Page 94 of Unraveled By the Duke
Celia sat on the arm of the chair, put a hand on her sister’s shoulder, and clasped her hand. “Where is the picture, Aurelia?” she asked quietly.
“Do you mean this?” Lavinia crowed.
She rose to her feet, holding aloft the picture and walking to the fireplace.
Alexander casually crossed to Celia. His easy gait had the relaxed attitude of a stalking lion, prompting Greenwood to grin harder and move further away.
“Aurelia came to me with this libelous image purporting to be me and the Viscount Darnleigh. Which we all know is a lie. I think there can only be one place for this kind of thing.”
Lavinia flicked her wrist, and the paper fell into the flames.
Aurelia hid her face, weeping. Celia comforted her while glaring at Lavinia.
“I have been asking Aurelia for that picture for some time, and she finally delivered. Now, there is no evidence of your story. Didn’t I tell you, Alexander, that if any evidence existed, it would not for long. Do you remember when I told you that? When I gave you my gift?”
Her eyes were sparkling, and her smile was positively vulpine.
Alexander leaned against Aurelia’s chair as Greenwood had, but managed to look poised and dangerous. All eyes in the room were on him.
“You gave me a note for your dowry. To be cashed in exchange for betraying my wife and marrying you.”
Celia gasped and shot to her feet, incensed at Lavinia’s brazenness. Alexander’s hand landed on her arm, halting her.
Lavinia was laughing at her reaction, but it looked a bit forced.
Celia realized that Lavinia had not expected Alexander to openly admit to the offer she had made him.
“It is in a thousand pieces, scattered all over London by now,” Alexander continued calmly. “A pigeon has probably snatched some to make its nest.”
Lavinia returned to her seat with a shrug and a smile, laughing gaily. “It is of no consequence. I think you have an ultimatum before you. Does your wife know about it?”
Greenwood laughed. “I doubt it.”
“Be silent!” Alexander snapped.
Greenwood’s mouth snapped shut, his smile fading to a grimace.
“I will not hear from you, an adulterer and a bully. Speak again, and you will regret it.” Alexander barely raised his voice, but the command in his tone reverberated through the air.
Greenwood looked away.
Lavinia swallowed and shifted in her seat.
“I know about the ultimatum from Sir Nathaniel Grimaire,” Celia said calmly. “You needn’t think to hold that over Alexander’s head.”
“Oh, needn’t I? Would His Grace care to see details of the deal spread all over the gossip sheets?”
“Steady on, Lavinia. Father—” Greenwood began.
“Be silent!” Lavinia snapped, her face suddenly scarlet and her eyes blazing.
Celia frowned. Her reaction to her lover speaking was out of proportion. Why would she become so angry just because he muttered a remonstrance to her under his breath?
She found herself looking at Greenwood and hearing his words.Father. What aboutFather? Whose father?
Then, she saw it. The reason he had looked so familiar in the picture. So like someone she had come across.
“You are a Grimaire, aren’t you?” she asked.
