Page 72 of His Enemy Duchess

Thomas stared at his uncle in abject shock. “All those lost lives are… foolish?”

“What would you call them? What did you call William when he returned from that duel, eh? I don’t remember you applauding him. Quite the opposite.”

Thomas grimaced, hating that his uncle was right. “Fine, let us agree to disagree that the feud has always been stupid, but… I can’t let myself fall in love with her. It would be… a betrayal. What would my father say? What would he think? What?—”

“I knew him better than anyone, Nephew. He was rash, he was obsessed with the feud, he had a vicious temper, he let hate guide him. But do you know when none of that was true? Do you know when he was gentle and kind and warm?” Gregory smiled sadly.

Thomas shook his head.

“With your mother,” Gregory said. “I never saw him sweeter than when he was with her. He loved her so very much, and the closest he ever came to ending the feud was because of her.”

“What?” Thomas sat up straighter, his foggy mind clearing.

Gregory gazed down into his drink, a crease of memory appearing between his eyebrows. “A few years after they married, when she was pregnant with you, she went missing. Your father sent out an army of people to search for her, but itwas to no avail.” He paused, raising his gaze. “When days passed and she wasn’t found, a note arrived.”

“What did it say?” Thomas asked, hanging on his uncle’s every word.

“Something along the lines of ‘we have her.’ Your father thought the Kendalls had kidnapped her, so he rode over there immediately. I was with him. He begged them to return your mother, and I know he was ready to end the feud right there and then if they would only give her back. Both of you, I suppose. He intimated as much on the ride over. I’d never seen him so distressed.”

Thomas swallowed uncomfortably, uncertain whether the tale was supposed to help his situation or complicate it further. “I assume they returned her?”

“They didn’t have her,” Gregory replied with a shrug. “Your father thought they were lying, and the meeting nearly ended in bloodshed. But when I forced him to return home, the driver of your mother’s carriage was there with a bandage on his head. He explained that the carriage had overturned in the middle of nowhere, and both he and your mother were knocked out. Farmers came to help, and that was where she was—safe and sound at a farmhouse. One of them had written the note but couldn’t add more details.”

Thomas expelled a shaky breath. “It was all a misunderstanding?”

“It was, but Iknowyour father would have given up his hatred for your mother. If you feel that there is a chance that you might love Sophia, or love might grow between you, then just know that your fatherwouldapprove. He valued his love for your mother above all else,” Gregory urged. “If that isn’t clear enough, then hear me now—it is time for you to stop worrying about the opinion of someone who isn’t here anymore. Someone who was half the man that you are, in truth. Worry about being happy instead.”

His words rang loud in Thomas’s ears.

It was a lot to take in at once, the story spooling around in Thomas’s head. Gregory was right, yet again. Although his father had always been hard on him, Thomas had never seen him so much as raise his voice to his mother, always whispering in her ear, making her laugh, adoring her without shame. If his fatherhad found a woman worth ending the feud and hatred for, then what was stoppinghim? Why wasn’t he following in his father’s footsteps in that regard, too?

He had made up his mind.

“You are right,” he said quietly. “I have been foolish.”

So foolish that his wife had run away from him and might not be persuaded to return. All because of a note and eighty years of hatred that he had inherited blindly, living in the past.

He just hoped it was not too late to change the future.

CHAPTER 26

“Are you sure I can’t help you, Your Grace?”

“No, Penny, I am quite capable,” Sophia replied with a smile, folding the last of her clothes and stowing them away in their rightful place. “Although I thank you for your company and supervision. I am still learning.”

Penny fidgeted with the cuffs of her sleeves. “But it is my duty, Your Grace. You’ll have me relieved of my employment if you do everything yourself.”

“No one needs to know. Your companionship can be your duty,” Sophia insisted. “And there will be plenty of times when I can’t do something by myself. Styling my hair, for example. I wouldn’t have the first notion of how to dothat.”

The maid seemed appeased. “Very well, Your Grace.”

An awkward silence fell between them as Sophia realized she had no more clothes to keep her busy—rather, to keep thoughts of Thomas from invading her mind.

“Has my husband… said or done anything important while I was gone?” she asked in what she hoped was a nonchalant tone.

“Anything important?” Penny frowned. “Uhm… no? Not really. He has been uncharacteristically… uh… reserved.”

“In what sense?”

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