallout is too great to fathom. I fear someone will be hurt from it,” Helena confessed, chewing the side of her mouth in worry. “He’s here.”
“Who?”
“Look!” Helena took her friend’s shoulder and spun her round to see the Duke of Bridstone. He walked in with his cousin at his heel. The two crossed the room together.
Unlike Helena, who had avoided meeting people’s gazes as much as she could, the Duke of Bridstone returned their blatantly curious looks with such strength that others suffered embarrassment and looked away.
He has strength in him. I have to admit that.
“I must speak to him,” Helena whispered and stepped away.
“Speak to him?” Nancy took her elbow. “What is happening to this world? Has it turned upside down? One day your family hates the Moores, now your sister is betrothed to one of them, and you wish to speak to the other brother. Why?”
“It’s about my sister,” Helena explained in a rush. “I am hardly going to become one of his many ladies.”
“He was in the scandal sheets again today,” Nancy said, wrinkling her nose. “I’d be careful of him. He must be a charmer when he is not at events like this.”
“Perhaps he is.” Helena’s eyes tarried on the Duke of Bridstone. He was muttering something quietly to his cousin. Those strong looks were rather dashing in their own way. The only problem was they were more handsome when he smiled, and he most certainly never smiled at her. “Yet I do not have a foolish heart. Believe me, my friend, my heart is in no danger of being charmed by him. I simply must speak to him.”
“Then take care,” Nancy whispered.
The two exchanged sad smiles then Helena left. She crossed the room toward the Duke of Bridstone though her pace slowed with every step she took.
Faces angled toward her. Some sneered, and she heard their whispers following her as if they were ghosts hovering at her shoulder.
“Such disregard for virtue and reputation.”
“One sister must be much like the other.”
“Lady Helena will certainly not marry well now, even if Lady Julia’s marriage is a hasty one.”
Helena shuddered, latching her hands together to try and hide that shiver.
* * *
“How bad was it?” Percival asked.
“Why are you smiling? This isn’t amusing!” Christopher muttered darkly. “Out of everyone, I thought you would dislike this the most. You hardly have any great love for the Carters either, do you?”
“Well, maybe I’m beginning to let go of that resentment — a little, anyway.” Percival shrugged. “I saw Robert’s face that night you found him sitting on the garden wall. My poor cousin looked heartbroken. That is not an easy expression to fake, is it?”
“You confuse me greatly.” Christopher shook his head and looked around the room. Many faces were staring at him.
I should not have come tonight.
He’d had no wish to come, but in the end, his mother and aunt had persuaded him into it, warning that if no one from the family showed their faces, then people would talk even more about what Robert had done. They had insisted on showing they were still a respectable family, even if Christopher didn’t care what thetonreally thought.
“Come on then, how did my mother react?” Percival said with a jest. “She spends almost every waking hour with your mother these days — as inseparable as they were as children.”
“Yes.” Christopher sighed deeply. He glared at a few people who dared to stare at him, and they eventually looked away. “Your mother broke an expensive teacup, shattered it to pieces. She said she dropped it.”
