Page 59 of The Insufferable Duke
“Just so.” Julia nodded slowly. “Robert has been told a different tale.”
“What is that?” Helena asked.
“That the ladychosehis great-grandfather. That her heart was torn between the two friends, but in the end, she chose his ancestor. As such, our great-grandfather challenged him to a duel out of pride. Now, does that not make things appear so different?”
Helena fidgeted with her book restlessly. Something she had seen time and time again in her own family was a sense of pride, and as much as she wished to deny it, she knew she could not. So, it was hardly difficult to believe that an ancestor of hers would have such pride too.
“He would not wish to admit his love had chosen another. Even his good friend.” She sighed deeply, realizing it was a perfectly plausible tale.
“There is more too.” Julia moved to her feet. “We have always been told that the Duke and his family are tricksters in business, have we not? Manipulators.”
“I have accused the Duke of it myself.” Helena chewed her lip, uncomfortable as she remembered the way the Duke had responded to her words. It was as if he was hurt by the accusation.
“Sister, have you not considered this?” Julia asked, returning to her place of hooking an arm around the bedpost as if it was Robert, and she was holding onto him. “Our father has not done business with him, so he cannot know the truth. He repeats the rumors of his friends. I mentioned the names to Robert, and he laughed.”
“Why would he laugh?” Helena asked, sitting bolt upright.
“He said that they were all quite useless in business. The Duke either went into partnership with them, and had to buy them out when he realized their inadequacy to continue their deals, or he swept in from the sidelines and offered them a way out of the mess they had found themselves in. He paid them money, so they could at least keep their homes, or they might end up in debtors’ prison. Now, once again, is that not so very different to what we have been told?” Julia asked, raising her eyebrows.
“But… I do not understand.” Helena shook her head. “If all of this really was just business, even saving some of these men from debtors’ prison, why would these men spread such rumors? Why tell our father that the Duke had deceived them so?”
“What man wishes to acknowledge they are awful at business?” Julia asked with a shrug.
Helena didn’t answer. She slumped back onto the pillows, her spine feeling crumpled. She held the book to her chest, wrapping her arms tightly around it.
Is it possible our opinions have been skewed for so long? Have I been so blinded into believing what I have been told, rather than seeking the truth myself?
“I suppose any friend of our father’s would wish to play up to the image of the Duke of Bridstone being an evil man in business too, wouldn’t they?” Helena whispered in realization. “It would keep them in our father’s good favor.”
“Precisely.” Julia nodded hurriedly in agreement. “You see how different things can be when you look at them from another angle? I will admit, I struggled to believe some of it at first, especially concerning what Robert had said about our ancestors. Yet when you consider that his great-grandfather was happily married to the lady that caused so much trouble with many children between them, then it shows, she was not forced into marriage, does it not?”
“It would suggest so.” Helena raised a hand and covered her face, suddenly feeling very small. She longed to be in the Duke of Bridstone’s company, so she could ask to hear all of these words from his own lips, and this time, she would be predisposed to believe him. The vigor with which he had denied being a rake this evening had given him an integrity she had not seen in him before. “You know they say the Duke is a rake?”
“I’ve heard it said.” Julia wrinkled her nose, showing her distaste for the idea.
“Has your betrothed ever commented on the rumors? What he thinks of it?”
“Not directly.” She shook her head. “The one time we discussed such tales, he cursed, quite violently. It plainly angered him.” Her eyes widened, showing her shock at the discussion. “He talked about how the scandal sheets will make up any rubbish just to have a good story to tell. It suggested the stories about his brother were all lies to me.”
“That is what the Duke said to me.”
“Wait. The Duke told you he was no rake?” Julia sat at the foot of the bed, looking at Helena with some interest and a growing smile. “I wonder why he would go to the trouble of telling you that.”
“I don’t know,” Helena lied, not wishing to accept the truth. He’d told her it was all lies, for surely, he wished her to see the true him rather than an invented idea. “I can’t explain it.”
“Then explain something else instead.” Julia wrapped her shawl tighter around her shoulders and leaned forward, looking at Helena intently. “What is it that is happening between you and the Duke of Bridstone?”
“I do not know that either.” At Helena’s confession, Julia sat straight, her hands stilled on the shawl at her shoulders.
“Wait, sister,” Julia spoke hurriedly, the words tumbling from her lips, “do you mean to tell me that there is something there, after all? That despite all your tension, you care for the man? Could it be possible?”
“I do not know,” Helena said again, denying the truth though she felt it deep within her gut. An idea was forming hurriedly, and she had to be alone. She couldn’t possibly think of it with Julia sitting there staring at her. “I need to sleep. Pray, retire for the night. We can discuss this more another time.”
“How can you send me out of the room now? After a revelation such asthis?”Julia asked wildly and moved to her feet. “Do you care for the Duke of Bridstone?” She rounded the bed, coming closer to Helena. “Do you love him?”
Love?
“I am not having this conversation.” Helena put down the book and stood too, taking her sister’s shoulder. “It is time for bed. We have had an adventurous and exciting night with you dancing far too many dancers with your betrothed before you are wed. People shall be talking, wondering who the masked pairing were.”
