Duchess Beware (Secrets & Scandals Book 2) (18 page)

Silver gripped the reins tightly in her hands and wondered if husbands were allowed to send their wives away in such a manner.  Surely if fathers could send their daughters off to live elsewhere, so could husbands.  Would that happen?  Would Daniel send her away?  She really didn’t know.

Daniel glanced at the lake, his hands locked behind his back.  As Torie, Megan, and Evie chatted behind him, he breathed in the hint of pine in the crisp, cool air.  A fish jumped up from the water, making ripples in the smooth glassy surface.  Overhead, a hawk cried out to its mate as they scanned the field for a mouse or small rabbit.  His thoughts turned to Silver.

How would he make her understand?  Love made people weak.  What happened to his parents and Garrett was proof enough.  Because of love, his parents had died and Garrett was nearly destroyed by grief.  He vowed long ago he wouldn’t allow that to happen to him.  The day he vowed to never fall in love.

“May I have a word with you, Daniel?”

He turned and found Megan beside him.  For reasons he could not name, the sight of her no longer affected him as it once did.  He had no urge to pull her into his arms and kiss her.  Unlike Silver.  Just the thought of kissing his wife made his blood boil.  Damn, he couldn’t stop thinking of her.

“Daniel, may I speak with you?” Megan asked again, worry knotting her brow.

He glanced to where Torie and Evie conversed under a tree, paying them no attention.  From this distance, they would not overhear.  “Of course.  What would you like to discuss?”

She smiled that dazzling smile of hers.  “I must admit, I thought you’d be taking this a bit differently.”

“Taking what?”

“My marriage to Nicholas.”  She clasped her hands together before her.  “I’m sorry I accepted your offer of marriage.  I never should have.”

He paused, noticing the worry returning to her lovely eyes.  “I wasn’t aware you and Nicholas even knew each other.”

She reached up and adjusted her necklace.  The scent of jasmine came to him, though he much preferred the scent of roses.  Silver.  He gritted his teeth, shaking his head slightly to try and dislodge all thoughts of his wife.

Megan chuckled, gaining his full attention.  “Actually, I have been in love with Nicholas for years.”  Then she turned serious and glanced out to the lake.  “But that’s a long story.  Just know that at the time I accepted your betrothal, I believed Nicholas didn’t care for me.” With a sad smile, she turned back to him.  “I am afraid that was reason for my acceptance.  But when I learned he really did love me, I-I had to marry him.”  She placed her hand on his arm.  “You do understand, don’t you?”

Hell, no, he didn’t understand.  Love made a person weak.  But if Megan chose to believe in love, he wouldn’t say anything to the contrary.  Obviously, she and Nicholas held a great affection for each other.  Just being around them a short time made that clear.  He patted her hand.  “I accept your apology and do not hold any ill feelings about our broken betrothal.”  He reached into his pocket and pulled out her miniature, then handed it to her.  “Congratulations on your marriage.”

Megan accepted the tiny portrait and a smile broke free.  “So, we’re still friends?”

“Of course we are.”

She rose up on her toes to kiss his cheek.  “I am so glad to hear you say that.”

Just as her horse topped the incline and the expansive lake came into view, Silver saw her husband with the goddess.  She pulled too hard on the reins, nearly making the mare rear up.  The horse side-stepped and flattened its ears, clearly annoyed.  Her heart gave a painful twist.  Near the lake’s edge, Daniel just inches before Megan, holding her hands.  Then the beautiful duchess reached up and kissed his cheek.  Pain tore through Silver’s middle, leaving her breathless.  Before she had the chance to whirl the horse around and ride back to the house, Torie caught sight of her and Nicholas.

“Silver!  Come, Evie and I have been discussing something wonderful.”

Nicholas slid from his saddle and moved to her side.  She searched his features, certain he had witnessed the kiss.  He merely smiled and assisted her to the ground.

“Silver,” Torie said, her face animated with excitement, “Evie and I were discussing your debut.”

“Debut?”  Silver did not like the sound of that.  She nodded her thanks to Nicholas and turned to her sister-in-law.

Torie nodded enthusiastically.  “Yes.  Your debut into Society.”

Before she could comment on that absurd idea, Megan and Daniel joined them.  “A debut is a fabulous idea,” Megan said as Nicholas slid an arm around her waist.

Silver shook her head.  “I don’t think—”

“We can host it,” Megan interrupted, turning to her husband.  “Can’t we, Nicholas?”

“Of course.”  He smiled wide.  “In fact, I think that is an excellent idea.”

Fear struck Silver.  “But…but I’m not ready for something like that.”  She envisioned how Daniel’s peers would laugh at the bumbling buffoon he’d married.  At the very least, she would need months to study how Society worked.  She also needed time to practice the various dance steps.  The few lessons she’d managed to take from Katrina’s instructor in trade for translating some letters had been years ago.  Silver wondered if she could recall anything she had been taught.  What if she did or said something wrong?  What if she curtsied to a servant or spouted the wrong title or couldn’t remember any of the dance steps?

“Of course you are ready,” Evie said.

Silver chewed on her bottom lip and glanced at Daniel.  He said nothing.  His face was a blank mask.  She had no idea what he thought about this debut plan of Torie’s.  Did talk of parties bore him?  Or was there something else going on?  She thought of him with Megan a few minutes ago and her heart gave a sharp bounce.

“I’ll make out the guest list, if you don’t mind.”

She turned to Megan and forced a smile.  “No, I don’t mind.”  Then a thought occurred to her.  “Will there be a lot of people there?”

“Not many.  Two, three hundred, perhaps.”

“That’s not many?” she choked out and gripped the sides of her dress.

“Everyone will be curious,” Nicholas said.

“Why is that?”

He smiled.  “They will want to meet the new Duchess of Huntington.”

The light dawned, and her stomach sank.  People would be there to find out why Daniel had married her.  Her family held no title or great wealth, they were unknown and uninfluential.  Even she knew powerful families and wealthy peers married into the families of one another.  So when Society found no obvious reasons for the marriage, they would likely scrutinize her. 

Silver glanced in Daniel’s direction, watching him study the lake.  Her uneasiness grew.  Why didn’t he say something?  Was he just as troubled with this debut idea as she?  Or was it something darker, deeper.  Did he regret their marriage?

God help her.

Chapter Sixteen

Silver lowered her book and listened to the quietness around her, wishing Megan, Nicholas, and Evie would have stayed a few more days.  It surprised her to realize how much she cared for her new friends.  In a short time, they had already come to mean a great deal to her.

Then her thoughts turned to her husband, and she frowned.  He had been acting so odd lately.  During the last few days, Daniel had been with Nicholas or cooped up in his study working.  Running six enormous estates, a shocking number, that—in addition to other business affairs—took much of his time.  But why the devil hadn’t he been coming to her at night?

The door opened, interrupting her musings.  Craning her head around the side of the wing-back chair that had been turned to the window to catch the midday light, she watched the dowager and Andrew enter the library.  Silver halted from calling out when she heard the dowager’s frosty statement.

“I have finally discovered why Daniel married her.”

Every muscle in Silver’s body tightened.  She strained to hear Andrew’s reply.  “Please, Gran, leave it alone,” he said softly.  “Nothing can be done now.  Daniel has made his decision.”

She shifted slightly in the chair for a better look, her ears straining to catch every word.  As much as she didn’t want to hear any of this conversation, she couldn’t stop herself from learning how each member of Daniel’s family felt about her.  She also wanted to find some way to win the dowager over.  That might be an impossible feat, but she was determined to give it her best effort.

The dowager shook her head.  “Daniel never should have gone to Scotland, much less stay in that godforsaken country for so long.  I daresay, Andrew, all this unpleasantness could have been avoided.  I am certain something happened between the two of them, if you understand my meaning, and Daniel wedded the girl out of obligation.”

Silver bit her lip to keep from gasping.  Something akin to panic welled up within her, for she realized maybe Daniel’s reasons for marriage might have been different from her own.  That…that he’d married her to appease his guilt.

“I find that hard to believe, Gran.”

The dowager crossed her arms.  “Then tell me why Daniel would have married that girl with such haste and without a proper courtship or betrothal?  I think the excuse of her about to marry someone else was utter tripe.”

Silver held her breath, praying Andrew would come up with something logical to say.  Anything at all.  She wanted nothing above being accepted into Daniel’s family and would do anything to keep that dream alive.  For too long, she’d lived with people who cared nothing for her, who thought of her as a burden, who ridiculed and demeaned her.  Silver thought all that had changed the day she married Daniel. She had been certain he’d come to care for her and wanted her to be a part of his family.  But hearing the dowager’s words, she wasn’t so certain anymore.

“Grandmother—”

“I have also come to the conclusion,” the dowager said, “that Daniel was punishing himself.”

Andrew’s brows snapped together.  “What?  Why?”

“Megan was taken from him by another, and that was something he could have avoided.”

A frown pulled at the corners of Silver’s lips as she digested those words.  She remembered seeing Megan rise up to kiss Daniel’s cheek at the lake as she and Nicholas arrived.  The memory still made her chest pinch something awful.

“Are you suggesting Daniel was so heartbroken over Lady Megan’s marriage, he wed Silver as a result?”

Silver raised a hand over her mouth, utterly sickened by the thought.

“Precisely so,” the dowager said with a nod.  “Although I am convinced something happened in Scotland as well and why the marriage was so rushed.”

Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes, not wanting to hear another word.  The reason for Daniel’s odd behavior, which coincidentally began with Megan’s arrival, became painfully clear.  The dowager must be right.  Her fingers bit into the arms of the chair.  She felt like such a fool.

She had also declared her love to Daniel.  Silver groaned inwardly.  Daniel hadn’t returned the vow of love.  Why?  Because he didn’t love her.  He still loved Megan.

Squeezing her eyes shut even tighter, Silver shook her head, hoping the action would rattle that terrible thought out.  It didn’t.  And a raw, ferocious pain exploded within her, nearly taking her breath away.  She pressed a hand to her chest and gulped in some air.  Her heart thundered against her palm.

Then rage found its mark.

Silver opened her eyes and welcomed the turbulent feelings heating her body, giving her strength.  Rage helped divert some of the pain to a dark corner of her heart so she wouldn’t fall apart.  Not yet.  Setting the forgotten book in her lap aside, she stood and marched from the room, vaguely aware that Andrew and the dowager had already left.

Pity.  She could have vented some of her anger.

Silver stormed directly to her husband’s study and threw open the door without knocking.  The brass handle banged hard against the wood paneling, making the slender man sitting at the small desk off to the side of the room jump.

She gave him a pointed glare.  “Out,” she snapped and would have laughed if she hadn’t been so furious.

The poor fellow stumbled to his feet, managing to upset the chair behind him.  Papers and quills shot up in the air, then fluttered to the floor.  In his haste to retrieve the documents, he overturned his inkwell.  It oozed a black puddle on the center of his desk, ran over the front edge, and dripped right onto the expensive Persian rug.

While he rushed to straighten the inkwell, apologizing profusely, Silver planted her hands on her hips.  “I said out.  Now!”

The secretary bowed, smearing ink over the front of his tan pants, and scampered from the room with one of the documents stuck unnoticed to the bottom of his shoe.

When the door closed with a soft click, Silver turned to her husband.  Ignoring how sinfully handsome he looked as light from the open window formed a halo around his wavy dark hair, she allowed him to see the full measure of her fury.

“Silver, what—?”

“When did Megan and Nicholas marry?”

His green eyes narrowed and he rose from his chair.  “Have a seat.”  He indicated with his hand one of the brown leather chairs before his desk.

She shook her head, unwilling to move any closer to him.  “When did Megan and Nicholas marry?”  She clenched her jaw when she spoke to keep from roaring the words.  The answer already came when she recalled Lady Longley’s announcement in Aunt Caroline’s drawing room.  But she wanted to hear the truth from Daniel.  She wanted to know everything.

“What does that matter?”

Her pulse pounded so hard in her ears, she could hardly hear.  With a deep breath, she forced herself to calm a bit.  “It matters to me.”

Daniel assessed her, probably trying to sort out her words and why she was so angry.  “They have been married four months.”

She slid her eyes closed.  He did know.  Even before he boarded the ship to Scotland, he knew Megan and Nicholas had married.  The dowager’s words to Andrew just a few minutes ago echoed in her ears.  She forced her eyes back open.  “You were engaged to Lady Megan, correct?”  She had to push the question past her lips while she still had an ounce of anger to give her courage.

He hesitated.  “Yes.”

“But she married Nicholas instead.”

He clenched his jaw.  “Yes.”

Silver bowed her head, dismay chasing away the remainder of her anger, making her weak and hollow inside.  But she couldn’t leave yet.  Not without hearing the truth from Daniel’s lips.  Squaring her shoulders, she faced her husband.  “Who broke the engagement, you or Megan?”  It took every effort to keep her voice even.

When he remained silent, she took a deep breath and pressed him.  “I must know, Daniel.”

He drew his brows and started to step forward but must have thought better of it and stopped.  “Why?  Why must you know?”

“Because it’s important to me.”  She gripped the sides of her dress, already knowing the answer to this question as well.  And like before, she had to hear him say the words.

“Silver, you ask the—”

“Just answer the question.”

“All right, she broke the engagement.”

She turned away and wrapped her arms around her body, as though she would shatter and needed to hold the pieces together.  Just as she suspected, he had not broken the engagement.  That meant Megan’s feelings, not Daniel’s, had changed.  Seeing her with Nicholas, Silver could guess the reason.  Dear God, the dowager was right.  Daniel had taken the trip to Scotland to mend his broken heart. 

She glanced down at the business documents scattered over the colorful rust, beige, and bottle green rug.  He had to have felt strongly about leaving to abandon such important matters.  She remembered the miniature he carried in his pocket.  And her thoughts turned to Daniel and Megan together at the lake.

Silver knew something had changed between her and Daniel, and it happened the moment Megan stepped through the front door.  A tremor went through her as she silently admitted what was plain to see.  What it seemed everyone saw.

“You still love her, don’t you?” she said softly, terrified of his answer more than any other.  She slowly faced him, having to hear him say the rest.  “Is that the reason you’ve become so distant?”

His brows shot up, then lowered over his eyes.  “Love,” he repeated, his lips twisting into a frown.  Glancing down to his desk, he reached out and grazed the surface with his fingertips.  “Love is destructive.”

“What do you mean?” she asked and held her breath.

When he glanced up, his eyes glittered with some fierce emotion she could not name.  “Love will not be a part of this marriage, Silver.”

With a gasp, she stumbled back a step, trying to process his words.  He refused to love her.  Spinning around, she skirted the mass of papers and the large ink stain, and fled.

Daniel didn’t follow.

****

The hunter sat in a dark corner trembling.  Fran hadn’t come home.  Again.  He’d had to eat another meal alone, drink another glass of port alone, and spend another bloody evening alone.  God, how he hated being alone.

Visions of her with her lover tormented him day and night.  How she must be spreading her legs, playing the whore.

Glancing at the long sharp blade on the table before him, he vowed this would not go on forever.  Surely, Frannie would come to her senses and come home.  Wouldn’t she?

He snatched up the bottle of wine at his elbow and poured another drink.  A contented sigh escaped his lips after he gulped down half the pungent red liquor.  Fran would come to her senses.  His eyes strayed to the reflection on the cold steel, to the red locks tied together with a pale blue ribbon.  His plan would guarantee his wife’s return.

Then terrible thoughts meandered their way into his mind.  What if Fran didn’t want him anymore?  What if she no longer loved him?  What if she preferred her lover?

Perhaps she wished to escape him and never return.  Then he would be alone, forever.

Desperation gripped his insides, making his body cold and numb.  Of course she wanted to escape him.  The bitch had even gone so far as to change her name.  She went by Silver now.

He drank down the last of the wine, a few droplets leaking from the corner of his mouth.  He swiped away the liquid with the back of his hand and picked up his Vengeance.  Soon, he thought, smiling over the deadly blade, his teeth gleaming white on the polished metal.  Very soon.  Fran would pay for her betrayal.  Just like last time. 

Just like next time.