Page 11 of The Duke of Lies
“Yes, Mama. But make sure it’s next to me.” He grinned at both of them before turning and disappearing down the corridor.
The duchess faced him and let out a breath, as if she’d just completed a difficult task. He supposed she had.
“I don’t really care where I sleep,” he said.
“Then perhaps you should take the room next to Beau. If that’s all right?” She looked at him in wary expectation despite the fact that he’d just said he didn’t care. He had to get to the bottom of what was wrong with her. Or him. Or both of them.
He gestured to a chair opposite the settee. “Sit. Please.”
She dropped onto the seat with alacrity, then blinked as her mouth pulled into a frown. He thought she might say something, but she only clasped her hands in her lap. Her tension was palpable.
He searched for the right words to say. “I sense your discomfort, and I’d like to allay your…” He’d been about to say fears, but decided that was too harsh, “concerns. Please, I ask that you be completely honest.”
Her brows shot up, and he could almost see her mind churning as her hands squeezed together and she sucked in her cheeks. It took her another moment to gather her thoughts—or so it seemed. “Truly? You want my honesty.”
He offered a placid smile. “Without reservation.”
“I don’t recognize you at all.”
It was a hard punch to the gut, but not unexpected. While he knew he looked similar to the duke, their likenesses were not identical. “I’ve been gone a long time,” he said carefully.
“Yes.” She flattened her hands against her skirts and flexed her fingers. “It’s not that you look different—though you do. A bit anyway.” She blinked at him. “Are your eyes green?”
“Yes. Like Beau’s.” He’d no idea what color eyes the duke possessed.
“I recall them being hazel.”
“Sometimes, depending on the light, there’s a bit of brown in them.” It was another outright lie, but he’d have to become accustomed to telling those.
She tipped her head to the side and narrowed her eyes slightly. Straightening, she continued, “As I was saying, it’s not just that you look a bit different. Your behavior is… Well, it’s completely foreign. Quite simply, you aren’t the Rufus I married.”
Here was his chance. If not to peel back the layers of her apprehension about him, then to perhaps assuage her concerns. “Is that a bad thing?”
She froze for the briefest moment. “No,” she said quietly. “And therein lies the problem. It’s quite a good thing, actually. But is it…real?” The words fell from her mouth like petals floating to the earth—soft and halting before settling around him with finality.
“I’m real.” That was all he could say. All he wanted to say just then.
“You asked me to be honest. I need to know that I can trust you to be this different person.”
How he wanted to ask what kind of person he’d been before! It wasn’t good, that much was clear. How much of a prick was his bloody relative? Kit would find out. Someone would tell him.
“I’ve endured a harrowing experience,” he said. “And I’ve been gone a long time—long enough to have changed significantly.” That much was true. He’d left England a fifteen-year-old lad and returned a lifetime later.
“I can trust you to be…kind?”
He inwardly groaned and pledged to smack the duke if they ever crossed paths. Which seemed highly unlikely. “On my honor.” He realized his honor was an unknown commodity to her. “How about this: You shall have the power to say and do whatever you feel necessary. I will sleep where you tell me, interact with Beau however you direct, and communicate with you however you prefer. The only thing I require is autonomy to deal with the estate as is my duty.”
His duty.
His mind went back to that summer seventeen years ago, when his father—his real father—had brought him here and showed him the life that should have been his.Ifhe’d been legitimate. He’d loved every moment, had hungered for the impossible that would allow him to inherit the dukedom some day. But it had been, or so he’d thought, unattainable.
Until now.
He needed money—which his father had promised him—to purchase a new ship. But hewantedthis position and this place, at least for a little while.
“That’s rather generous of you, thank you.” She still looked as if she didn’t believe him.
He leaned forward and winced as she shrank back against the chair. God,hewasn’t a monster, but he wanted to throttle the man who’d done this to her. “You don’t need to trust me yet. You’ll see that things will be…better than they were before.” He hated what she must think of him, but it wasn’t as if he could tell her the truth. Hell, he could take any number of things from the house and be on his way tomorrow. Maybe that was what he should do…
