Page 9 of Captured By the Cold Duke
Thomas turned back to Norton, who seemed to cower before him. He took a step forward, anger radiating off of him.
“I will give you money to settle your debts with the Earl of Rochford,” Thomas said softly. “As much as it pains me to help a bounder such as you, I will do it to ensure that you never again try to use Lady Cherie as a negotiation tactic.”
“Your Grace, thank y?—”
“And if you ever threaten my fiancée again or try to marry her off before the Duke of Vaston returns, then nothing—and I mean nothing—will save you. Do you understand?”
Norton nodded, and Thomas turned and swept from the room, hoping with every ounce of his being that Norton was scared enough not to try anything else.
The next morning, Cherie sent notes to Minerva and Samantha, and that afternoon, they both called on her during visiting hours. She waited for them in the parlor, pacing back and forth, unable to sit still.
“Cherie!” Samantha said, the moment she flung open the doors to the parlor and hurried inside. “What happened?! Did your cousin discover you? Did Helen never arrive?”
Minerva followed close behind her, and Cherie quickly explained everything that had transpired the night before. By the end of her story, both women were staring at her in horror.
“This is my fault!” Minerva finally said, breaking the silence. “I should have double-checked that my driver knew to take you to Carleton Cottage, not a seedy inn of the same name. He didn’t seem surprised by the destination, though…” she trailed off, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m so sorry, Cherie! Please, forgive me.”
“It’s not your fault,” Cherie murmured. Her mouth felt as dry as sand. “I know you were only trying to help. You could never have predicted that the Duke of Wheaton would be there, or that we’d be discovered together.”
Samantha looked up at her shakily. “I cannot believe how spectacularly our plan failed,” she said. “It feels almost comical.”
“Yes,” Cherie said dryly. “Almost.”
“Although…” Samantha hesitated. “Surely if you have to marry someone, then the Duke of Wheaton isn’t the worst prospect? Aren’t you two friends?”
“We were,” Cherie said, “but the duke seems to have become a new person entirely since inheriting his title. I could barelyrecognize him. He is so cold and cruel now. His title must have changed him…”
Cherie suddenly recalled an afternoon, six or seven years ago, when she’d been a mere girl of thirteen, and her brother had returned home from Cambridge with several friends in tow, including Lord Casserly. Casserly often accompanied her brother home from university, and he was by far Cherie’s favorite of her brother’s friends. While the other young men had competed in a game of pall mall outside on the lawns—refusing to let Cherie join them, of course—Lord Casserly had sat with her in the drawing room and let her beat him at cards. She had always appreciated this gesture. He was older and had every reason in the world to make fun of her the way her brother did or ignore her as his other friends did.
But Lord Casserly had been kind, and, sensing her loneliness, had taken it upon himself to amuse her. Her mother had recently died, and with Aidan away at university, those years had been especially difficult. She had been forever grateful for his kindness, and while they had become less close when he’d gone abroad to India, she had always looked forward to his trips home. At the beginning of the Season, when he’d returned home the last time, her heart had leapt in her chest when she had glimpsed him across the ballroom.
But now… now the Duke of Wheaton had replaced Lord Casserly, and he was as distant and cold as all the other fashionable lords who cared for nothing other than titles and rank.
“But you would rather marry him than the Earl of Rochford, surely?” Minerva asked, disrupting her thoughts.
Cherie shook herself, forcing these memories from her mind, and turned to look at her friend. Minerva was watching her closely, her brow wrinkled slightly.
“Anyone is better than the Earl of Rochford,” Cherie finally relented. “But I made a promise to my mother that I would marry for love, and I am not going to compromise that now. Not after everything I went through to try and escape that… detestable marriage.”
There was a short silence as all of them contemplated her words.
“I know!” Samantha exclaimed at last. “You must write to Cassandra and His Grace! Urge them to return from their honeymoon as quickly as possible. Explain what has happened and that you need their help. The Duke of Vaston will know what to do.”
“You’re right,” Cherie said, and she stood from where she was seated on the couch and strode over to the writing desk in the corner. “I’ll write to them at once! I hate to cut short their honeymoon, but this is an emergency.”
She sat down, pulled a piece of paper towards her, and dipped a quill into ink.Aidan will save me. He will understand that I can’t get trapped in a loveless marriage like Mama did.
“Well, if it isn’t the two people who most dread seeing me,” Thomas said, as he stepped into the drawing room and saw Lady Cherie and Mr. Norton sitting on opposite sides of it, not looking at one another. “My fiancée, and the man I had to save her from.”
Both Lady Cherie and Charles Norton looked up at his words, and both of them scowled. Although in Norton’s case, it was more of a fearful look than an angry one.
Good. Let the man be scared of me. That’s the only way I can keep Lady Cherie safe from him.
His fiancée’s scowl was a less welcome sight. She was already sitting stiffly, her arms crossed in front of her chest, and at the sight of him, her frown deepened, and her eyes filled with a stormy look.
“Now is not the time for jests,” she snapped. “My brother and the duchess will be arriving at any moment. Then we will have this whole affair sorted, and you and I will no longer be affianced.”
“You say that like I myself wouldn’t be relieved by the prospect,” Thomas said, seating himself near Lady Cherie in a stiff wooden chair. It was better to stay alert, after all. “But it’s not as if I wanted to get married. I have just come into a large duchy that is taking up a considerable amount of my time and energy. Myfather’s finances are difficult to fully understand, and on top of that, I’m now in the process of selling our business in India so that I might remain on this continent for the foreseeable future. This is not the ideal time for me to take a wife.”
