Page 46 of The Scandalous Deal of the Scarred Lady
“What can be so important that you fight me to keep me from seeing? Oh, do not look at me like that, if there is truly nothing to hide, then you shall have no difficulty in copying a fresh letter for His Grace. This one had ink spattered across the front. Your girl has been most careless…”
Helena felt her blood run cold in her veins. “It was my accident, Aunt Phoebe. As that is my letter. I must ask that you respect my privacy—”
But Aunt Phoebe was already reading the words.
“‘I must apologize…’ yes, that is a good beginning, but what have we here…” Phoebe read further, lips moving silently until she reached the end. “What is agreement you refer to? Surely you have not done something untoward!”
Helena flinched. “It is nothing.”
“Nothing! You have told the Duke of Durham quite succinctly that he is no longer welcome in your home when you know full well that you do not carry the authority to make such a statement. He is here now, in your father’s study. I have come to inform you that you are to dress for the noon meal, though why I cannot imagine. There is blood running down your forehead, Helena.” Phoebe stared at her in absolute horror.
“But my father said I was to stay until summoned…” Helena faltered, one hand going to her forehead, finding that indeed the scabs she’d scratched off still bled.
“And I am summoning you.” Phoebe went to the fire and cast the letter in. Helena gasped and started toward it, only to stand on the hearth, staring in dismay as the edges of the paper curled and blackened. The entire letter was reduced to ashes in moments what had taken an hour to pen.
“But I cannot…” Helena murmured, thinking how all her resolutions of the night before to end things would come to naught if she were in his presence again. She could never, if she lived to be a hundred, manage to say the things she had in her letter, to his face.
“You must.” Phoebe was stiff and unyielding when she chose to be. She brushed past Helena and went to the wardrobe. “Come now, this is not the end of the world, your suitor awaits, and your father’s anger seems to have burned itself out. Let us find a dress that’s suitable. I shall have to assist you; that girl of yours made a mess of her hands, and there is no way she should be handling fine fabrics.”
Helena flinched. “Yes, Aunt Phoebe,” she said, still staring at the flames, imagining, if she stared long enough, her brave words would imprint themselves upon her heart that she might say what she needed to when the time came.
Chapter 29
Of all the things the Duke of York could have said, that James would be his houseguest for the next few days was not one of them.
“The storm is ridiculous. I have never seen such a year for snow. But we can sort out these trifling details on the ship, so it is to our benefit on that, at least. I daresay we can work out the full complement of sailors by this time tomorrow and have worked out the order of the ports of call to our best advantage. It shall be like old times!”
Barrington seemed enthusiastic even, like a child at play, with numerous documents spread across his desk, seizing first one, then another, making quick notations in the margins before throwing them down and going on a search for the next.
“This map here…I think it best lays out the course. Oh, but wait, I have not shown you the plans for the ship. This is one that had some modifications I have designed myself. I had meant to show you but had no idea where I had placed my copies. I had the ship started last year, and it should be ready to launch in spring if all stays true to schedule.”
“Sir, I fail to understand—” James said with a certain amount of frustration. After half an hour of this, he was still waiting on the part of the conversation where the Duke of York suggested pistols at dawn.
“I have no doubt that you have a lot to learn, Sir,” Barrington said, one hand coming down heavily on the younger man’s shoulder, enough to nearly knocking him off his feet. “I heard your apology when you came in, let that be the end of the matter.”
Barrington sank down into the chair nearest. “Duke Barrington, you have threatened me, forced this ship upon me in every sense of the word, to the point where I feel that if I were to walk out now, you would find a way to deliver the ship itself to my doorstep.”
Barrington leaned against the desk, one foot crossed over the other at the ankle, arms crossed across his powerful chest. It struck James then how much a sailor Barrington still was; his body was still lean and well-muscled despite his advancing age.
“Do go on. I want to see where you are going with this,” Barrington said, his head cocked to one side as he regarded the younger man curiously.
“It is quite apparent to me that you feel like you must do me some good deed. A kind turn as it were. But I have no idea why. It occurs to me that there is some debt you are trying to repay, and I would know what it is,” James said, sitting forward and meeting the man’s eyes frankly and with keen interest.
“And you do not feel that I am perhaps doing this because you have shown an interest in my daughter?” Barrington said, with a slight upward quirking to his lips.
James leapt to his feet. “Iwouldcall you out at dawn for even suggesting such a thing. To imply that I must be bribed to spend time with Helen…Lady Barrington is not only cruel, it is disgusting.”
Barrington watched him without moving. “Though you came here initially under the impetus of that brooch.”
“That infernal rose has been the bane of my existence. I returned the brooch ages ago, but still, I took Lady Barrington to the concert. And called upon her.”
“Because she wrote you,” Barrington pointed out.
“Blast you, Barrington, do you truly know every little thing that goes on under this roof? Her letter had little to do with my intent other than to bring me a certain irritation. Taking her to the theatre was entirely my own idea. Though why I am defending my actions to you, I know not.” James threw his hands up in despair. “Then I must concede defeat. My motives will ever be in question.”
“And what are those motives?” Barrington asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
“To marry the girl, if she’ll have me!” James exploded then stumbled back a step when he realized what he’d just done. Every vestige of blood drained from his face as he sank down into his chair again and buried his head in his hands. “I apologize. Such is not the way to ask for a lady’s hand in marriage.”
