Chapter 12 #2
He pulled a creased slip of paper out of his breast pocket and thrust it into her hand.
Her promissory note. “I went to that damnable pawnshop of yours, but by the time I got to them, they’d wiped their records of any mention of you.
So, naturally, I searched through the ball attendees where we met and fortune smiled upon me…
thought it certainly took its sweet time. ”
Astonishment coursed through her. “But there were nearly two hundred people in attendance!”
“And your point is?”
Two hundred people, each guest with their own household and a retinue of servants to investigate, and he went through them all… to find her?
“I do not understand… Why would you go to such lengths?” May’s hands tightened into fists on their own accord.
The duke stood before her, unkempt, unshaven, and utterly unabashed.
Though he had the appearance of a drunk debaucher, his eyes told a different story.
Both manic and lucid at once, and they didn’t stray from her even for a moment, as if she would disappear if he blinked.
A suspicion rose in her mind. “When was the last time you slept?”
He only frowned. “I couldn’t—not without knowing where you were, if you were safe.”
“Of course, I am safe… why would I not be?”
Elias seized her by the arms. His skin was blazing hot against hers, and the heat shot through her limbs, setting her aflame in that familiar, dangerous way of his.
“Blast it all, you left my house in the middle of the night, May! Do you not know the dangers that lurk in the night? It is a blessing that you are whole and unharmed—you are unharmed, aren’t you? ”
May gasped as the familiar smell of him invaded her senses. His breathing was quick, far too quick, and hers accelerated to match pace.
“I am wholly unharmed, I promise you.” She tried her best to calm him down.
His fingers entwined with hers, fear blanketing his gaze.
She had to calm him somehow; he was far past his usual controlled self.
“You need not worry that our… altercation damaged me in any way. I am perfectly fine, so you can return to your life now.”
Whatever desperation brought him here, there was no escaping the consequences of their actions, and one of them needed to be in control and say what needed to be said.
Even if he muddled her mind and heart with his very presence.
It would do neither of them any good to pretend they could be anything but strangers.
Elias’s eyes hardened, as if her words held their fever at bay.
“Do not try and play it down. I know the pain I inflicted. I was merciless—a skill I cultivated so precisely only to carelessly unleash it upon the one I vowed not to hurt. May, you have no idea how sorry I am for the accusations I hurled at you. There are words that should never be said, and yet, I said them all. I have earned your loathing, I know that.”
“You only said what you believed, so how can I hold them against you?” Her shoulders fell even as she tried to stand tall. That’s what hurt so much. “In the end, you don’t really know me…”
It was the truth, no matter how he flinched at her words, and he would come to realize it, too.
She could see Elias fight his words, but before he could reply, someone rapped on the door.
His hands fell away as he put some distance between them just in time for the servant to return with another man.
“Good afternoon, Southam. I’ve hardly known what to do with myself ever since receiving your missive.”
“Thank you for being so accommodating with your time, Baxter.”
“You’ve asked for my assistance—well, here I am.”
Elias inclined his head appreciatively. “Allow me to introduce Miss Carr.”
“It is an honor to meet you, Miss Carr. Truthfully, I cannot remember the last time the duke let someone into his circle. Are you well acquainted?”
“Not too well—” started May.
“Miss Carr is a lady’s maid to Lady Justina Mallory, and I am honored to call her my dear friend.
She is also a terrible rider, a worse liar, and has no qualms appearing foolish or poorly mannered if it takes the heat off a friend.
She often has difficulties with the correct forms of address but has a kind word for all, regardless of rank.
So, yes, you could say that I know Miss Carr quite well. ”
Lord Baxter coughed into his fist in a poor attempt to conceal some emotion—mirth or surprise, perhaps. “Oh, I see.”
May’s face was on fire.
“Incidentally, her departed mother is the original owner of that medallion you’ve acquired recently. She is the sort of person who would rather forfeit her own inheritance than take advantage of someone else, you see.”
He looked straight at her, as if to say, I know everything that matters about you, May Carr.
Lord Baxter was visibly gladdened to find the conversation steered back on solid ground.
“Well, in that case, you can help yourself to the thing. At first, I thought I might have stumbled upon a rare sapphire, but Christie assures me I am mistaken. Fooled by the fellow who sold it to me, more like. Oh, well, it is the fate of men like us to fall for a ruse every so often, eh?” The man winked at the duke.
“Keep the trinket if it makes you happy.”
The men shared some parting words but May only had eyes for the assistant, who brought out a velvet box and set it on the nearby table.
Could it truly be…?
By the time the assistant finished fussing, Lord Baxter had left, undoubtedly uninterested in being entangled in whatever was happening here, and nothing stood between May and the box.
She approached slowly, as if the box would take off, but eventually it lay in her grasp, pinned under her unblinking stare.
She swung the lid open and stilled as the wave of emotion choked her up.
A beautiful Rivière necklace shone green and gold in the light. This was it.
“My mother’s necklace…”
“These are beautiful sapphires, indeed,” said Elias casually over her shoulder.
“They are tourmalines,” she amended as her fingers trailed over the beautiful stones.
“I am loath to correct you, but I can tell you with some confidence that this is a sapphire necklace. I’ve had it expertly checked.”
“It can’t be! Didn’t your friend say he had it checked by Mr. Christie himself?”
The duke smirked. “He certainly did. It was, after all, the easiest way to return the necklace into your possession.”
“I do not understand… You convinced him to lie? So that Lord Baxter would willingly give the necklace away to me?”
“Give it away? I am afraid he is not quite as noble as he pretends to be. No, he was well compensated for this act of kindness. I merely fibbed on the details a little on the chance he would try to take advantage. And as he did demand thrice what a tourmaline necklace would be worth, I’d say I got the better end of the deal. ” He grinned like a tomcat.
Whatever hope May felt, it faded right away. She shut the box with a sigh before placing it into the duke’s hands.
He protested, leaving it in her grasp instead. “You must not think I wouldn’t have paid full price on it. I swear I would have, sapphire or tourmaline, it matters not to me.”
“I am sorry to say that I cannot afford it, Your Grace.”
“Do not be silly, May—it is already paid for. It is yours to keep.”
She wanted nothing more than to agree. May still couldn’t believe the lengths he went to in order to recover the necklace.
In this universe, nobody had ever—no, would ever—do something of this magnitude for her.
It made no logical sense, and it felt terrifying and heady all at once, just as walking on a cloud might feel. But…
“That is terribly kind of you… but I cannot place myself in your debt anymore.”
“What about my debt to you?” he insisted.
“I’ve never paid you as promised. If I had, perhaps you could have recovered the necklace on your own.
Yet instead of appreciating and trusting your words, I twisted them to confirm my own fears.
You told me just how much you were risking by associating with me, yet I called you false in front of others and was careless of your reputation, all because I was afraid of being hurt.
And what for?” His voice was filled with shame, and he tightened his fist until his knuckles whitened.
“Whatever misery I was preventing by my actions, it was nothing compared to the despair I felt when I chased you out of my life and realized that I would never see or speak with you again. And you know what the worst thing about it is?”
Entirely overwhelmed, May shook her head.
“It’s that I’ll never know why you called me to the library that night.
I’ll never get to feel your arms around me again.
I’ll never hear the words you meant for my ears, I…
I thought I was saving myself from heartache by shuttering my heart, but you’d taken root too deep, and now the whole thing is yours.
Carve it out, toss it aside… do with it as you will—it is no use to me without you—but let me do this much for you, May, please.
I know what this means to you; your search for the last piece of your home, the place where you belong, is over, at last.”
Tarnation.
May put the jewelry box aside, completely at the whim of her thumping heart.
She tried her best to pretend that he had been an unfair and cruel man these past few days.
But no amount of repeating the lie would make it true, and Elias…
he was the most wonderful man, who, inexplicably, was professing his feelings to her.
Her, May, a lady’s maid, who’d lied to him for weeks and left without the explanation he deserved.
Whatever happened next, these words were his to hear.
May stepped into his territory, slipped her arms under his, and stared up at his wonderfully surprised face.
That was how it ought to have been that night: with the right man in her embrace, his face in her line of sight.
Nothing held back, nothing to shy away from…
and it all felt right, her heart thrumming in a true duet with his.
“That’s just what I was going to tell you that night.
My search is really over because I found you.
You make me feel like I’m home, Elias. I am so sorry for deceiving you…
This was not supposed to happen, you see.
A chance to earn some money was all I was after.
I had long forbidden myself from taking risks…
only to fall in love with you despite my best efforts.
Not the mask of duty you wear so diligently, but the man wielding his devious smirk, the bold and funny person who dares to dream.
The man who is willing to admit his shortcomings.
The calculating duke, who pursues improvement in the name of legacy.
The family protector, fiercely loyal to his last breath.
That is the man I cannot get out of my head, the man I… love.”
Elias’s fingers rose to her cheek, brushing the locks framing her face.
His lips found her, then, soft yet demanding, as he pulled her into the deepest kiss.
Everything fell away in his embrace, and she felt drunk with him, trembling yet, as ever, desperate for more.
She swayed as he broke off. Elias held her tight even as her legs buckled, her body finally catching up to all that had happened between them.
“I love you too, my darling,” he whispered, those devious lips of his already solidifying into a beautiful smile.
“Oh, I love you more than I knew was possible. Just you wait. I’ve got a thousand more kisses for you, but I will save them all until you answer me this.
” His embrace fell away as he lowered to one knee and pulled another jewelry box out of his coat pocket.
“This ring was my mother’s. What say you to adding it to your family collection? ”
She couldn’t believe what he was telling her. Tears of laughter formed in May’s eyes as she sunk to the floor alongside him. She could not remember the last time she was so blissfully happy.
“Aren’t you afraid of losing all your fortunes at the hands of a devious lady’s maid?”
“Take my money, I do not care. I just want you as you are. This is my vow to you: maid or queen, you are all I need by my side. Now,” he winked at her, as shameless as ever, “my beloved May Carr, will you consent to be my duchess?”
“You try and stop me, Elias Alexander.”
“Not a chance in hell, May.” He laughed. “None at all.”