Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Levi Collins, the Duke of Hawcrest was on his way to bed and very much looking forward to a good night’s sleep. That was when he heard it…
“As I have told you, His Grace is not taking visitors.” The voice of Mr. White, his home’s butler, drifted through the house. “Now, I ask you again, to be gone from here.”
“Please,” he heard a female voice speak next. “I must see His Grace at once. It is a matter of life or death!”
“I am sure that it is,” Mr. White sighed. “If you return tomorrow, perhaps then –”
“Your Grace!” the female voice shouted. “Your Grace! Please! I must speak with you!”
Levi was halfway toward his bedroom, but the woman’s plea forced him to halt. Where it was rare that someone might turn up on his doorstep like this, it was not completely unheard of. And even if it was, the plea that the woman made… she must be truly desperate.
Curious now, he decided to investigate it for himself.
“Tell him my name is Lady Madeline Bennet,” the woman pleaded. “He will know the name!”
“Even if he did, he is not taking guests!” Mr. White snapped. “Now, please, remove yourself at once! I am warning you.”
Levi swept in behind his butler, who stood at the door with it half-open. The old man was a frail thing, and Levi wondered if the woman might go so far as to push him aside and rush inside. She certainly sounded desperate enough.
But that name… he recognized it, even if he did not know it personally. Where have I heard that name before?
“Mr. White,” he spoke as he strode across the foyer . “I will take it from here.”
“Your Grace!” Mr. White jumped and turned around. “There is no need –”
“And yet here I am,” he sighed and waved the man to the side. “Let’s see if I can deal with whatever this is.”
“Your Grace!” the woman’s voice cried out. “Please! I must speak with you. It is urgent!”
Mr. White pouted before stepping aside, at which point the door swung open. This gave Levi his first good viewing of Lady Madeline, a moment in time that left him speechless.
He recognized her immediately as the woman he had seen at the garden party.
She wore a cloak with a hood to cover her head; it was too dark to see her face clearly, but it was certainly her.
When Levi had seen her, what was three days ago now, he could not say exactly what had happened to him.
He had felt her eyes on him, had looked up to find who was watching, and was then… again, he wasn’t sure.
There had been an intensity about the moment. A sense that time had stopped and the world had vanished. Her eyes, dark green, had taken hold of him, trapping him, forcing him to watch her as if his life depended on it. He had never felt anything like it!
Now she was here, at his home, for reasons he could not fathom.
“Lady Madeline…” He stepped into the doorway. “This is –”
“I need to speak with you,” she cut him off. “Please, Your Grace. I know this must seem strange. I know you have every reason to ask me to leave. But I ask that you give me five minutes of your time. I beg it.”
He had no reason to say yes, and every reason to say no. Levi very nearly did just that… only for him to meet her eyes once more. He saw the desperation in them, as he felt a similar pull to that which he had the last time he saw her.
What is that…
“Shall I remove her?” Mr. White asked with a sneer.
“No…” Levi studied Lady Madeline, and he was taken by an urge to hear her out. Call it a flaw of his, that need to help the less fortunate, but he found in the moment that he wanted to hear what could have possibly led her to seek him out. Just as he wanted to help, if he could. “Show her inside.”
“But Your Grace!”
“To the drawing room, Mr. White,” he said to the butler. “And be quick about it.”
He fixed Lady Madeline with a final curious frown. She started… wide eyed and suddenly unsure. Then he turned and strode away, headed for the drawing room.
As soon as he walked into the room, he poured a drink for himself, and he had just taken a sip when he heard the door open behind him…
“I take it that your father does not know you are here,” he said without turning around.
“He does not.”
“Which makes the situation all the more curious.” He had another sip and turned.
Lady Madeline stood in the middle of the room, and she shook with what could only be nervous energy. Her hood was down, and now that the light from the fire warmed her face, he saw again just how beautiful she was.
Is that why I stare the way that I do? As if I have never seen a beautiful woman before. Absurd…
Her hair was dark brown and thick. Her eyes were green and big like an owl. A round face, full lips, and a nose that was too long but somehow worked to accentuate her beauty. And that said nothing for the body hidden beneath the cloak…
“Well?” he said as the silence built between them. “As you are the one who has come to see me, perhaps it is best if you tell me why you are here.”
She started as if in surprise. she gave a shake of her head, took a breath, hesitated a moment, and strode deeper into the room with forced confidence.
“I need your help,” she began. “My sister is set to marry a man whom I cannot possibly allow to be her husband. He is wicked and evil and I do not trust him.”
“All right.”
She licked her lips. “But my father will not listen to me. And when I asked this lord to find someone else to wed, he denied me. He is set on stealing my sister away, and I will do anything I can to stop him. I must stop him.”
Levi frowned. “That is a sad tale, Lady Madeline. But it is not a unique one. The ton… these people…” He flicked his wrist in dismissal. “I would have thought you would expect such a thing as this. That you were bred for it.”
“It is not about that.” Her brow tightened with determination. “My sister… she is a good person. All she wants in life is to fall in love. That is her dream. And if she marries this man, her life will be as good as over.”
“And yourself?” he asked.
“What about me?”
“I take it that you do not harbor the same dream as your sister?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” she said sharply and scowled at him.
He chuckled and had a sip of his drink. “Apparently nothing.”
This Lady Madeline… she was unlike anything that Levi had seen before. He had dealt with plenty of women of the ton, and he did not think that he could name one who would do something as outlandish as this.
It made him curious about her, even if he doubted that he could help. Or if he wanted to, for that matter.
“And what do you expect me to do about it?” he asked her. “I assume you have a plan?”
“I…” She licked her lips. “I know about you, Your Grace.” Her eyes widened as if she had said something wrong. “What I mean is – I know that you are a savvy businessman. That you are… the type who does not take no for an answer.”
He smirked. “So they say.”
“Just as I know that as a duke, if you were to speak with him… to convince him otherwise, he would listen to you. He would have no choice!”
“And why should I?”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Why should I help?” He started toward her, taking slow and purposeful steps so that he could see how she would react. He expected her to back down and shy away, but she stood taller and more determined than ever.
“Because it is the right thing to do.”
Whether she was aware of it or not, that single phrase was exactly what Levi needed to hear.
Levi’s reputation was indeed what Lady Madeline had said: a shrewd and callous businessman who always got what he wanted. Beneath the facade of ruthlessness, however, beat the heart of a philanthropist, a kinder soul who had dedicated his recent life to helping the less fortunate.
It was not something Levi bragged about… and for good reason. The people of the ton knew of his past, and they would not hesitate to use it against him if they could. They saw it as a weakness, just as they saw doing the right thing as an exposed back ready to drive a knife into.
They are already using my past against me, in fact. To think that this Lady Madeline could be so self-involved to not realize that I have problems of my own. Ones that… do not go there now. That is a problem for another time.
“Even if I wanted to help…” He reached Lady Madeline, staying just two feet back. Still, she looked up to him, determination written in her green eyes and the scowl on her full lips. “I do not know what I can do. Did you mean for me to threaten this man?”
“What? No!” she cried. “I just thought… he is marrying my sister for a reason. I know that he is. Maybe you could find that reason out and…”
“And what?” he laughed. “Blackmail him?”
“Maybe?” she said with a grimace.
Was it anyone else, he would have turned her away. But there was just something about Lady Madeline that he was inexplicitly drawn to. Beyond her beauty. Past her determination. She was a force unto herself, and he was trapped in it.
“Let us start with the name of this lordling,” he said. “Maybe there is something there?”
“Oh, yes.” She shook her head. “It is the Marquess of Ellingham.”
Despite himself, Levi laughed.
“What is so funny?” she demanded.
“You were not joking, is what. I know Lord Ellingham… just as I know the type.” He sneered at that last phrase. “A little too well.”
Lord Ellingham was the epitome of everything that Levi hated about the ton and the peerage.
He was arrogant. He was self-important. And he was nowhere near clever enough, successful enough, or charming enough to get away with it.
Yet, because of his birth, he thought himself better than everyone else. And oh, how Levi loathed it about him.
“So… you will help?” Her big eyes turned hopeful. “You will do something?”
“Maybe,” he said before he could stop himself.
“What does that mean?”