Page 5 of Captured By the Cold Duke
Thomas looked around for his carriage, only to remember that he had come by horse. There was no carriage.
Blast. I can’t very well have the Duke of Vaston’s sister sitting in front of me on my horse as I ride through Mayfair.
“I will not be coming back to London with you!” Lady Cherie said, her voice veering dangerously close to shouting. “You have no right to tell me what to do! What are you even doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in India?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be safe on your brother’s estate?”
Lady Cherie narrowed her eyes. “Youaresupposed to be in India. I went to the musicale you held before you went away! That’s where my brother and Cassandra became affianced. And then you left, a week later, to help run your father’s business interests.” She pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You haven’t run away, have you?”
“I'm not the one who has run away,” Thomas pointed out. He passed a hand wearily over his brow. “But yes, I am supposed to be in India. Or I was until my father suddenly became ill. I only returned to England this morning and rode straight here fromthe port. I’m to get his affairs in order and sort out the estate, as well as our business interests both in England and abroad.”
“So, he is very ill?” Lady Cherie asked. Her eyes widened, lips parting in sudden concern, and all the anger and accusation in her eyes softened.
“No,” Thomas said, and he felt his chest tighten in pain. “He is dead.”
“No!” Lady Cherie’s eyes filled with tears. She took a step towards him and touched a hand tentatively to his arm. “I am so sorry for your loss, my lord. I didn’t realize—” she faltered. “Oh, forgive me, you are notmy lordanymore, you are Your Grace! You are the Duke of Wheaton now!”
Thomas grimaced. The title still didn’t feel right. It was like someone was calling him by his father’s name. “I suppose I am. And as the new Duke of Wheaton, it is my duty to bring an unaccompanied lady back to the home of her guardian.”
Lady Cherie’s expression hardened once more, and she dropped her hand. “You had better be ready to carry me back to Mayfair thrown over your shoulder then” she hissed. “Because that is the only way I am going back to my cousin.”
Thomas thought, for a moment, that he just might do it: that he might seize the stubborn young lady, toss her over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes, and ride back to Mayfair with her kicking and screaming. He was close enough now that he could havedone so if he wanted, and she was so small and petite that he knew she would weigh nothing to carry.
For a long moment, they stared at each other, the tensions between them mounting. Cherie’s hair had come loose under her bonnet, and tendrils of dark hair were now falling in front of her gray eyes, which were sparkling with a fiery energy.
Her cheeks were flushed as well from the argument, and she looked so beautiful in her defiance that he felt his heart hammer dangerously loudly. She was so close. Close enough to scoop her into his arms and carry her to safety.
But before he could move, a shout interrupted them.
“Your Grace! I was not expecting to see you here. And with…”
Both Thomas and Lady Cherie turned at once to see Lord Breckenridge, one of the ton’s most notorious gossips, standing in front of them. And as his eyes slid to Lady Cherie, his mouth fell open.
“...with Lady Cherie Norton!”
Three
“Your Grace, I demand to know what you are doing alone with this unchaperoned young lady!” Lord Breckenridge said, puffing out his chest in indignation as he stared between them. “And outside of a seedy inn in Dover, no less!”
“This seedy inn was good enough for you, my lord!” Cherie heard the duke grumble. However, it was hard to focus on what he was saying. She was, once again, in shock, barely able to move or think. After all their planning, all the factors she and the other wallflowers had taken into consideration to avoid scandal, here she was, caught in the middle of one.
What are the chances that Thomas—His Grace—would be here? Outside the very same inn that Minerva sent me to? And that Lord Breckenridge wouldalsobe here?
“Don’t make light of this situation!” Lord Breckenridge spluttered. “You have been caught in a most licentious position,Your Grace! And with the lady’s brother out of the country, where he cannot call you out! But if you do not make right by the lady… who knows what he will do!”
This got Cherie’s attention. She looked up, startled, and took in Lord Breckenridge’s outraged face. Glancing at the duke, she thought he had gone pale as well.Is Breckenridge right?The duke was her brother’s closest friend, but Aidan was also very protective. Would he really challenge the duke to a duel if he thought he had taken liberties with her?
“There will be no need for His Grace to call me out,” the duke said, straightening and taking a small step towards Cherie. As he did, he reached out and took her hand in his. “Lady Cherie and I are engaged.”
Cherie felt as if all the air had been sucked out of her lungs. She swayed, dizziness overcoming her, and the duke tightened his grip on hers as if to steady her. When her sight came back into focus, it was to see an equally shocked look on Lord Breckenridge staring at them.
“Engaged!” he repeated, thunderously. “By Heaven! Then what are you doing here, in the middle of the night, with your fiancée dressed like a maid? You aren’t… I haven’t stumbled upon an elopement, have I?”
“Certainly not!” the duke said, and the indignation in his voice sounded so convincing that even Cherie believed, for a moment, that they weren’t in as scandalous a position as they actuallywere. “The lady was merely coming to meet me after my return from India. Her chaperone is inside.”
Lord Breckenridge’s eyes narrowed, then flickered between the duke and Cherie, who was still too numb and in shock to try and look innocent. Breckenridge’s mouth formed a pouty little smile. “Is that so? I hope you are telling the truth, Your Grace, for the lady’s sake. I should hate for you to be lying, and for scandal to haunt you from your first moments of taking up the duchy.”
“Of course I am telling the truth!” The duke sounded truly outraged now, and he took a threatening step towards Lord Breckenridge, releasing Cherie’s hand in the process. “And I shall not hear another word from you that puts my lady’s virtue in any doubt! She is a paragon of virtue, and any insinuation otherwise will be met with my full fury. In fact…” the duke paused as if thinking hard.
