Chapter 3 #3
Marco had been too preoccupied with his own troubles to pay attention to the fleeting scandals of the ton.
Now he wished he had spent at least a little time reading the society papers and sheets.
He again stared at the ravishing young lady and tried to see hints of her father in her face but found none.
How could a man with such an ugly soul have sired such a beautiful woman?
“I must have missed the gossip. I was unaware the Duke had any heirs,” Marco stammered.
“She's illegitimate,” Beatrice whispered. “Apparently, the old man had been bedding his housekeeper for years, and Alice was the result. They were both servants in his home until last year when he married the housekeeper and acknowledged his daughter practically on his deathbed."
“He waited that long to claim them?” Marco whispered back, utterly scandalized.
He could not be surprised. The kind of man who burned down his competition's factory, endangering countless lives, would have no problem cruelly hiding his child below stairs for years.
“And she was given a sizeable dowry, I assume.”
“More than that,” Anna said quietly. “She inherited everything. Although she is not titled, the old Duke did get the Prince Regent to decree that her son would be the next Duke of Fitzroy."
Marco’s mind was in turmoil. He had taken meager comfort in the knowledge that the Fitzroy line ended with the death of the Duke.
Even if he could not get his revenge, at least no other man would ever ascend to the title.
That was a sort of revenge. He thought the man who murdered Thomas had gone to his grave thinking he had failed in the one thing the aristocracy cared about: siring an heir.
Now he realized the man had managed to find a way around that.
“If she can find anyone to marry her,” Giovanni said.
“And why should she not?” Anna demanded, and Marco couldn’t help but echo her sentiments. After all, she was undoubtedly lovely and apparently wealthy. “She is uncommonly beautiful. I am sure she would be considered a diamond of the first water if not for her unfortunate background.”
“That is indeed one of the biggest reasons she has not had a serious suitor,” Beatrice sighed.
“The men wonder whether the prize of a duchy for their son is worth the stigma of marrying a former kitchen maid. As if her birth circumstances had any bearing on it.” The disdain in her voice was quite clear to everyone.
“It is not only that, my dear. The lady has made it quite plain that she does not wish to be courted,” Giovanni said, shaking his head.
“Though I am sure some lord will eventually get over himself and make her a good enough proposition to entice her into marriage.
But I doubt she could ever make a love match. "
Marco did not care if the lady made a love match at all. But he did care if she produced a son. He could not stop thinking about Thomas’ last moments. Of the letter he gave Marco before his last breath. And the Fitzroy seal on that note.
He recalled the intense heat of the fire on his face. He could feel splinters in his hands and strained muscles in his back from wrenching the burning beam away from the doorway. He recounted carrying Thomas out of the building and praying in vain for his survival.
Marco's rage was rekindled brutally, racing through him like the fire that killed Thomas.
There was a price to pay for that life. A debt that the Duke was able to discharge with his death.
But Marco could still exact his revenge.
He could prevent the Duke from having an heir.
The only way to accomplish this was to seduce his daughter.
She couldn't marry and have a son if she was ruined.
The Duke would not get his one and only wish, and his precious line will have died with him.
Marco did not relish making an innocent the means of his revenge, but he would do it.
For Thomas, he would do anything. Perhaps the lady would be happier as a spinster if she genuinely had no wish to marry any of these dandies.
Marco could be doing her a favor in the long run.
He internally chastised himself for that thought.
No, he would not pretend that his motives were anything more than they were.
He wanted revenge, and this woman would be the tool he would use to get it.
He saw Thomas's bloody face in his mind and hardened his resolve.
He would see justice done even if he had to destroy this lovely creature to do it.
“I am surprised you have not heard of it, Alegria. Isn’t your factory located very near Fitzroy's lands?” Silas said, his eyes fixed on Marco as if seeing something in his face that gave him pause.
“It is, indeed,” Marco said, setting down his drink on a nearby table and straightening his cuffs.
He was not very practiced in the art of courtship, but he didn't really need to be for his plans.
He could be charming when he wished to be, and that would be all he needed to seduce the chit.
"I am afraid my inattention to local gossip has made me remiss.
As a prominent business owner in that county, I should have paid my respects to the ladies long ago. I will rectify that error at once."