Chapter 32
Selina sat in the entrance hall, a blanket wrapped around her. She would soon be home again, but the constables had asked to speak with Philip, and she, weary as she was, had not minded. Anything to ensure that Lord Ramsbury received the full weight of the law’s penalty.
The sun was coming up, the sky clear after the night’s rainfall. It really did look like it was going to be the perfect day for a wedding.
“That was quite the ordeal, eh?” Reuben walked over to her and sat awkwardly beside her on the chaise longue.
She nodded. “It was not the most pleasant evening of my life.” She paused. “I heard that you were the one who noticed Lord Ramsbury was missing.”
“I never liked him.” Reuben laughed tightly. “He was always looking at you. You never saw him, and he never saw me, but… I did not care for the way he seemed fixated.”
Her jaw dropped, eyebrows shooting toward her hairline in disbelief. “And you didn’t think to say anything sooner?”
“It did not seem necessary.” Reuben gestured toward the drawing room, where Philip was still in deep discussion with the somewhat dazed constables.
“The Duke is formidable. A seasoned and decorated war hero. You were betrothed to him; I did not think Lord Ramsbury would be idiotic enough to try something like this.”
She could not argue with his logic. Only a truly desperate man would have attempted to cross Philip. Unfortunately, Lord Ramsbury was a truly desperate man.
In truth, she felt a little sorry for him. It could not have been easy to carry an entire legacy on his shoulders, with no clear way to remedy the mistakes of his father.
“The Barlow fortune is… healthy, isn’t it?” she asked, glancing at her brother.
Reuben smiled. “I believe so. You know that Father has never been one for gambling or making ill-advised investments. He is more of a hoarder and a miser, which is rather fortunate for our coffers.”
“Good.” Selina released a shaky breath. “That is… that is good.”
“I am sorry that I didn’t voice my unease,” Reuben said after a moment. “If I had thought even for a second that Lord Ramsbury would try to steal you back, I would have stopped him myself.”
“I doubt Father would have,” Selina mumbled.
Her brother waved a dismissive hand. “Forget about Father’s opinion. Once you are married to Philip, it will not matter anymore. He will get over his upset.” He nudged her in the arm. “Besides, it is nice to see that this mess has unraveled rather well.”
“This is rather well?” She laughed.
He chuckled along with her. “I mean, it is nice to see you happy. Not right now, of course, but at Ashbrook.” His voice turned more serious. “I have been watching you and your Duke these past days. I doubt I have ever seen you look so happy, so at ease.”
Selina stared at him for a long while. They had always had a good relationship, but they had never been close. She would not have shared her worries with him, and he would not have shared his worries with her.
So, it was something of a pleasant surprise to realize that he noticed more than she would have expected. It was even more heartening to realize that he cared.
“You deserve to be happy, Selina,” he said. “And Lord knows you deserve a better marriage than that of our mother and father. They have not exactly set the greatest example, and I have no doubt that if you had married Lord Ramsbury, it would have been history repeating itself.”
Selina cleared her throat. “You do not think it will be that way with Philip?”
“Not at all.” Reuben sighed. “I think he loves you, and I think you love him. That already puts you a step ahead of our parents.”
Thinking of their poor mother, a thought crept into Selina’s head.
“I think Mama probably loved him at the beginning,” she said quietly. “I think Father just wanted to perform a duty.”
Reuben frowned. “I cannot disagree.”
“Will you marry for love, or will you marry because it is expected of you?”
His frown deepened. “I have not thought about it too much, though I know I shall have to, in time. Of course, I would prefer to marry for love, but… we shall see.” His cheeks pinkened. “In truth, I am not sure I am capable of love. I worry that I have inherited that from our father.”
“Nonsense.” She elbowed him in the ribs. “I think it will take the right woman. She is undoubtedly out there somewhere. Besides, who could resist the heir to a dukedom? The moment you announce you are ready to marry, you will be inundated.”
His laughter reached a strained, almost panicked pitch. “Perhaps I shall avoid it a while longer then.”
Selina could not remember the last time she had sat down and talked with her brother. He was always so busy, and she was always lost in a book or secretly meeting with her friends.
Her thoughts drifted to the clandestine Matchmakers’ Book Club. The mysterious masterminds behind society’s most unexpected, and mostly successful, pairings over the past few years.
She doubted she would ever learn their identities or discover how it was that they put matches together, but she wondered if there was a way to make a request. A request for her brother, without whom Philip might not have arrived in time.
I never read the book they sent with my letter.
It was still in London. Unless it had somehow found its way into the things that had been sent to Ashbrook. She had been too occupied to search through her belongings, but perhaps it warranted a look when she got back.
“What do you think will happen to Lord Ramsbury?” she asked, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself.
Reuben shrugged. “Kidnapping a duke’s bride will not be tolerated in the courts. Then again, he is a marquess, so his sentence will never be as severe as he deserves.” He got up. “One thing is for certain: he will not be welcome in society again.”
“And if he seeks revenge?” Her voice wavered.
“After what has transpired here, I doubt he will be stupid enough to make the same mistake again.” Reuben patted her gently on the shoulder. “You will be safe, Selina.”
He headed off toward the dining room, leaving her to sit and wait for someone to come and tell her that she could go home. Not to London, not to the Barlow country estate, but to Ashbrook—the only place she wanted to be, even if there was a tough conversation to be had.
The ride back to Ashbrook was rather more silent than the journey to Lord Ramsbury’s residence.
Selina rode alone, at her own insistence, flanked by Zachary and Philip, with Reuben and her father following behind.
It was strange to see the same route in daylight.
Rather pretty, actually, with the summery sunshine glowing down upon the quiet group.
The hedgerows were alive with twittering birds and sweet-faced mice, the green and golden fields scattered with rabbits and a deer or two, while herds of sheep basked in the shade of lone oaks.
The constables had taken Lord Ramsbury away, so it would be the remaining servants who had to tell his mother what he had done. She pitied the old woman who might have been her mother-in-law, just as she pitied the Marquess for making the wrong decisions.
He will lose that manor.
She shook off the thought. It wasn’t her fault that Lord Ramsbury had acted so foolishly, just as it wasn’t her fault that she had ended up betrothed to Philip instead.
Holding that reminder in her heart, she lifted her head to the sunshine and allowed herself to enjoy the rest of the slow ride home.
“You do not have to stay,” Selina said shyly. “There is no risk of me being kidnapped again.”
She sat on the edge of the bed while the maids drew a hot bath for her, at Philip’s command. Meanwhile, he stood by the window like a guard on duty, his arms crossed, his gaze turning to the window every so often.
“Nevertheless, I will stay,” he replied.
One of the maids looked up from the bucket of hot water she had just poured into the tub. “If you are worried about Mary, Your Grace, she has gone.”
“Gone?” Philip’s eyes flashed. “I told her to wait.”
The maid grimaced. “She snuck away before dawn. The other ladies in the drawing room had dozed off while they were waiting for you to return, and Mary must’ve seen her chance to escape.”
“Did someone help her?” Philip growled.
“Does it matter?” Selina interjected with a sigh, weary of the upheaval. “She is gone, she will not come back, and I doubt she will show her face here again or anywhere in polite society.”
“It does matter,” Philip insisted. “I want to know every detail of the plan.”
Selina shook her head. “The plan failed.”
She hesitated, knowing that if she continued, it would mean the start of the conversation she had been dreading.
“She was in love with you, Philip,” she said. “People do foolish things when they are in love, especially when they have been hurt. I forgive her. Indeed, I wish her luck, wherever she has gone. The details of the plan do not matter anymore.”
Philip tilted his head to the side, confusion creasing his brow. “You forgive her?”
“It is not easy to want something that you cannot have,” she replied, a lump forming in her throat. “Yes, I forgive her. And part of me hopes she was not completely lying when she said she just wanted me to know the truth.”
Philip looked at the maids who were pouring the last buckets of water into the tub. “Leave us.”
The maids curtseyed and departed without complaint, closing the door behind them. They were not as concerned with propriety as someone like her father.
“I suppose this means it is time to talk,” Philip said with a sad smile.
Selina swallowed. “I suppose it is.”
“Then you might as well be comfortable.”
He pushed away from the window and came to stand in front of her, offering his hands. Hesitantly, she took them, allowing him to help her to her weary feet.
“Turn around,” he said softly.