Page 65 of A Lady's Dangerous Secret
The two gentlemen chuckled. They both looked down at Charlotte with relief. Her sobs diminished, and she collected herself. “What are we to do next?”
“Dr. Stone has been checking on you each morning and evening. He’ll be delighted that you’re awake. Hopefully, you can move back to your aunt’s home soon,” James explained.
Charlotte assessed his stubble, tussled hair, and disheveled appearance. “Have you rested?”
James sheepishly looked down at his hands before he raised his head to look at her. “No, I couldn’t leave. I came too close to losing you. I wasn’t going to let it happen again.”
Fresh tears welled in Charlotte’s eyes. It must be the laudanum, because she had never been this emotional. Or maybe it was because she loved this man so much it hurt.
After realizing she was theforgotten fifthas a child, Charlotte had always walled off her emotions. Emotions made one vulnerable, and she refused to let herself be at the mercyof others. Now, she was letting in her emotions for James. Instead of feeling exposed, it felt wonderful. There was a power in knowing that James loved her just as much as she loved him. Charlotte reached out for his hand with her good arm and gave him a squeeze.
“Lady Charlotte,” a voice bellowed from the other side of the room. The Duke walked purposefully toward the group.
“Your Grace,” Charlotte said. She tentatively smiled. She did not know how he would react to the news that she was to marry James.
He glanced down at James and Charlotte’s entwined hands. “Ah.”
She eyed him nervously.
“I see my son has spoken with you.”
James glared at him. “Yes,Your Grace.”
The Duke clasped his hands behind his back and stared down his aristocratic nose at James. “I realize it would take me more than a lifetime to atone for my mistakes, but you have to give me a chance.”
Before James could retort, Charlotte chimed in. “You’ll give us your blessing to be married?”
“Undoubtedly. I enjoy your company, Lady Charlotte, but I believe you’re much better situated as my daughter-in-law than as my wife. And I already have a wife whom I must see.”
Charlotte grinned. “I entirely agree.”
He looked at James. “Before I take my leave, I want to let you know that I wrote to your mother. I hope she will accept my invitation to come to London. Being a duke, I’m not used to apologizing, but I groveled quite thoroughly, if that’s any consolation.”
Charlotte saw the corner of James’s mouth twitch.
Perhaps there was a chance at reconciliation.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Family.
James stopped dreaming at a young age of what it would be like to have a mother, father, and maybe even siblings. But now, he looked around the dining table and saw that previously unattainable image before his eyes. Although he was still angry at his father, he could not help his heartstrings from tugging as he shared a meal with his parents and his half-sisters.
His mother had accepted the Duke’s letter begging for forgiveness and the ducal carriage that had accompanied the note. His mother wrote to James that she was making haste to London to see for herself if her beloved husband truly lived.
James was with the Duke when his mother arrived and alighted from the carriage. He witnessed the mix of emotions that crossed her face. Her mouth fell open, then she began to cry before she rushed into her husband’s open arms. His petite mother sobbed into the Duke’s jacket, the top of her head not even reaching his shoulders. Her sobs quickly morphed into screams, and she proceeded to punch him furiously. James smiled as he recalled the deluge of expletives with which his normally mild-mannered mother assaulted the Duke.
“James, you appear quite amused,” his mother inquired from her position next to her husband, eschewing Society’s expectation for her to sit at the opposite end of the table. The two could not keep their eyes off each other. He felt as if he intruded upon a young couple in love.
“You look happy, Mother,” James responded, covering up the true nature of his grin.
His mother blushed like a schoolgirl and glanced at the Duke under her dark lashes. “I never thought this day would come.”
“I will spend the rest of my life making up for every day we were apart,” the Duke vowed. James’s coldness toward his father had thawed slightly. He could only hold on to his anger for so long now that he saw how much the Duke truly cared for his mother. However, James clung to his spite as much as he could. Letting down his guard entirely would make him exposed, and James’s life had taught him that the only person upon whom he could depend was himself.
Moreover, he still had trouble thinking of the Duke as his father. James never knew how to imagine his missing parent, but it had never crossed his mind that his real father would be one of the highest members of the aristocracy. After James’s deprived childhood, it was hard for him to reconcile this fact. Nevertheless, he could not deny he did resemble his father in some ways, and he was trying to think of him as such.
“Father, it seems you are asking for immortality,” James’s half-sister Genevieve quipped as she raised her left eyebrow and gave her father an impudent stare.
