Chapter 9 #2
She looked up at him again, and she could easily see by the mulish set of his jaw that he planned to argue with her.
He intended to take her along with him everywhere, as he had as a young boy.
But she had to put a stop to their affair somehow.
“I have no trouble with being alone, unlike some I could name, Your Grace. You do not own me,” she whispered, and that made his nostrils flare.
“Or have the right to say where I may go or not.”
The duke’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and he took a step in her direction.
Maggie stood her ground, determined to get her way in this. They battled wills silently, as they always had as children.
“Very well,” he said finally. “Sims will escort you back to the inn and remain nearby to fetch you anything you might need.”
“I cannot impose on his time. He should be with you. You are more important than anyone.”
He looked about to argue, but Sims cleared his throat loudly.
Only that seemed to recall Algernon to their location.
They were arguing on a public street, and if it continued, other people might notice and start gossiping about the Duke and Duchess of Ravenswood.
He had wanted anonymity earlier, although by his actions in the bookshop, he seemed to have forgotten the reason for it.
“I will join you for dinner tonight, no matter what you say to the contrary.”
Maggie inclined her head, resigned to that fact but not liking it. Algernon was currently paying her bills. One day, she would repay him for his generosity.
She wrestled the books from Sims, who reluctantly gave them up. “Take care of him,” she whispered, before striding off toward the inn without looking back.
Maggie breathed a sigh of relief when she arrived back in their room without being followed. She put the flowers in water and packed the books away in Algernon’s trunks.
Yet as she stood there, surrounded by his possessions and her one battered travel case, it struck her that their time together had been the happiest days of her adult life.
With him, she had forgotten her place, just like the last time they’d been together at Ravenswood. But her position in society was so low that they never should have known each other then; only Algernon could not seem to remember that.
But she did, and she was suddenly glad she might reach her father’s current place of employment tomorrow morning. The map had proved it, only an hour or so away. But what if the duke found another excuse to delay leaving?
The loss of Algernon tomorrow might break her heart, but she had to let him go without showing how she felt. Because if she gave him any encouragement, and he responded in kind, she just might want to stay with him forever, despite the scandal of it.
And that was what her younger self had dreamed of doing—running away from her father to be with Algernon again. But she’d never found her courage in the end.
Maggie reached for the solace to be found in books, but had barely begun to read when the door crashed open and Algernon strode in. “I didn’t expect our first fight to feel like that. Final.”
She closed the book. “It should be final. I think you should go on without me.”
“I’ll not leave you behind,” he protested
“But you will tomorrow. My father resides not far away, and he will expect his daughter to be dutiful and stay with him,” she informed him. “Not consort with dukes about to be married.”
Algernon stared at her. “You never mentioned we were so close to your father. Why?”
The why was easy. “Because I was not certain until I looked at a map. I had been enjoying myself for the first time in a long time. I did not want these days with you to end, but they will.”
“They don’t have to end,” he said quickly. “I will speak to your father when we see him and encourage him to visit London.”
“What else will you say to him? Will you tell him we played at being husband and wife and traveled alone together in your fine ducal carriage, without the benefit of a proper chaperone? Will you make him think that my headstrong ways encouraged you to ignore propriety entirely? We could stay a few days in another inn together, one with too few rooms, and you could buy me more flowers there, as well. Is it likely you intend to invite me to your wedding, too?”
He shuffled his feet and did not form a reply, other than a whispered no.
“Can you not see how wrong this has been?” Her stomach clenched at her foolishness, and his as well. “I’m certain your intended bride will be deeply offended if she discovers someone so unsuitable kept you from her side for so long.”
“She will never hear about you from me,” he promised swiftly.
Maggie winced. “So I am to be your last indulgence before marriage. I’ve always disapproved of husbands keeping secrets from their wives.
What are you doing, sharing your confidences with me alone?
You should buy her the gift of books! Do you really want to start your marriage with scandal nipping at your heels? ”
He wet his lips and drew closer. “You are important to me, Maggie.”
“I might have been once, but no more. You have slowed your journey, shortened your travel each day to accommodate a lady who is not a member of your family. You could have been in London already if not for me.”
“You needed me.”
She shook her head. “I could have made my own way, and you know it. Why do you delay?”
“I delay because perhaps I do not wish to marry at all!” he blurted out, then raked a hand through his hair. “She is but a means to an end. A way to set my brothers free of the great debt I owe them all.”
Maggie gaped at him. “So it’s true you’re hunting a fortune for a bride?
But Algernon, a marriage like that might deny you the chance to have the love you deserve,” she whispered, horrified by his intention to make a cold-blooded alliance for money.
“I would hope your brothers do not approve of this plan of yours.”
Algernon glanced at her sharply. “It is my decision who I wed, no matter what they say.”
“Well, I am glad they still want what is best for you, even if you don’t. I cannot stop you from making a cold-blooded alliance, either, I suppose. But as much as I am concerned about your future happiness, our time together is at an end.”
“It is over when I say so,” he bit out, drawing close to tower over her.
Maggie lifted her face. He was angry with her now. He was a man who was never denied by any woman. But she had to deny him. She did not belong in his world. She never had.
“Algernon, would you truly want a lady to fall for you, knowing she had to give you up to another the next day?”
His eyes widened. “You love me?”
Maggie drew back from that question because she knew the answer would make this parting even harder. “I care for you a great deal, but any lady could easily imagine a future with you, and you know it. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
He stared at her, mulling over her words. “A gentleman could easily fall for you, as well.”
“Well, it is fortunate I have no money to offer a duke in need of funds,” she whispered, heartbroken over their parting. “I would have made a terrible wife and duchess, you know.”
His eyes widened. “You would have been enough.”
“If not for the money,” she reminded him.
Algernon nodded and rushed out of the room. The door shut loudly behind him.
Their faux marriage now in tatters.
Maggie sank into a chair, suddenly bereft that she could never again speak with Algernon so freely. Tomorrow morning, she would set off for the next village on foot, if need be, without ever seeing him again.
It was the only way to survive a painful parting.