Page 80 of The Scarred Duke's Bride
Freya got to her feet, her brow furrowed in concern, and went to clasp Isabella by her arms. “You are always going to be my family, regardless of anything else. Do you hear me?” She glared sternly at her sister.
Isabella swallowed and nodded. She seemed close to tears.
“Oh Isabella,” Freya said with a sigh before hugging her sister tight. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Isabella tearfully replied into her shoulder.
Freya pulled away to look into her eyes. “Now, banish these bacon-brained notions about Papa being the only one you have left. Wewillgo and see him; I shall persuade Eric if I have to, but it’s not because he’s all we have. It’s because he’s our father, and it’s our duty to honor him.”
Isabella nodded. “All right.”
Freya patted her on the head and then put her arm around her sister, “Come. Let’s go and get some breakfast. There has been altogether too much mawkishness for this early in the morning.”
Isabella laughed. “I suppose,” she said as she put her arm around Freya’s waist, smiling as they walked back into the house.
* * *
London seemed strangely loud and full of smells to Eric as they rode into the city three days later. Everything was suffocatingly close, and one needed to be constantly on the alert. He had lived in Town for the entirety of his life except for when he’d been in the navy, but now, he could barely stand it.
He scoffed at himself.Two months in the country, and you have become the epitome of landed gentry.
“Is something the matter?” a soft voice asked.
He looked up into Freya’s concerned eyes and twisted his lips wryly. “Nothing. I am just…bemused.”
Freya’s eyebrow quirked. “Do share.”
He shook his head. “It is silly.” He looked out of the window, “We’re almost there. Are you ready?”
Freya shrugged. “I am trying not to think about it too much. I expect he will take this as some kind of triumph over us, but Isabella really wanted to come.”
Isabella and the Campbells were riding in the second, bigger, slower carriage. Freya had wanted to arrive first so that they could take the brunt of whatever the Duke had prepared for them. Freya was sure that after their last meeting, the Duke would not hesitate to enact some sort of revenge.
Eric shrugged one-shouldered. “I don’t carewhathe thinks. It is the honorable thing to do, and I applaud you and Lady Isabella for it.”
“What if he wants us to stay with him?”
“Then we will.”
“Even William and your mother?”
He shook his head slowly. “No need to subject them to his…whims. I’m sure mother has a lot of matters to attend to in London. She will be more comfortable doing that from her own home.”
Freya huffed. “I wouldn’t blame you if you joined them.”
He reached out and gently took her hand even though he wondered if she was hoping hewouldjoin his family in St. John’s Wood rather than staying at her father’s Mayfair town house. “We’re married, and it is for better or worse. So, if you are forced to suffer him, then so will I.”
Freya beamed with relief and…fondness. “Well, thank you. Your sacrifice is noted.”
He barked with surprised amusement and nodded. “You’re welcome.”
ChapterThirty
Freya woke up feeling like casting up her accounts. She had never felt nausea like this before and wondered if she had contracted her father’s illness. She had seen him cast up his accounts on occasion and noted how weak and disoriented it made him.
She quickly got out of bed and ran for the chamber pot just in time to regurgitate everything she’d had for dinner. Wiping her mouth with water, she shook her head with trepidation. She didn’t know who she could speak to about it.
She looked at Eric, who was still peacefully asleep, and shook her head. She did not think he could help even if she told him what she’d experienced.
