Taming the Wild Duke

Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

L ilian went to bed the moment they arrived home that night. She knew Jane was dying to rehash the events of the evening and quiz her about what exactly had gone on between her and the Duke in the conservatory. Her younger sister’s eyes had pinged back and forth between the two of them, bright with eager guessing, the entire ride back to the manor. But Jane had accepted Lilian’s plea of weariness gracefully enough.

Of course, she was waiting in the dining room when Lilian descended the stairs the next morning. The dining room table was spread with a light, appealing breakfast of fluffy porridge, boiled eggs, fruit, and golden-brown popovers.

“Good morning!” Jane chirped, looking up from her accustomed seat on the other side of the table. A half-buttered popover was in her hand. “Or…is it a good morning?” Her expression hovered between curiosity and pity.

Lilian rolled her eyes. Her stomach growled as she settled in her own seat and reached for the pitcher of orange juice. “Of course, it’s a good morning,” she said. “When have we ever allowed Priscilla Talbot to ruin our day?”

Jane tilted her head, giving her a measuring look.

“Truly, Jane. Stop looking at me like that. I’m all right now.” She sighed, ladling porridge into a bowl and surveying the fruit to decide what she would top it with. “I am sorry you weren’t able to stay at the ball though,” she apologized. “Priscilla did kind of ruin that.”

“Did she though?”

Lilian looked up in surprise. Then she flushed slightly at the expression Jane’s face. Impulsively, her sister set the popover back on her plate and leaned forward.

“You and the Duke, Lilian. In the conservatory. Speaking in hushed tones. Holding hands ! Yes, I saw that. Be glad no one else did.” She cocked her head, her lips pursed with excitement. “He certainly didn’t look cold and aloof—or as if he regretted asking you to marry him. Maybe that whole thing with Priscilla was exactly what needed to happen to bring the two of you closer.”

“Maybe.” Lilian shrugged, focusing on fixing her breakfast to avoid letting Jane get too close a look at her flushing face. She couldn’t pretend she hadn’t spent several hours after going to bed reviewing every one of the Duke’s words and expressions… and she found she agreed with Jane. His concern for her had seemed genuine. And when she’d spilled her family story, he had not drawn back.

The ride home had been quiet with her and Jane in one seat and the Duke in the other, but Lilian still fancied she felt closer to her tall, serious-faced betrothed than she ever had before.

“So…” Jane drew out the word suggestively, forcing Lilian to meet her eyes once more. The bright orbs were sparkling with barely contained eagerness. “What do you say to getting married in ten days’ time?”

Lilian’s heart somersaulted at the thought. “Oh. I don’t know Jane. Really, you mustn’t have your heart set on a double wedding…”

“But I do!” Jane exclaimed. “Please, Lilian. I would be so thrilled to share such a momentous event with you. I mean, it feels like fate, the way our stories are intertwined. Lord Munro and the Duke of Thorne are the very best of friends. We are the very best of sisters. And Priscilla is a wonderfully unifying common enemy.”

Lilian laughed. She felt bubbles of excitement beginning to rise within her as she imagined it. The beautiful October day. The crowded church and the two men standing tall and handsome at the end of the aisle.

“Lady Lilian.” John stood in the doorway, the olive wood letter tray in his hand. “A message has come from His Grace, the Duke of Thorne.”

“What?” Jane squealed. “You see, Lilian? Even though he said he would come by this afternoon, he’s thinking about you so much, he also has to send a note.”

“Don’t be silly,” Lilian said lightly. “I imagine it’s just to clarify something he misstated about the time he’d come by or something…” Despite her easy words, she felt rather breathlessly happy as she accepted the thin envelope from John and slid a finger under the flap. She pulled out the piece of paper and unfolded it.

Dear Lady Lilian,

I’m pleased to be able to tell you that you needn’t fear a repeat of what happened last night. While I greatly appreciate that you were willing to marry me in order to mend my reputation, it will no longer be necessary.

After you left the ball last night, I was able to return and secure conversations with several key businessmen in my field. In short, they have agreed to invest in the estate. It seems my standing among them has been secured, and I no longer need to marry you to maintain it.

I feel you will be as relieved by this as I am. Thus, I wanted to let you know right away.

Yours honorably,

His Grace, the Duke of Thorne

“It…doesn’t make sense.” The words left Lilian’s lips in a thin whisper as her breath escaped her body. She felt numb with shock and horror as her eyes scrambled over the words again. Surely, she must have made some mistake. But no, there they were again, in a clear, black script: will no longer be necessary…I no longer need to marry you…relieved by this as I am…

“Lilian?” Jane’s voice seemed to be coming from far away. She circled around the table and snatched the note from Lilian’s suddenly cold fingers. “What is it?” Jane cried. “What has happened?”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Lilian murmured again. And then it hit her—a wave of grief and anger such as she had never felt before. She stood up so quickly that her chair fell over backwards, thumping softly to the rug. Then, she ran.

She didn’t know where she was headed until she was halfway up the hill to the tree. Her tree. The tree that she had trusted the Wild Duke enough to share with him. By the time she slowed to a walk and entered the deep, cool shade of its golden branches, hot tears were streaming down her face in two steady rivers. She swiped them away with the back of her hand, suddenly conscious of how cold her skin was.

Wind rattled through the branches above, and a cascade of yellow floated down around her, brushing her shoulders and catching in her hair. Lilian wrapped her arms around herself and sank down among the tree’s knobby roots. She leaned back against its cold, solid trunk and closed her eyes, letting the tears fall freely.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” she mumbled aloud.

But maybe it did. She suddenly remembered Priscilla’s words from the night before—when she had called Lilian an “unwanted spinster.” The entire thing had to have been as embarrassing for the Duke as it had been for her. And then she had spilled all of that about her father and mother and how people pitied and looked down upon them.

“Lily?” Jane’s voice was hesitant, gentle. Lilian opened her eyes to find her sister hurrying toward her. Jane had taken the time to pull on a coat, and she held one out to Lilian as well. At first, Lilian’s arms felt too heavy to take it. But as Jane bent down and wrapped it around her shoulders, she gathered the energy to push her arms into the sleeves and pull it close about her.

Jane sat down next to her under the tree and put her arm around her, pulling her close.

“I ruined everything,” Lilian said mournfully.

“No, you didn’t,” Jane snapped back with enough energy to pull Lilian’s attention to her face. She looked furious. “Don’t you dare take this on yourself,” Jane said. “I don’t care what you think you said or did, this is not your fault. Nothing— absolutely nothing gives that beast the right to drop you like last summer’s fashion. Oh, I’m so mad, I could spit in his face.”

This startled a hysterical giggle from Lilian. It quickly turned into a sob. “I haven’t even dropped last summer’s fashion yet,” she reminded Jane irrelevantly. Her sister’s arm tightened around her.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jane said. Her voice had suddenly turned soothing. “None of it matters. You are absolutely perfect, Lil. Anyone who can’t see that is…is a troll.”

“Or a beast,” Lilian echoed her earlier words hoarsely. Then she turned her head, burying it against her younger sister’s shoulder. Jane cradled her head against her, rocking gently. “The worst part,” Lilian mumbled into Jane’s coat, “is that this had to happen just when I had finally decided it never would. I had…I almost…” She trailed off, the words dissolving into quiet sobs. She couldn’t bring herself to admit, even to Jane, what she had almost felt for the treacherous duke.

“Shh, shh, shh,” Jane crooned. “He’s not worth it. And I will tell him to his face the next time I see him.”

“No,” Lilian whispered. She lifted her head, shaking it back and forth.

“Why not?” Jane protested. “You’re not going to just let him keep the reputation you fixed for him, are you? He used you, Lilian.”

“Well, isn’t that technically what I was doing with him?” Lilian queried. “I was going to use him to ensure myself a home and security for the future.”

“It was meant to be a mutually beneficial situation,” Jane snapped. “He forfeited. He loses.” She continued to rock Lilian back and forth, as if she was comforting a child. “I know it hurts right now,” she said, her voice softening. “But you didn’t really want to get married anyway, right? You were doing it just to please everyone else.”

Lilian wanted to be able to say yes. To dismiss the Duke exactly as he had just so coldly dismissed her. But she found that she couldn’t. She had changed in the past weeks. Or perhaps she had simply discovered something about herself that she never would have if it hadn’t been for him.

“That’s just it,” she whispered. “I don’t think it’s true anymore. I wanted…I wanted to marry him. More than I want to be alone anymore.”

“Oh, Lily. You’re not alone. You’ll never be alone,” Jane said, tucking her head against Lilian’s. “I promise.”

Promises, promises, Lilian thought. The anger and shock were slowly draining away, leaving her feeling as cold and hollow as the sound of the wind as it howled up over the hill, whispering of winter.