Page 48 of Her Wolf of a Duke

“What is it?” he asked, but he already knew what had happened.

Reluctantly, he turned to see a gentleman standing by the open veranda door. Beyond his figure many more of the ton stared at them, eyes wide and mouths wider. They had been seen, and Levi cursed himself for it in an instant. The one time he had truly done something ruinous, and it was before the most reputable members of theton. There was nothing that he could do; Miss Kendall was ruined and the fault was his own. He should not have followed her, he should not have teased her, he should have left her alone when she asked.

She was still trembling, and the worst part was that he could not comfort her. In fact, he could not move at all, and neither could she. It was only when her father came and harshly took her wrist that he truly realized what all of it meant. Her reputation was destroyed once and for all, as was her sister’s, and the blame was his entirely.

He remained there even after she had been dragged away from him.

CHAPTER 16

The carriage ride home was silent.

Emma waited for it, the barrage of insults that would come her way once her father felt like it was time for it. She tried to press herself into the back of her seat, as if it might make her disappear altogether.

She did not see the Duke before they left. It had been a blur after the incident, with her being whisked away to her room and talks of duels had. No such thing happened, in the end, as her father was not willing to risk his life for her. She was pleased with that, as it at least meant there would be no blood on her hands.

Her father cleared his throat, but still there was nothing. Emma looked to Sarah, wanting to apologize, but that only would have caused the explosion from her father and she wanted to avoid it for as long as possible.

It happened the second they were in their home.

“Are you satisfied now?” he asked, in a menacingly quiet tone. “Are you at last pleased that you have destroyed everything?”

“Father, you must know that I had no intentions of doing that.”

“Did you not? What did you think would happen? You act in such a disgusting manner with a man, one that you knew to be a rake, and then you are surprised that it hasn’t ended well. I am not a fool, I know that this was deliberately done so that you could ruin your sister.”

“I would never do that!”

“Yes you would. You knew that I had found a match for her, a wealthy suitor that was willing to marry her quickly so that I could be done with it, but you hated that. You couldn’t stand that you had no hand in it, and so you did what you had to do to destroy it. Do you suppose Sarah is grateful for that?”

“She doesn’t like the Viscount, so she may well be, but that is not why I– what use is it trying to explain myself to you? You do not care. You only wish to admonish me.”

“And I have every right to! What did you expect would happen?”

“I was not thinking at all. I do not know what came over me. I would never have done what I did if I thought it might affect Sarah, you must believe me!”

“I cannot even look at you,” he scowled. “Go to your bedchambers and do not leave them. Am I clear?”

She nodded, leaving at once. She could not argue with him any further, not when she knew that he was right. She had been reckless, and she had been caught, and it was entirely her own fault.

After some time passed, there was a gentle knock on her door. She opened it, and Sarah shuffled in quietly. Her eyes were red, as though she had been crying, and Emma felt a wave of nausea overcome her. It was not just her own reputation that she had ruined, but her sister’s too, and that was unforgivable.

Then, she noticed that her sister was smiling.

“I wanted to thank you,” she whispered. “For doing all of this for my sake.”

Emma faltered, reaching out to embrace Sarah but pausing at her words.

“What do you mean?”

“I am not so easily fooled as the ton, Emma. I know that you would only do something this scandalous if it meant saving me, and given what Father has said it may well have! The Viscount shall want nothing to do with me now.”

Emma refused to pretend that what she had done with the Duke was because she wished to rescue her sister. In truth, it was partly the drinks Cecilia had given her and partly because she wanted to do it. She wanted to do something that was for herself alone, something selfish, as she had never dared before. If kissing a rake and not needing to marry was what she wanted, then that was what had to be done. The fact that it helped her sister was merely a welcomed addition.

“But what of Lord Rosendale?”

“If he truly meant what he said about me, then he shall come for me. He knows where I am, after all. Now that the Viscount will see me as damaged goods, Father shall have no other choice but to accept the match if he wants to be rid of me.”

“Do you truly believe that shall work?”

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