Chapter 5
Chapter Five
“Unbelievable!” Damien huffed from the head of the table.
Thalia was eating breakfast when she heard her brother’s exclamation. She glanced up, saw that he was reading the newspaper, and decided not to ask what was the matter.
Only because I know what it will be. Perhaps if I am lucky, he will take the hint and move on from his rumblings.
“This is absurd,” her brother said again, louder this time.
Thalia sighed and put down her knife and fork. “Is something the matter, Brother?”
Damien lowered the paper and looked over its top with a scowl that was very unlike him. Ordinarily, he was the picture of self-control, rarely letting his anger get the best of him because he had been raised to know the importance of keeping a level head.
Lately, Damien had been losing his temper more and more often
“There is another article in the paper about you and Amberhall.” His lips curled into a snarl. “That is the third this week!”
“And what does it say?”
“You know what!” he snapped.
Thalia grinned. She had asked the question on purpose to upset her brother.
It is so good to see a plan come together.
“Let me guess…” She clicked her tongue as if to consider.
“They are hypothesizing on the likely circumstances surrounding the engagement. Something along the lines of our eternal love for one another, and how this was always the plan. Even that I interrupted the wedding on purpose, distraught as I was to see the man of my dreams marrying another.” She pumped her eyebrows. “How did I do?”
“You read it already.” He narrowed his eyes at her.
“I did not.” She sighed and picked up her knife and fork.
“I am just very good at guessing what the gossip columns are going to write. I do have a knack for courting rumor, after all. Besides…” She cut into a piece of toast and plopped it in her mouth.
“That is what all the other ones have said, so it’s not so much guessing as it is speaking the obvious. ”
“I am glad you are finding this so amusing.”
To that, Thalia exhaled as if a weight was falling from her shoulders. “At this stage, what else is there to do but laugh? It is not as if complaining is going to change anything.”
Her brother’s eyes narrowed further. “Thalia, please do not tell me that… that you are planning something?”
“Now, why would you say that?”
“Because I did not expect you to walk to the noose so willingly.”
She laughed bitterly. “To the noose? That is a strange way of saying it.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do, Brother.” Again, she put down her knife and fork, making sure to be looking right at him.
“And allow me to put your mind at ease. I am not planning anything. I will not be embarrassing myself further. And I will certainly not be giving the Duke any reason to question his decision to marry me.”
“So you say.”
She shrugged. “It is the truth. Believe me when I tell you, it was a hard one to come by. Alas…” She sighed and shook her head. “In this world, we rarely get what we want.”
He scoffed. “Apt.”
Thalia did not realize until after she said it that she had directly quoted the Duke. As concerning as that might have been, it was low on the list of things for her to worry about.
To hear Thalia’s response to the gossip column that Damian was reading might be to suggest that she was starting to come to terms with what was happening to her. Maybe that she was even making her peace with it? Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth.
The stark reality was that this wedding was happening whether Thalia wanted it or not, and she had never been the type to descend into depression as a means of dealing with her anger. What she leaned into instead was humor… and cynicism.
If I can’t even laugh at the absurdity of the circumstance, then what hope do I have of getting through this wedding? Not to mention the rest of my life?
It did not help either that Thalia was starting to have mixed feelings about her soon-to-be husband. It would have been so much easier if she hated him, loathed him, wished to see the end of the man! At least that way her feelings would be clear.
Most strangely, his appearance two days ago outside of the modiste had forced her to reconsider how she felt.
It had been a quick moment. Sometimes, she wondered if it had happened at all.
But more than once, her mind cast back to those few seconds where he had helped to tie the back of her dress.
When his fingers had brushed her skin. When his breath had been felt on the back of her neck.
And when she had pressed into his crotch and she had felt something…
A pulse rippled across her body at the thought, and she felt her skin flush red. Thalia did not like the man. She did not want to marry him. But even she could not deny the intensity of that moment, just as she could not deny what it meant.
As if this marriage isn’t complicated enough.
“Ah, there they are!” Lord Benedict Hale, the Duke of Northwick announced as he strode into the breakfast room. “Right where I expected them.”
“Your Grace!” a butler hurried in after him, out of breath. “I am so sorry. I tried to ask His Grace to wait until I—”
“It is quite fine,” her brother dismissed. “Benedict.” He turned toward his friend. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
Benedict was beaming as he swept into the room. And his eyes lit up when he found Thalia, who he approached without even looking at her brother.
“Ah, the woman who broke my heart…” He reached her and took her hand. “It is not too late, Thalia, to take me up on my offer of marriage.”
She rolled her eyes. “Perhaps I should thank the Duke of Amberhall for saving me from you?”
“How very droll…” He held her hand with his right hand as he brought it to his lips. Then, he wrapped his left hand around it and looked into her eyes.
Thalia’s face scrunched as she felt Benedict place something in her hand, what felt like a piece of paper. “What…”
He winked at her. “If your Duke doesn’t realize what a treasure he has, you know where to find me.”
“Enough of that,” her brother snapped. “Benedict, what are you doing here?”
Benedict dropped Thalia’s hand and strode down the table toward her brother. This had the benefit of taking her brother’s attention off her, and Thalia used that scrap of time to unravel the piece of parchment underneath the table. What had Benedict brought her?
She gasped when she realized that it was a letter from none other than Rosaline.
“I have news of your brother,” Benedict said.
“You do?” Damien perked up. “What news?”
“I would like to be excused.” She stood quickly and looked at her brother, who was not paying her attention. Benedict, however, turned and winked at her a second time.
She offered him a grateful smile and hurried from the room and upstairs to her bedroom.
Once inside, she shut the door, locked it, and fell on her bed where she uncrumpled the letter and smoothed it out so that she could read it.
My dear Thalia,
I am so sorry for not writing to you sooner, just as I am sorry for how this letter has reached you. As you can surely imagine, things have been a little haphazard lately, and I worried for some time that I would not be able to reach you at all.
Let me start by thanking you again. One thousand times and it will still not be enough. What you did for me… for Laurent… we will never be able to repay you. You saved me, Thalia. You saved the two of us. We owe you everything, and if you need anything, please do not hesitate.
Which brings me to the most exciting news of all: Laurent and I are married!
Yes, you read that correctly. We married just last week at Gretna Green, and by the time you read this I suspect that we will be in Scotland on our honeymoon, where we intend to stay until everything calms down. Oh, you cannot know how happy I am!
Laurent sends his best, and he asks that you tell Damien for him that he is sorry. As am I, for that matter, but only a little. Truly, I still cannot believe all that has happened.
I will write again soon, by which time I suspect I will know more about the fallout of what I did. I pray that you are not being punished for it, and when I return I promise to set everything right.
Your friend, Rosaline
Thalia read the letter two more times, and each time that she did, she felt her heart swelling inside of her chest, and even a few tears began to drip down her cheeks.
It had been two weeks now since her brother and Rosaline had runaway together, a development that had not surprised Thalia one little bit. She knew of their love, she knew what they wanted to do, and she knew that she would support them no matter what.
Damian might be of a different mind… but I do not care one whitwhat he thinks about this.
For how awful her situation was, for what she was now expected to do, the knowledge that Thalia’s friend and her brother were happy together made it all worth it. Rosaline and Laurent were who this was for, their happiness was what mattered, and nothing would change that.
Was this what she wanted? Of course not. Did she expect the same happy ending for herself that her friend and brother now had? Highly unlikely. But that was unimportant.
In two days, Thalia was set to marry the Duke. What happened after, she could not say. Likely, it would be a cold and lonely marriage, and she would come to hate the man to whom she was wed.
But then she remembered that moment in the modiste’s store, her skin prickled and her breathing came faster. Could a man with a touch so warm have a heart that was completely cold?