Page 68 of His Auctioned Duchess
“Good God–” someone exclaimed.
“Whose child–?” another hissed.
Louisa’s cheeks flamed. “It is Jasper’s, of course! He’s my husband after all. But now, he has ruined our unborn baby.”
Lady Ophelia had turned white as snow. “Louisa,” she breathed, “for the love of heaven, not here...”
But it was far too late.
The world had already seized upon the revelation.
Richard stood utterly motionless, the storm around him seeming to break against a wall of stillness. Only his handsbetrayed him—fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles shone white.
The scar on his cheek appeared darker under the candlelight, like an old wound newly opened.
Louisa’s eyes filled with tears. “I wanted to tell you long ago. But fear held me. Fear of what would happen to Jasper, to me. And now...” She shook her head helplessly. “Now there is no going back.”
Caroline could hardly breathe. Her mind raced, her thoughts tangling into confusion. She had married a man she barely understood, only to discover that the tragedy of his past was not cruelty—but betrayal.
The Devil had been made, not born.
Jasper gave a bitter laugh, though it trembled on the edge of despair. “A child,” he said softly, almost wonderingly. “Mine.”
Then his face contorted, fury overtaking shock. “And still you look at him,” he spat at Louisa, pointing at Richard. “Even now, even here, you look at him as though he were the sun and I but his shadow!”
Louisa flinched. “Because I cannot forget what you did to him.”
Jasper’s voice rose to a shout. “WhatIdid? I did it for us! For love! You wanted him gone, don’t deny it. You wanted him gone so you could have me without shame.”
“I wanted peace,” she whispered.
“Liar!”
He took a step forward, his eyes wild, the veins standing in his neck.
“You took my place, Richard,” he said, voice trembling. “You always do. And now you think to stand there, noble and untouched, while I rot beneath your boots?”
Richard’s silence was answer enough.
Caroline reached for his sleeve, her voice low but urgent. “Richard—please. End this before it worsens.”
He did not look at her. His jaw was set like stone, his gaze fixed on Jasper. “Leave, or I will make you.”
Jasper’s mouth twisted into a smile that was both pain and madness.
“Then you’ll have to kill me,” he whispered.
The ton held its breath.
For one dreadful moment, the room seemed balanced on the edge of violence.
Then Louisa’s sob broke the stillness.
She stumbled forward, hands outstretched, as if to shield Jasper from his own ruin. “Just stop this,” she cried. “Please. For the sake of our child.”
Jasper hesitated, the words striking through his fury—but the shame that followed burned hotter still.
He turned toward the crowd, his voice breaking. “Do you see? Do you see what love costs a man?”
