Chapter 1
One
“The Duke Hunt? Will you line them up like ducks at a shooting gallery to see who will fall first?” A corner of Dominic’s mouth turned upward, almost in a smile, as he and his grandmother walked through the park of Greystone Manor. “I admit, it’s an amusing thought.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Cassandra Archdall, Dowager Duchess of Greystone, said as they turned a corner on the path and reached the big, open space in the park, where servants were busy placing decorations for the so-called Duke Hunt.
“This party will be like any other. However, the goal of this particular gathering will be to encourage love matches.”
“With dukes being the prize? I wish you luck in getting enough dukes willing to be prey for bloodthirsty debutantes and their mothers. I’m sure you will not find enough for a proper hunt.”
His grandmother rolled her eyes. “I merely named it that for dramatic effect. Dukes are not being hunted down for sport. If they were, then I would have specified that the ladies should wear red so that the blood splatters wouldn’t show.”
Dominic almost chuckled at that. If he told anyone that his grandmother could tell such dark jokes, they would never believe him. She was always the picture of propriety and grace when she wasn’t around family.
She looked sideways at him and smiled. She always seemed to know when he was on the verge of smiling himself, even though it felt like ages since he had last done so. At least not since…
No need to think about that dreadful day now.
His grandmother continued talking as she inspected the outdoor tables, decorated with white tablecloths and floral centerpieces. “I do not know why you are talking as if you are not going to be one of the dukes present at the party.”
He looked at her, indignant at such an assumption. “Absolutely not. Just because the gathering is happening on the grounds of my home does not mean it requires my presence. I will stay in my study until it is over.”
She turned to him and placed her hands on her hips. Despite being half a head shorter than him, she could still look imposing when she wanted to. “I require your presence.”
“If the goal of the evening is to create a love match, then it is best if I keep to myself. I will only impede that goal for everyone else.” He shook his head in annoyance and started walking back to the manor.
He should have known his grandmother would throw a party to try to lure him into an engagement. As if his first marriage hadn’t ended disastrously. “I have no interest in socializing with debutantes and their ambitious mothers for an entire night.”
“It’s not like the usual Diamond of the Season gatherings,” the dowager said. “Love matches don’t happen only with young debutantes, you should know. I’m inviting unmarried ladies of all ages and backgrounds. Perhaps with a little more variety, one of them will catch your eye.”
He stopped walking and turned to her. “Are you trying to get me to marry a ruined spinster?”
She gave him a steely look. “Being married to a proper lady certainly did not bring you any happiness.”
“I admit my first marriage was a disaster, but I wouldn’t change my past for the world because it gave me Percy.” His son was the only good thing to come out of his first marriage.
He looked to his left. In the distance, Percy was sitting in front of the gazebo with his nanny.
The woman had a book in her hands and was reading aloud to him animatedly, but he didn’t seem to be paying attention.
Instead, he stared off into space, his expression devoid of emotion.
“It’s too soon,” he said. “It’s only been a year since my wife’s… incident.”
“It’s also been a year since Percy last spoke,” she said quietly.
He grimaced, knowing she was right. He missed the sound of his son’s voice. But he detested the thought of taking another wife. “If I marry again, it could be hard on Percy,” he said.
“Percy is exactly why you need to find a new wife. He needs a mother.” She sighed, sadness flickering across her face. “Perhaps the right woman will be able to help him find his voice again.”
A lump formed in Dominic’s throat. He swallowed and looked away, willing not to let his emotions show on his face, even around his grandmother.
“Nothing good will come out of me marrying,” he said.
“If I marry again, only for my new wife to ignore him or treat him coldly, just because he isn’t of her flesh and blood…
” he took a deep breath. “I can’t put him through that. ”
“The boy has already been through so much,” his grandmother said softly. “That is precisely why he needs a mother and not one nanny after another. If you wish for him to speak again, then you must marry.”
Dominic clenched his jaw. His son hadn’t uttered a single word in over a year, and Dominic would give anything to hear him speak again. But he doubted any good would come from another marriage of convenience.
“Selina!”
Selina grinned as her younger sister, Christine, rushed out of Gillray Manor and to the manor’s gates. She swept her up into a hug.
“I’ve missed you so much!” Selina said, feeling tears sting her eyes. “And look how you have grown!” She pulled back to look at Christine.
In the five years since they had last seen each other, Christine had grown into a beautiful young woman.
At eighteen, she was now a little taller than Selina.
Her blonde hair, which she used to wear in loose, messy curls around her shoulders, was now pulled into a simple upsweep.
Even though her hair was lighter than Selina’s brunette waves, they had the same green-dove eyes.
“I cannot believe you are finally here,” Christine said, tears shining in her eyes. “Letters are simply not the same as seeing you in person.”
“They are certainly not.” Selina reached out and grabbed her sister’s hands, squeezing them.
She could not stop herself from being overwhelmed with emotion.
It had been far too long since she had last been allowed to see her sister.
Selina was sorry to have not been present for the last few years of Christine’s childhood, even if it had been out of her control.
I have missed so much.
Movement out of the corner of her eye made her turn her head to see Lady Bridget Gillray, her godmother. The middle-aged lady had an unpleasant twist to her mouth as she strode to the gate.
Selina barely managed to keep the frown off her face. Her godmother was the one who had sent her away to boarding school. She was the reason Selina had not seen her sister in half a decade.
“You’re a day early,” she told Selina by way of greeting. “So don’t expect a room made for you. I’m sure we can find space for you somewhere in the servants’ quarters.”
Anger flared in Selina, along with a touch of sadness. Her godmother had always been a cold woman, but she had hoped for a little more cordiality.
Selina tried to arrange her expression into something that looked pleasant, for her sister’s sake. Still, she was only somewhat successful, despite all her finishing school lessons on manners. “Good afternoon,” she said. “It’s always nice to see my godmother.”
Lady Gillray looked her up and down. Whatever she saw in Selina’s modest travel dress and bonnet was clearly lacking because her nose wrinkled slightly before turning to Christine.
“Just because your sister is here does not mean you have reason to shirk your duties. My bed is still unmade, and if you expect me to let you go to the Dowager Duchess of Greystone’s gathering, then you need to make sure both my gown and your own are neatly pressed and ready.”
Christine threw an anxious glance at Selina before saying, “Yes, Godmother.”
Anger prickled through the older sister. She grabbed Christine’s arm and held her back as Lady Gillray turned to go back to the manor.
“She treats you like a lady’s maid?” She whispered the words so the horrid older woman wouldn’t hear. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to worry you,” Christine whispered. “Besides, there is nothing you can do.”
“That is unacceptable!”
“It hardly matters,” Christine said. For the first time since Selina arrived, she could see the fatigue on her sister’s face. “It is not worth arguing with her on the matter. It is just easier to do what she says. Besides, it is not forever, is it? Eventually, I will marry and be rid of her.”
Selina mustered a smile for her sister’s sake. “Perhaps you will find a husband this weekend. You might even manage to snare yourself a handsome duke, like the name suggests.”
Christine giggled. “Can you imagine one of us being a duchess?”
“You, yes,” Selina said, grinning. “But I would never. Only a prince will do for the likes of me.” Besides, the only duke who would have me would be the Duke of Thieving and Villainy.
Christine laughed, knowing her sister was jesting. Warmth flooded Selina. She had missed the sound of her sister’s laugh.
“Girls, do keep up,” Lady Gillray called.
Selina gritted her teeth as she tucked her sister’s arm in her own. Together they walked quickly to the manor, easily outpacing their godmother, who huffed and hurried to keep up.
“I’m so delighted that you also received an invitation to the Duke Hunt,” Christine said.
“I must say, I was surprised,” Selina said. She had received the invitation during her last week of finishing school. She thought it was someone’s idea of a joke, at first, especially with a name like Duke Hunt. “I thought I had been mostly forgotten by the ton over the years.”
“If only that were the case,” Lady Gillray said, sounding slightly out of breath from matching their pace.
“Instead, I have to answer question after question about where you were all these years. If it were not for my generous exposition at every tea party and ball that I get invited to, then everyone would think you had disappeared with your brother.”
“Perhaps Selina should have returned home from finishing school earlier,” Christine said innocently. “Then you would not have to exert yourself so much over rumors.”
“Yes, well, she needed an education, didn’t she?” Lady Gillray said, two spots of color on her cheeks. “Selina, your education was not cheap, and I expect you to make good use of it.”
“Of course, Godmother,” Selina said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
Lady Gillray’s lips twisted into a cruel smirk. “Perhaps a miracle will happen and you will be able to find a rich husband to take you off my hands at the Duke Hunt. But if not, then you had better waste no time looking for employment as a governess or a lady’s companion.”
“Please, Godmother, she has just arrived,” Christine pleaded. “She has not even been inside the manor yet. Let her settle in first.”
“She has no time to waste!” the older woman exclaimed.
“She is three-and-twenty years old, without a penny to her name. Perhaps she would have more of an advantage if your father were still alive, or if your brother had not drowned the family name in mud, but that is the reality of the situation, and the sooner she acknowledges it, the better.”
“It’s all right, Christine,” Selina said. She gave her godmother a brittle smile. “Yes, I’ve thought about employment. But my first goal is to go to this Duke Hunt, whatever that means, and be there for my sister. Perhaps I will meet a lady who will take me as a companion.”
She knew there was no way she would find a husband, let alone a wealthy one. But if Christine could escape with a kind man, someone who’d care for her and offer her a better life, then the Duke Hunt would have been worth it.
“If you do not find employment in one month, then you will work in my house until you pay off your debt to me, or you will be out on the street,” said Lady Gillray.
Anxiety curled in Selina’s stomach. Her godmother could be a cruel spendthrift.
If Selina worked for her, then she would never be paid a single cent for her labor.
Lady Gillray would find ways to ensure Selina stayed indebted to her for the rest of her life.
Selina would also be in no position to help her sister if she could not even get herself out of Lady Gillray’s control.
She needed to find outside employment, and quickly.
I have one month to be free from her. I will find a way. I swear it.