Page 103 of The Duke's Mysterious Lover
“Aye, her excuses were the same ye guessed. My reputation would be ruined if word got out how we met. And she’s a bastard, unfit for a duchess.”
“But ye ken ye could mitigate the damage to yer reputations if ye controlled the narrative,” Fawkes pointed out. “And she’sno’a bastard.”
“Aye,” Thorne whispered again, his fingers rising to rest against the cool glass. “But what if those were just kind excuses?”What if she doesnae want to be with me? “I was trying to give her what she wanted: excuses. If I had immediately surprised her with the news of her parents’ marriage, would she accuse me of just trying to manipulate her into getting whatIwanted?”
His cousin sighed and finally said, “I dinnae ken, Thorne. Does she think ye’re manipulative?”
“She surely thinks I’m flighty, only interested in fun and pleasure. Selfish.” His forehead dropped to the glass. “I’ve been using her, Fawkes. Using her.”
“How? For pleasure?”
“She takes care of me. Sheseesme. It’s selfish, aye, but I didnae want to lose that. And when she appeared on my arm at the Stallings assembly, just as Bull guessed, nae one doubted I was wooing her.” When he sighed, his breath fogged the glass. “I used her again. Thanks to her, I’ll no’ be pestered or trappedinto marriage by some Society chit I dinnae love. Kit has saved me again.”
“So ye think ye’re being selfish with her?”
“Ikenit,” Thorne growled, pushing himself upright. “I’m tryingno’to be selfish by giving her what she wants! I’m trying to listen to her, no’ push her, so she can deny a future together, if that’s what she wants.”
“But no’ what ye want,” Fawkes said softly. “But ye still have to tell her, Thorne. Give her all the information and lethermake the decision. Ye dinnae want her to find out from a newspaper. Perhaps itwasnaejust an excuse, and she honestly believed it to be the truth.”
“Aye,” Thorne agreed duly, watching a hired brougham slowly move down the street in front of Stroken House. “Perhaps she did.”
When he told her she was legitimate, and the heir to an Earldom, what would happen?
Well, it’s no’ as if she’d suddenly become a different person. She’d still be Kit. Yer Kit.
Aye, that was the truth. He needed to get his head out of his arse and stop being such a coward.
Slowly, he straightened.
He had to tell Kit.
He had to tell Kitbeforehe told the rest of the world.
Tomorrow was the musicale. If they could get through that, then he could tell her. Even if Blackrose didn’t attend, Thorne would give her a few more hours of blissful ignorance,thenconfess. Then, if she was still willing to speak to him, they could work to figure out how to bring down her Father.
He couldn’t tell the world before he told her.
“I have to stop the printing,” he murmured.
“What?” Fawkes prompted.
Thorne turned away from the window. “I have to get to theprinting offices and stop the paper printing that story tomorrow. Will Olivia be there?”
His cousin hummed as he lined up his shot. “The Duchess of Effinghell? I sincerely doubt it. She’ll be here at the musicale tomorrow with her husband—she insisted.”
Thorne was already stalking toward the door. “Aye, but I need to reach hernow. I’m going to their house. Then she can take me to the printing offices and knock some heads together—they’ll no’ listen to me on my own!” The last was said from the corridor, where a footman was already hurrying toward him.
From inside the billiards room, Fawkes called out, “For fook’s sake, let me win this game first!”
But Thorne had already issued orders for his hat and coat. “There’s a brougham outside,” he snapped to the footman by the door. “Dinnae bother with the carriage, I’ll take that.”
He hurried down the front walk to the carriage the servant had flagged down and nodded his thanks. “If my cousin ever decides he’s had enough of knocking balls together, tell him where I went, eh?”
The footman barely had time to nod before Thorne had yanked open the door and thrown himself inside the dim interior.
And then second-guessed his rash decision.
Och, perhaps ye should’ve waited for the town coach after all.
