Page 3 of Saved By the Rakish Duke

“Mother, we’ve been invited to Blackmoore Manor by the Dowager Duchess of Blackmoore!” Penelope squealed, lowering her voice as she took Mother’s hands in her own. “We'll finally be able to breathe!”

Mother gently squeezed her hands. “That’s nice, darling,” she said with a limp smile.

“In addition, you’ll even get to see the dowager duchess, she’s ever so fond of you,” Penelope reminded her, furrowing her eyebrows. “Aren’t you... relieved, Mother?”

Mother let out a small exhale. “I am, darling. I’m just... so very tired.” She tucked a strand of Penelope’s hair behind her ear. “But tell Ruth to come here and we can start packing my things at once.”

Penelope threw her arms around Mother’s neck, unable to contain yet another squeal of delight. “I’ll send for her right away, Mother!”

With Mother convinced, there was only one obstacle—albeit the more formidable one—that remained in the way of their salvation: the very source of their suffering, Uncle Winston.

Speaking to the servants, Penelope ascertained that he was no more ill-tempered than usual today. But to be extra safe, she had a tray of his favorite sweets prepared and carried it with her to his study.

“Come in!”

“Lord Punton, I’m sorry for disturbing you, but I thought you might be hungry what with how hard you’ve been working today.” Penelope put on her warmest smile as she set the tray on the study desk.

As usual, he acknowledged her with little more than a grunt.

After he had scarfed down half of the sweets, she carefully began. “Seeing you working so hard on your correspondence has reminded me of an invitation that Mother and I received from my godmother—the Duchess of Blackmoore—just today, my lord.”

She extended the letter toward him. Barely glancing at it, he asked disinterestedly, “What does she want?”

“She has generously invited Mother and me to stay at Blackmoore Manor for some time so that she may assist Mother in her grief.” Penelope added, “Normally, I wouldn’t even bother you with such a matter, my lord. However, it did not seem wise to reject an offer from such a prominent family.”

Uncle Winston’s ears perked up at this.

“I suppose it would be best to ‘play nice’ as it were with the duchess,” he said as he stroked his beard contemplatively.

“Indeed, my lord.” Penelope’s palms began to sweat once more. “And it would be a wonderful opportunity to renew ties between our families so that they may be more receptive to any requests or favors we may need in the future.”

Penelope fought off the shudder that threatened to run up her spine as she disagreed with every word that left her lips. However, her twisted reasoning seemed to sway her uncle, whose eyes greedily lit up.

“In that case...” he licked his lips to get rid of the leftover sweet crumbs on them.

Penelope held her breath.

“...you and your mother may go visit them.”

She clenched her fists to avoid giving away her excitement.

“However!” he narrowed his eyes at her, “don’tyouget any funny ideas or cause me any trouble. If I so much assmella rumor about you, I shall drag you back here myself. Do you understand?”

“Yes, my lord.” Her heart pounded in her chest as she assured him, “And I won’t cause any trouble, my lord, I promise.”

“And stay away from any of those no-good, frolicking bachelors...” her uncle snarled, “not that they’d take an interest in you at all anyway, but regardless! Remember that you are to bemybride once I have gotten all of these affairs in order.”

Her eyes welled up, not because of his hurtful words, but because she could hardly contain her rage.

“Of course, my lord,” she choked out through gritted teeth, before taking her leave.

“Ah-ah!” he called after her, “didn’t you forget to thank someone for the grace he’s shown you?”

She sucked in a deep breath before turning around to face him once more.

“Thank you for allowing us to go, my lord,” she said with a shallow curtsy.

“That’s better,” he leered. “You just might be worthy of bearing my heirs after all.”

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