Page 70 of Taken By the Dangerous Duke

“That’s all I wanted. I was trying to tell him that, but he wouldn’t hear me out, Margaret.”

“Oh, stop playing the victim, Father. You expect to come here and be welcomed with open arms. Now, follow me and we can talk. Cynthia, I will be back to discuss things with you when we are done.”

Cynthia nodded and remained at the top of the stairs while Margaret descended them. When she got to the bottom, Arthur was facing her and he raised an eyebrow. Margaret nodded her head slightly in response, and the tension left the duke’s shoulders.

“I can have refreshments sent to you if you feel you need them,” said Arthur.

“Thank you, dear; but no. I don’t think this will take very long.” Margaret took one last look at Arthur before she turned to her father. “Let’s get this over and done with, Father.”

“I don’t think I have ever heard a daughter talk to her father like this. The least you could do is show some respect, Margaret.”

“Oh, we are far past that, Father. After what you have done, you can’t command respect from anyone.”

“I will be close,” said Arthur. “If you need anything, you only need to call for me.”

“Thank you again, my dear,” said Margaret, touching her husband’s arm purposely in front of her father. She walked off, leaving her father to follow her toward the card room. She felt it the perfect place to meet, being a place where she would not normally entertain guests for conversation. She wanted to show her father that she had lost what little respect she had once had for him.

“Have you come here to tell me that you are dropping the charges against Cynthia?” asked Margaret, turning to face her father when they entered the card room.

“Why would I do that?” he asked, obviously unsure of himself. “I have no doubt that we are going to win the case, so if you want to see your friend again, you should convince her to tell us where the money is.” Her father smiled. “If the money is returned, we can make all of this go away.”

“Will you please stop talking as if you are not trying to bribe us, Father? You know, I would at least take you a little more seriously if you just came out and admitted what you were doing. We all know this is a ridiculous attempt to save some face and replace the money you were going to get for selling me, but you are going to be left with nothing.”

“We will let the courts decide on that,” said James.

“Yes, we will,” said Margaret. “We have two lawyers on the case, and you can only afford to have one lawyer working part-time. And, it is Gerald who is paying for that. Is he hoping to get the most money from a small investment?”

“You have lost your mind,” said her father. “You really have no idea about anything, do you? You are going to lose your friend and you are going to lose a lot of money in the process.”

“We shall see, Father. The duke has a thousand times more money than Gerald, and he is willing to do whatever it takes to help our friend.”

“Even if it ends up costing him more than what Cynthia would have to pay Gerald?”

“Yes,” said Margaret with a smile. “He only just told our lawyers that he is willing to spend ten times the amount to keep Cynthia out of jail. And he does not only have money, but he also has influence too. So, if you want this to go to court, then we will see you there, and it is not going to end well unless you have something up your sleeve, but we know that you don’t.”

“You might be surprised,” he said.

“I would be very surprised,” said Margaret. “You, Mother, and Gerald are not nearly half as clever as you think you are. You have nothing else, and I know you are not willing to take the risk of going to court for nothing, so you might as well drop all of this now.”

“Well, we are not going to do that,” blustered James.

“I don’t think I have seen you so scared before, Father. You know, I was once intimidated by you, but not anymore. If that is all you came here to say, I can show you the way out.”

“No, that is not what I came here to say.”

“Well, let me hear it,” said Margaret.

“Your mother and I want you to come home and stop all of this nonsense. Your mother told me all about the problems with the duke, and that you can’t have a child with him, and that is his fault. Gerald will give you a child, and we can put all of this nasty business behind us.”

“I just want to get this straight. If I come with you and agree to wed Gerald, you will forget about the trial with Cynthia?” asked Margaret.

“Those are your words, my dear. I suppose that I could do that for you if you are prepared to do what is right. Being with a man who can’t give you a child is a horrible thing. You can have the marriage annulled quite easily, and I will even pay for it. Once you are with Gerald, you will see that we were right all along.”

Margaret thought about telling him that she was pregnant, but he didn’t deserve it. She could think of nothing worse than having this man as a grandfather to her child. No, she would rather escape back to York and have the child there away from her parents. She didn’t even care what her future held, as long as she gave the child the best upbringing possible.

“I can see that you are going through something, Margaret. You are in a lot of pain, and you need your family around you.” Her father almost sounded caring.

“I would rather be childless than bring a child into our family. You are right that I won’t ever give you a grandchild, and I am happy with that. You should leave. You came here to say what you had to say, and I have no intention of coming home with you. But I thank you for coming. It certainly helped me to make my mind up about my future.”

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