Page 12 of His Darling Duchess
“Indeed? He should not have taken you from the ballroom without advising me,” Lady Lymsey pointed out. “You were hardly to know where he was taking you, my dear.”
She supposed that was true; after all, she’d never been in the Stowe townhouse before. “I was looking at a book while Grantleigh drank some brandy, and the next thing I knew, he… he…”
She couldn’t make the words come out.
“He tore your dress?” Lady Lymsey suggested gently.
“Yes!” Aurelia seized gratefully on that, the least violent way to describe how Grantleigh had attacked her. “I couldn’t breathe, I thought I was going to faint, and then I heard Stowe shout. He pulled Grantleigh off.”
“Thank God he was there!”
Aurelia nodded in fervent agreement. Stowe must have been in his study, she now realised, the room he’d led them through to exit the house, and heard her and Grantleigh talking. He came to investigate who was in the library, she supposed. “He was very kind,” she whispered.
“He seems an honourable man.” Lady Lymsey seemed to be choosing her words carefully when she spoke next. “He offered for you, Aurelia. If nobody but myself and Lady Grantleigh saw you, this could all be smoothed over, but you were seen inStowe’s company in a torn gown by several others who have no incentive to keep quiet. While your father and Louis spent some time with Stowe after we left putting a good face on things, there will still be rumours flying. I’m afraid I see only two possible ways forward from here.”
“What are they?” Aurelia asked, hoping somehow her mother might have thought of a way out of her predicament.
“I’m sure Lord Grantleigh could still be brought to marry you…”
“No!” She startled to her feet, almost knocking the tray off the table. “No.”
“Be easy, my darling. The pair of you were clearly heading in that direction; your father refused him permission to ask for your hand with the proviso that he might request permission again in the summer, you know.”
“He attacked me last night, seeking to force my hand!” Her lips felt swollen and sore as she raised her hand to them, and belatedly she realised they were bruised from Grantleigh’s forceful kiss, not from her crying. “I won’t have him, Mama. A man who could do that isn’t who I thought he was.” Aurelia stayed on her feet, pacing back and forth. Her fear and distress of the night before had given way to anger now, fury at Grantleigh having duped them all with his character. If he would attack a trusting, innocent girl in that way, who knew what else he might do?
“Then your options are limited to one, I’m afraid.” Lady Lymsey rose to her feet too, reaching to place her hand on Aurelia’s shoulders. “Stowe made clear to your father that he intends to honour his offer for your hand, if that’s your choice.”
“Stowe,” Aurelia said, thinking of the way he’d looked at her so earnestly as he leaned into the carriage.
“Any mother dreams of her daughter becoming a duchess, Aurelia, and Stowe is one of the few eligible dukes in England.Not only that, but he is young, wealthy, and honourable enough to offer to fix his cousin’s mistakes! I know you met him for the first time only last night, but…”
“I don’t have a lot of choice, do I?”
“I’m afraid not.” Lady Lymsey made no attempt to sugar-coat the truth for her. “If you were our only daughter, we would do our best to offer you more options, perhaps go home to Cornwall for a while until the fuss all died down, but we have Ophelia and Viola to consider.”
“I cannot taint their futures with any hint of scandal,” Aurelia agreed. Not for anything would she permit that to happen, not while she had it in her power to safeguard them from the taint associated with an older sister who had been compromised and failed to marry.
“I wish it could be otherwise, but you are a sensible girl, Aurelia, and if you are set against Grantleigh, then I’m afraid you must marry Stowe as soon as it can possibly be arranged.” Lady Lymsey looked genuinely sorry, but also firm. Aurelia quite understood. With two younger daughters to consider, not to mention Lord Lymsey’s political career and the entire family’s position in Society on the line, Aurelia must accept her fate.
She’d only exchanged a few words with the Duke of Stowe, but she gathered her composure and asked to see her father. She would request that he send a message to the Duke of Stowe advising him of her decision, and her preference that the wedding take place as soon as possible.
After all, she really had no other choice.
“Lud, Grantleigh, what did you do?”
Nathan Grantleigh lowered his newspaper and frowned over the top of it at the man who had just taken the seat across from him at his club, entirely uninvited. Lord Harrel was a former schoolmate, but had never been a particular friend of his, and Grantleigh could very well do without his company now.
“I don’t know what you mean, Harrel,” he said repressively.
“Really?” Lord Harrel smirked suggestively. “You’ve a very short memory, then. M’mother says there was an incident in the library at the Stowe townhouse yesterday evening. Said Lymsey’s daughter was caught up in something of a scandalous situation.”
“We’re engaged,” Grantleigh said, “or will be, shortly. You know her parents wanted her to have a Season before we married.”
“That why Colesworth’s saying he’ll call you out when he catches up with you, is it?”
The newspaper fell to the floor as Grantleigh sat bolt upright, and Harrel chuckled, obviously pleased to have got a rise out of him.
“I got a note from Louis this morning. He’s steaming, says he’s going to carve your heart out. Sounds like his father confined him to the house for the day, so I’m guessing the earl’s planning to catch up with you first. I think I’d be considering a few days out of town to let tempers cool if I were in your shoes.”
