Chapter 31
Katherine sagged against an old chair, a red handprint blooming on her cheek. “What have you done with her, Paul? I deserve to know what you’ve done with her.”
“She’s somewhere safe,” Mr. Miller replied, his palm stinging where he had struck his sister. “When you go to London, you’ll act surprised. You’ll tell him that she must have fled.”
Katherine shook her head. “I won’t.”
“You will, because you owe me!” Paul snapped, his hand curling into a fist as his temper flared white-hot.
He hadn’t come this close to succeeding just to have his sister unspool it all at the last minute. She had already ruined everything by sparing that devil’s life, but it was not yet tangled beyond repair. This could be salvaged if the wretched girl would just do as she was told now.
“I did what you asked. I stood outside the chamber door. I sent for the physician, as you told me to,” Katherine retorted, glaring at him through tearful eyes. “I won’t do any more.”
Gritting his teeth, Paul marched up to his sister and grabbed her by the hair.
“I didn’t ask you to save him, you ungrateful snake!
If anyone had seen what you were doing, if the physician had any talent for medicine at all, we’d be hanging from a tree by now!
You put our lives at risk, and for what?
To save a man who doesn’t give a fig about Anna? ”
“She loves him,” Katherine said quietly, hiccupping. “I didn’t know it for certain until last night, but she loves him. I realized I’d made a mistake. I… I want her to be happy!”
“She doesn’t love him!” Paul raged, trembling with fury. “She could never love that heathen. And he certainly doesn’t love her. Not like I love her.”
A bitter smirk curved Katherine’s lips. “She does, Brother. And I think he loves her, too. I think he loves her more and better than you ever could. Your love for her is selfish and cruel and—”
He smacked her hard across the mouth to silence what he didn’t want to hear. He wouldn’t believe it. He couldn’t. He had dedicated a year and a half of his life to loving the Duchess; he had saved her from a miserable fate. There was no way he would permit her to fall for another unworthy duke.
“She was the first… person he… asked for when he… woke up,” Katherine continued, as she wiped a speck of blood from her lip. “They love each other, and I won’t do anything to help you destroy… that. I will tell… His Grace what we did… no matter what it… costs me.”
Paul stared at his sister in abject disbelief, the sting of betrayal stabbing him squarely in the chest. And not just her betrayal.
Could it really be true that Anna loved that brute?
Could she really have forsaken him like that?
Didn’t she know that he was the only one worthy of her, the only one willing to kill for her?
“I’ll make her understand that I am the one she should love,” he said, his lip curled. “And if she doesn’t understand, then I’ll have no choice but to… let her go. If I can’t have her, Katherine, no one can.”
“She’s my friend,” Katherine urged. “Don’t you dare hurt her!”
Paul shrugged. “It will be your fault for not letting the duke die, like you did the last one. This was supposed to be simple, Katherine, and you have muddled it all.”
“The previous duke deserved punishment,” Katherine rasped, her eyes feverish with anger.
“He hurt me. He hurt so many like me. He destroyed lives. I wasn’t the first to try and…
take my life because of him. How many maids suffered because of him?
How many had their honor and virtue stolen by that wretched creature?
But this duke… he isn’t like that. I thought he didn’t care, but he does.
If anything, you are the one beginning to resemble the old duke, thinking you can take what you want!
She doesn’t love you, Paul, and she never will! ”
Paul sneered. “We shall see about that. And if she won’t agree, well, I’ve just told you what will happen.” He smiled. “Now, be a good girl and head off to the public scolding. I have somewhere else to be. If you ruin this again, I’ll get rid of you.”
Raising his fist to make sure she understood, he smirked as she flinched.
His sister wasn’t going to do anything. The little mouse could barely even speak to the Duke, much less tell him the part she had played in his near-death experience.
Besides, if she did find some courage and told him the truth, told him that Anna wasn’t at the London townhouse either, it wouldn’t make a difference.
Paul would already be ahead, and only he knew where Anna really was.
Satisfied that he could still fix his tattered plan, he left the room and walked straight to the stables. Stealing a horse was nothing compared to what he had already done, and what he would have to do if Anna didn’t make the right choice.
Jeremy looked across the small crowd of servants with the stern disappointment of a schoolmaster.
They shifted uncomfortably beneath his cold gaze, half of them probably wondering why they had been summoned, the other half knowing perfectly well.
But he couldn’t reprimand the Scottish side without the English side hearing what he had to say, too; he didn’t want further division.
“The duchess of this household, my duchess, has been nothing but welcoming to the lot of ye,” he began, his voice strong despite his aching chest. “She has treated ye with kindness and ensured that none of ye felt like ye had nay place here. As for those who’ve worked for her longer, ye were so loyal to her that ye would have fought me if she asked. Don’t allow that to change.”
Complete silence filled the ballroom, and many heads were downturned in shame.
“Those who turned on her, ye should be ashamed of yerselves,” Jeremy continued. “She did nothing to me. All she did was ask me to be a true husband to her, and I expect we’ll all be needing to apologize when she returns.”
His housekeeper raised her hand. “Are ye goin’ to fetch her, Yer Grace?”
“Aye, just as soon as I’ve heard from all of ye that ye’ll make her feel welcome when she comes back, as she did for ye,” he replied, as his eyes searched the room.
He spotted Katherine near the back, already dressed in a cloak. Ready to depart for London just as soon as Jeremy gave the order.
Yet, he couldn’t see her brother, the butler, anywhere among the crowd.
It vexed Jeremy that the man thought he was above the rest of the servants, although he figured he shouldn’t be surprised.
Paul Miller had made it clear that he served Anna and Anna alone, so of course, he wouldn’t deign to show his face.
A rumble of agreement moved through the crowd.
“We’re sorry, Yer Grace,” the housekeeper said. “There were so many people talking about what happened to the previous duke. We… let ourselves get carried away.”
Jeremy glanced at the older woman. “Ye don’t need to apologize to me. Save it for when the Duchess is here, and ye’re summoned again.” He gave a nod to Katherine. “Try not to cause any more trouble while I’m gone.”
Wishing he had the time to rest and recuperate first, but knowing it wasn’t possible, Jeremy rubbed slow circles against his chest and made his way out of the ballroom. There was already a carriage waiting; he just hoped that Anna would be in it when they returned from London.
After that, he would deal with Colin. And he would deal with that man the Scottish way.
No mercy.