Page 79 of The Duchess' Ultimatum
“I…” He grimaced. “Was just making sure that nothing was left behind.”
She scoffed. “You miss her.”
“I told you that I do not.”
“And I told you I do not believe you.”
Despite himself, Dorian rose to anger. “And so what if you don’t? What does it matter – what difference does it make! Even if you were correct, it is too late now, Barabra. She is gone, and for good reason. Lamenting the fact won’t change that.”
“Good reason?” Barbara scoffed again, this time folding her arms across her chest. “And what good reason is that? Please, tell me, so I can drop the topic and never raise it again.”
Dorian opened his mouth to tell her why – to stop her pestering because he wanted this topic done with. But he realized as soon as he did that Barbara was the one person who he couldn’t tell,as she was the reason all this had happened.Not that I blame her. That is saved for someone else…
He still meant to make Lord Kenbrook pay for what he had done. And he might have done so already, had he not been so preoccupied with his sorrow.
Really, all of this, everything that had happened, could be lain at Lord Kenbrook’s feet. He was the reason that Barbara had spent so much of her life in hiding. He was the reason that Dorian had given up his own life to look after his sister. And he was the reason that Dorian had decided not to pursue a further relationship with Penelope, for fear of what Lord Kenbrook would do.
Only now… Dorian considered for the first time if he need worry about such a thing. Lord Kenbrook was the villain here, and if the world was to hear about what he had done then it would not matter what rumors he thought to spread. In fact, if Dorian made it known to Lord Kenbrook that he was aware of the repugnant lord’s actions, that might even be enough to force him into silence…
And if that was to happen, then what worry would I have about Penelope’s reputation?
It was subtle, but for the first time, there was a fluttering deep inside his soul that felt suspiciously like hope.
“Would you like that?” Dorian asked softly, not daring to look at his sister because he did not want her to see the smile forming behind his eyes. “If I was to... if Penelope and I…”
“What sort of question is that?” Barbara cried. “Of course I would like that! Dorian….” She took both his hands and forced him to look at her. “I know why you have looked after me all this time – and not because you felt that I needed it, even if that was part of the reason. But because you needed it too. You were there for me as I was there for you, but you must know that you don’t have to be there for me any longer.” Her smile grew and it reached her eyes. “I don’t need you like I once did.”
“But what if you can’t find someone?” he asked, almost wanting her to confirm that she might not. “What if you try and fail and…”
She laughed. “And what? End up alone and miserable like you? Maybe I will, maybe I will not. But it is not your concern. Not anymore. Please understand that where all you have ever wanted is for me to be happy, that is all I have ever wanted for you. I only wish I told you sooner.”
A smile crept in at the side of Dorian’s lips. It started from his heart, swelling through his body, and soon his face was taken with it.
Funny that he had never thought of it like that before. That all these years, he had focused only on Barbara’s happiness with no concern for his own. That he had never considered that hisown sense of well-being might be linked to his sister’s. That she would want that for him.
“Now, tell me,” she said. “If you were with Penelope right now – if she came back. Would that make you happy?”
“It would,” he admitted, knowing it to be the truth.
“Then what is stopping you?”
The answer to that was a simple thing, as there was but one impediment standing between himself and Penelope. One man, a twisted and evil creature who was long over-due being given his comeuppance. And in this instance, Dorian could not wait to do it.
He would go see Lord Kenbrook. He would make it known that he was not to be blackmailed or threatened – that for what he did, he would pay. And once that message was given, once Penelope’s reputation was safe, he would tell her once and for all how he felt.
As to how he felt? For the first time, Dorian knew the answer and was willing to admit it. He loved her, and what was more, he was certain that she loved him too.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Istill think that this is a bad idea,” Albina said for what had to have been the hundredth time. “Think about it, Penelope. Give it a few more days – a few more weeks! What does it matter if you do? What is the rush?”
Penelope did not have the strength to argue, just as she did not have the strength to justify herself any longer. She needed this done, as it was the only way she could think to remove Dorian from her mind once and for all.
“My mind is made up,” Penelope told her, the sorrow heard clear on her voice. “And it won’t be changed.”
“But –”
“Please, Albina, don’t.” Penelope looked at her cousin, letting the sadness show in her eyes. She needed her cousin to know that this was not an idea come upon without consideration of the consequences, that it was not a whim or a flight of fancy. She hadspent days with the thought, resigning herself to its inevitability because in her mind it was the only course to take. “Not now. Not anymore.”
