Page 24 of Three Nights with the Beastly Duke

“Timothy,” Lavinia pleaded, her tone gentle. “As much as I…appreciateyour offer, you know I could never agree to such a trial. I find duels inhumane.”

“And what is human about the man you are betrothed to, hmm?” he asked.

No longer feeling comfortable with Timothy’s view of things, Lavinia used all of her might to pull her hand from his and took a few staggering steps back from him.

“That is enough, Lord Stonehames,” she hissed, holding her bruised hand. “Promise me now that you will not hurt a single hair on the Duke’s head. He may not be the man you hoped I would marry, but he is to be my husband nonetheless, and I will not hear of you threatening him anymore!”

Timothy flinched. She knew he hated it when she addressed him with his proper title. He tried to reach for her hand again, but she took several steps back.

“So, youaregoing to wed him, then?” he asked, looking as if he were about to fall apart.

Raising her chin in the air, Lavinia gathered herself. “The rumors are true, Lord Stonehames,” she stated evenly and clearly. “The Duke of Whitekin was meant to marry my sister, but he and I fell in love. Our parents were gracious enough to allow us to marry instead. We shall be joined together next week.”

“Lavinia, please,” Timothy urged, taking a step toward her.

“You and your wife are invited, of course,” Lavinia went on, stepping out of his reach, “but I must ask that if you plan on doing anything untoward to my husband, do not come at all.” She turned to Mrs. Smithe, her body trembling from the stress of the conversation. “Send the footman in, would you, Mrs. Smithe?” she asked. “Lord Stonehames will be leaving.”

“You’re not safe with him, Vinnie,” Timothy called after her as she left the room.

Lavinia flinched but kept going. Behind her, she could hear the footman urging Timothy as politely as possible to leave.

“I’ll be there for you when you realize that!” he called. “Nothing will keep me away!”

CHAPTERELEVEN

“Imust say, old boy, your bride is a rather stunning creature of the opposite sex,” Archibald murmured, his eyes glued to Arthur’s new bride as they stood on the church steps.

Stunningly clever and ingenious,Arthur thought, watching as Lavinia hugged and kissed her sisters over and over again.

The wedding had been, to their parents’ credit, a success. The rumors of their “true love” had spread like wildfire, and any person deemed worthy of an invitation had come to see the beauty be married off to the beast. Arthur knew that it wasn’t out of love that these people showed up, but out of morbid curiosity.

But he had given them nothing and, in fact, played the perfect role of the new husband. He had smiled at her lovingly, held her carefully, and repeated the holy words with emotion. They had no idea how angry he was at her.

“She is quite beautiful,” Arthur agreed, almost not wanting to admit it.

It was true, though. No matter how angry he was at her for playing him for a fool, he still couldn’t deny that her beauty made his heart pound and his breath hitch any moment he was around her.

Beside him, Archibald murmured something in agreement and then pulled out a flask from his coat. “Well, my boy, I know you need to be going off to start your new life and all of that, but we need a toast before you go,” he insisted, untwisting the top of the flask. “To your new bride and all the happiness she may bring to your home.”

“To my new wife,” Arthur agreed aloud,and her destruction of my soul,he added silently. He tipped the flask back and upended half of its stinging contents down his throat, relishing the pain.

Lavinia had tried constantly over the last two weeks to speak to him privately about what had unfolded between them. Even today, before the ceremony, she had pleaded that he come to her to speak privately. But he couldn’t. He didn’t trust her.

She had manipulated him before, and he didn’t want to give her the opportunity to do so again. The worst part was that if he got too close to her, he was certain he would forget all of his anger.

Arthur and Archibald said their goodbyes after their toast, and with no other place to go or person to distract him, he made his way toward his new wife and family. His mother was already with them, her smile wide as she chatted happily with the youngest Dennis sister, Agnes.

Despite his lack of enthusiasm over being trapped, Arthur found his heart softening. At least his mother would be happy.

As he approached, Lavinia seemed to sense him and turned her gaze directly to his. She smiled at him softly, almost desperately. As if to say,“Please, just listen to me.”

“Well, it was a lovely ceremony, was it not?” he asked, doing his best to be cordial to their new united family.

“An absolutely darling affair,” his mother agreed, letting go of Agnes to come to him. She gave him a tender kiss on the cheek and patted his other one with her hand.

“It was so pretty,” Agnes agreed, clutching her hands around the many bouquets of flowers she had been given. “Vinnie says I can keep the flowers, since they won’t last the journey to Whitekin.”

“But of course you can,” he replied jovially. “Do you like flowers?”

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