Page 60 of The Undesirable Duke
“What was the Duke’s message? Although I cannot think of anything he might have wished to add to his letter. It made it clear that he wants nothing to do with me any longer. And it is for my own benefit.”
“Believe me when I say that Yarmouth feels terrible. He cares for you very much. And the last thing he wishes to do is hurt you.”
“But he has. I cannot mean that much to him if he can hurt me in this way, and callously leave London.”
“He is not leaving to be rid of you, Lillian. He is leaving for you to be rid of him.”
Lillian’s brow furrowed, and she shook her head.
“I do not understand.”
“He feels that he must leave before your reputation is ruined because of him. He is protecting you, sister.”
“He does not need to protect me.”
“But he wants to. And he is terribly sorry for all of the discord and hurt that he has caused you.”
Lillian pursed her lips and exhaled slowly.
“What will happen now?”
“You return to your life as it was before the Duke arrived.”
Lillian’s brow furrowed, and her anger grew.
“And how do you propose that I do that? I cannot merely forget my feelings for him, Timothy.”
“I understand that, but-”
“No, you do not. Have you been in love?” she asked pedantically.
“I have not.”
“Then you have not an inkling of how I feel.”
Lillian turned on her heel, unlocked the door, and opened it.
“Please, leave.”
“No, I will not. Close that door.”
“If you will not leave, then I will.”
Lillian was not interested in Timothy’s response, and she stormed out of her bedchamber before he was able to say anything. She charged down the stairs and marched aimlessly through the house, uncertain as to where she would care to go. In fact, she did not care much where she went; she only wished to be as far away from Timothy as possible.
As she walked along the downstairs hallway, she was met with a beautiful bouquet on the hall table. She had not seen the bouquet of beautiful white flowers before, and she stopped abruptly. She lightly fingered the soft white petals. The scent was delightful, and for a moment, it lifted her spirits.
Lillian noticed a card wedged between the flowers and quickly retrieved it. She opened it and read the name at the bottom to discover that the flowers were from Lord Bertram. The note simply said how much he enjoyed her company.
Her brow furrowed as she studied the letters on the card, and somehow, the writing was strikingly familiar.
“Sister?”
Lillian gasped loudly and dropped the card on the floor at her feet. Quickly, she crouched and retrieved it from the floor, and turned around. Timothy stood on the other side of the hallway and slowly made his way over to her.
“Apologies. I did not mean to startle you.” Lillian pursed her lips, not uttering a word. She was upset with her brother and did not wish to speak to him any longer. As she glanced at the card in her hand, a thought suddenly occurred to her. “I apologize if I upset you, sister. The fact of the matter is that I also do not wish you to get into harm’s way, and if that means that Yarmouth must return to Cornwall in order to achieve that, so be it.”
“Brother…”
