Page 7 of The Jilted Duchess
CHAPTER FOUR
“You did this deliberately. Everything you do is just a thinly disguised attempt to ruin my family’s reputation. Whyever my blasted husband thought fit to throw you into our lives to do nothing more than darken our doorstep…”
Hector tuned out his stepmother’s words as he studied the stone of the wall above her head. He knew Miriam and Benedict resented him, and truth be told, he could hardly blame them. Indeed, if they had been even slightly decent people, he would have felt sorry for them. Having your future be so assured one moment and then torn to ribbons by a son and brother you hadn’t even known existed the next must have been jarring. But Miriam and Benedict werenotgood people and were not worthy of pity or sympathy. He had tried and failed to create any kind of connection to them, and now he just wished it wasn’t his responsibility to deal with them at all.
“...must have been dragged up at best, no wonder Arthur wanted to keep you hidden away and-”
“What did ye just say?”
Miriam broke off at Hector’s interruption. His voice was even and steady, and yet the cool glint in his eye unnerved her for a moment. “Isaid, no wonder Arthur kept you away if this is how you turned out and-”
“Nae, ye dinnae. Ye said I wasdragged up. Who was that by? My ma was a good lass, better than ye and yours by spades. Dinnae ever speak of my ma again. She has nay place in the mouths of the likes of ye.”
Miriam flushed purple with anger. “How dare you?”She hissed, but Hector was no longer paying attention. He was loath to give Miriam the time of day anyway, but he refused to listen to insults about the woman who had raised him, loved him, and been there for him in a way Miriam could never understand with her nannies and governesses and detached demeanor. If she thought she could insult Margaret, a hardworking, salt of the earth, pillar of the community, the likes of which Miriam couldn’t hope to achieve, well, she had quite another thing coming, Hector thought.
He glanced behind him across the chapel, to where Alexandra was sitting in a pew, her sisters and their husbands gathered around her. She looked exhausted, and he was suddenly keenly aware of how many emotions must have swirled through her that day.
Poor lass. Dinnae even have time to draw breath between all the goings on, eh?
He turned suddenly and walked towards his bride, ignoring Miriam’s screech of outrage at his rudeness. Alexandra looked up and caught his eyes, and once again, he was captivated by how green hers were. She looked wary, but not upset, and so he nodded to her. “I think me and my bride will be taking our leave now. If it’s all the same t’yers, we daenae want visits for the rest of the month. It being the honeymoon and all.”
He was distantly aware of Miriam starting up again behind him, but her words fell into the abyss. All Hector could think about in that moment was the steady tug of Alexandra’s eyes on his, commanding his attention in a way he was sure neither of them understood.
Well then, he thought to himself.I guess it’s time to find out where we go from here.
Alexandra’s mind reeled as she struggled to pay attention to her sisters’ concerned fussing. She couldn’t focus, could hardly keep herself upright. Her palms were clammy and she felt burning hot all over. That morning, she had sat before her mirror, tracing the outline of her dress hanging in the closet. Penelope had brushed her hair, carefully teasing out the tangles, and Alexandra had thought about what lay ahead of her. A wedding neither party wanted. A marriage to a heartless scoundrel who seemed like he wouldn’t hesitate to harm her should he so desire. A future she could not quite envision, but knew she wouldn’t be happy in.
And yet now, she found herself married to a different man. A hulking lion of a man who she thought she should be afraid of but somehow couldn’t bring herself to be. He was wild but she thought she saw a gentleness in his eyes when he had looked at her. He was rough but his voice when he had introduced himself to her was soft. Alexandra had no idea how to feel about him, and she was exhausted by the possibilities.
“All will be well, dearest little sister,” Gabriel said quietly, attempting to soothe her jangled nerves. He placed his hand protectively on her shoulder.
Evelina wrung her hands anxiously and shared a nervous glance with Louisa, sitting beside her. “At least you’re not ruined. The Duke is a friend of yours, is he not, Gabriel? I can’t imagine you would choose to associate with a brute or a scoundrel.”
Cedric, who stood beside his wife, squeezing her shoulder, nodded in agreement before Gabriel had the chance to respond. “Hector, His Grace, is a good sort, Lexi. You need not worry about that. He may be a little, ah-” he broke off, searching for the right word.
“Strange?” Theodore offered from the back of the group.
Cedric nodded thoughtfully. “Sure. A little strange. He comes from a different world you know, he has different ideas. But he’s a hard working man, and he’s loyal and, above all, honorable. Trust us, Lexi, you will be entirely safe with him.”
Louisa smiled a watery smile and squeezed her sister’s hand. “See, Lexi? Everything will be fine. Just so long as you don’t go getting yourself into any more trouble at parties.”
Alexandra had been staring at the pew in front of her, letting her family’s words of encouragement wash over her, but she managed to grace her sister’s weak joke with a small smile. She wasn’t sure she fully trusted her brothers’ assurances, but she couldn’t deny that Hector Lennox had a strange, rugged charm about him. “Bold of you to talk of my party scandals, darling Louisa,” she retorted, hoping she could keep her teasing voice from shaking.
“Murray, good man.” Alexandra looked up upon hearing her brother-in-law’s voice, and found her field of vision once again filled with the hulking Duke of Murray. Hector shook Theodore’s hand and clapped Cedric on the back, but all the while he had eyes only for her.
Alexandra had never experienced such a wide array of emotions in such a short amount of time before, and she had no name for the breathlessness she felt every time Hector had looked at her all day. She could scarcely believe that they had only met for the first time that day. She knew nothing about him and yet every time he looked at her she felt as though she had known him for so long.
Alexandra rose slowly and took Hector’s outstretched hand. She smiled once more at her sisters, trying to look confident and reassuring. “I’ll be fine, my loves. I shall see you soon.”
Hector bowed slightly to her gathered family. “I’ll take good care of her, ma’ams. Ye can trust in that.”
Alexandra just barely caught herself before she scoffed. He was just a man. No matter how rugged and broad he was, he was a man like any other, and one thing she knew for certain was that men, even beasts who leapt to the rescue of damsels, were not to be trusted. But she knew that she had no choice. And so with one final hug for each of them, Alexandra turned and walked out of the dark chapel back into the bright sunlight, this time on the arm of her new husband.
The coach ride to Hector’s estate was quiet. Alexandra stared out of one window, watching the countryside pass by. Hector stared out the other window, surreptitiously watching Alexandra’s reflection in it. He had tried to stop himself from doing so, concerned it could be construed as menacing. But he found his eyes betraying him, straying back to her time and again.
Hector wondered if he should be concerned about how quiet she was, but he shook it off. It had been a long day; it was only natural that she was feeling overwhelmed. He himself felt off, like he had been run over by a runaway horse. A flash of memory rose up unbidden in his mind. He saw himself as a boy, the first time he had been thrown from a rearing farm horse. The beast had near trampled him in its fear over whatever had spooked it, and Hector remembered curling into a ball to protect his head. He had thought he would be trampled then, too, only for a lilting Scottish brogue to wash over him, calling the horse to her andsoothing its terror. He had looked up to see his mother, holding tight to the reins and smiling down at him.
“Daenae worry, me lad. Ye're safe. Ye're safe.”
