Page 10 of Captured By the Cold Duke
“Then release me from the engagement,” Lady Cherie said at once.
Thomas sighed and crossed one ankle over his knee. “And see you ruined? And my own reputation in tatters? Absolutely not.”
Lady Cherie huffed and turned away from him, but that was all very well for Thomas. He had better things to think about than how to deal with her ill temper. Like what he was going to say to his best friend when he walked through those doors.
It had been a fortnight since the disastrous night when he and Lady Cherie had been seen outside the inn by Lord Breckenridge. The intervening weeks had been so busy with the management and running of his duchy that he hadn’t been able to spare much thought to his upcoming nuptials—or to what Aidan would say to him when he arrived home from his honeymoon. But now, sitting in the drawing room he knew so well, nerves filled him.
You have nothing to be nervous about, he reminded himself.If it weren’t for you, Lady Cherie would be ruined—or worse.
Thomas had written to Aidan, of course, the moment he’d arrived home after dropping Lady Cherie off at Vaston Manor. But he hadn’t known exactly where his friend was staying inRome, and it seemed that Lady Cherie had also sent a letter that had reached the duke before his own because the letter Thomas had received from his friend had been clipped and irritated sounding. Thomas was sure that in Lady Cherie’s version of events, he was the villain, not the hero.
Still, there was no saying how Aidan would react, even once he knew the full story. Brothers were very protective over their little sisters, and Aidan was no exception to this rule.
At that moment, the door to the drawing room burst open, but when Thomas stood, it wasn’t the Duke of Vaston that he greeted, but the Ladies Minerva and Samantha.
“Cherie!” Lady Samantha cried, holding out her arms to Lady Cherie. “We’re here!”
“Oh, thank heaven!” Lady Cherie said, standing and greeting her friends.
“Are we on time?” Lady Minerva asked.
“And why, pray tell,” Thomas interrupted, “are you ladies here, exactly?”
All three ladies turned to face him, each with sour looks on their faces. None more so than his fiancée, of course.
“We’re here to support Cherie,” Lady Samantha said, putting her hands on her hips. “To make sure she is not coerced into marriage.”
“This is a private family matter,” Thomas snapped. He didn’t at all like the tone that Lady Samantha took with him. “One that does not involve you in the slightest.”
“But it does involve us,” Lady Minerva said. “We are as good as sisters to Cherie.”
“This is a difficult enough situation,” Thomas said, “without the lot of you meddling.”
“Meddling, are we?” Lady Samantha asked heatedly. “Is that what you call protecting a lady?”
“Iamprotecting the lady!” Thomas said through gritted teeth. “I am protecting her from scandal and ruin!”
Lady Samantha and Lady Minerva looked at each other, and he couldn’t quite read the look that passed between them.
“I must say, he seems quick to jump to your defense, Cherie,” Minerva noted. She was addressing Lady Cherie, but her eyes were still on Thomas, appraising him.
“Or he is obsessed with playing the part of the hero,” Lady Samantha suggested, more dryly. “Many men love to be a white knight, even when the lady doesn’t need one.”
“Please stop talking about me as if I am not here,” Thomas said crossly.
“And he is handsome,” Samantha said, ignoring him. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him so close-up before.”
“He’s certainly improved to look upon since he was at university,” Lady Minerva agreed. “Cherie, remember when he helped us decorate the treehouse? I thought he was rather ungainly then, and awkward.”
“I was never awkward!” Thomas said indignantly. He colored as the women all stared at him. As much as he didn’t like to acknowledge them when they spoke of him as if he wasn’t there, he had to make sure that particular remark was stricken from the record. “I was merely unsure how to interact with young ladies who were almost, but not quite, of marriageable age. Especially when one of them was the youngest sister of my best friend.”
“The very definition of awkwardness,” Lady Samantha said, smiling wickedly. “But I will count it as a point in your favor that you helped two young ladies decorate a treehouse. Not many young men would do so.” She glanced at Lady Cherie. “I have to stick to my original assessment, which is that if you had to marry someone, he wouldn’t be the worst.”
Thomas flushed again.Is that supposed to be a compliment?
Lady Cherie, however, glowered at her friend. “You’re not helping!” she hissed at her.
“Ladies,” Thomas said, and this time, he lent a note of insistence to his voice, “I must ask you to leave. We have a delicate matter to discuss with the duke and duchess, and it will only be more difficult for all of us if you are here.”
