Page 75 of The Duchess' Ultimatum
Penelope was quick to follow, able to hear it clearer now, realizing that Dorian was correct and that the crying she could hear was coming from Barbara’s room.
“Barbara!” Dorian rushed to where his younger sister lay face down on her bed. Head buried in her pillows, the sounds that escaped her lips were heartbreaking. “What happened? What is wrong?”
Penelope hesitated by the doorway, not certain if she should go to the young woman’s side. This felt like a family matter, but then again, was she not also family? And to see Barbara in such pain, not knowing the cause, it was all Penelope could do to stay where she was.
“I’m… I’m… fine…” Barbara sobbed, her face still buried.
“Who did this?” Dorian sat beside her, hands on her shoulders, looking caught between pulling her into an embrace and tearing from the room to find whoever had hurt his sister. “Tell me.”
Barbara shook her head. “It… it doesn’t… leave me alone!”
“Barbara, please,” Dorian pleaded. “Tell me what has happened. I can’t help you if –”
“I don’t want your help!”
Dorian winced and leaned back, unsure what to do, while still not willing to let it go. Then he looked at Penelope, hisexpression pleading because he seemed to understand that she might be able to help where he could not.
It was a small moment. Their eyes meeting, recognition that despite what might have happened between the two of them, they had come so far and she was now a part of their life.For better or worse…
“Barbara…” Penelope walked deeper into the room, approaching the bed and then sitting by the head. She reached out and stroked Barbara’s hair, keeping her voice gentle. “Clearly something is wrong, and all we want to do is help.”
“You can’t help,” she sobbed, still refusing to lift her face from the pillows. “You can’t!”
“Maybe so,” Penelope cooed softly. “But sometimes it helps just to talk of it. Please, Barbara, tell us what is wrong. We hate seeing you like this.”
“Tell us,” Dorian pressed, squeezing his sister’s shoulders. “What happened? Who did this to you?”
It was a few more seconds of strangled sobbing before Barbara finally nodded her head. And a few more before she lifted that head from the pillows to reveal a face drenched in tears and swollen from all the crying she had been doing. Beyond that, and what broke Penelope’s heart the most, was the look in her eyes. She wasn’t sad, but terrified.
“I… I did not think… I did not want to say anything,” Barbara stammered as she shifted closer to Dorian who wrapped his arm around her. “I never meant to get anyone in trouble.”
“No one is in trouble,” Penelope said. “Just tell us what happened.”
“It was Lord Kenbrook,” Barbara said, and Dorian stiffened when he heard the name. “He approached me after supper and… and…” She sniffed and wiped her nose. “He wanted to know why I wasn’t…. why I had no interest in Nicholas.”
“And then what happened?” Dorian growled through a clenched jaw. “What did he do?”
Barbara shook her head. “He didn’t do anything. He just… he just said that… that…” She sniffed again. “That it would be in my best interests if I did as I ought to.” Her chin started to wobble again and she looked away as if from shame.
Penelope shared a look with Dorian.
“Is that all?” Dorian asked. “He didn’t threaten you or… or touch you or… he –”
“He didn’t have to!” Barbara cried over him. “Not…” Her chin started to wobble further and more tears streamed down her face. “Not after last time.”
“Last time?” Dorian asked, frown deepening. “Barbara…” Slowly, he peeled himself back so he could better look at her. “What do you mean by last time?”
She bowed her head. “I never wanted to tell you – I didn’t think… I thought if I said nothing it would…” More sniffing. “That I could just pretend it didn’t matter. But that’s why I never wanted anything to do with Nicholas…”
“Why?” Dorian’s gaze hardened. “What do you mean?”
Barbara looked at her brother. “It was Lord Kenbrook, Dorian. He was the one who…” Her chin started wobbling. “When you were away, after mother died, he was… he tried to… he attempted to court me. And when I said no he… he… he…” She shoved her head into Dorian’s chest, unable to finish what she was trying to say.
Not that she needed to, as her meaning was clear enough.
Again, Penelope looked to Dorian, and she was unsurprised to see the rage building behind his eyes. All this time, he had wondered what was the cause for his sister’s isolation, why she had no desire to join thetonand seemed terrified by the very idea of being social. And now, with the answer given, Dorian’s fury seemed perfectly justified.
“Lord Kenbrook…” Penelope gasped. “He…”
