Page 12 of When her Duke Returns
Harry laughed and began picking absentmindedly at the small conkers of the tree. “Come now, Alex, I haven’t seen you in… what? Four years? I’m eager to hear of your travels.”
“I went to war a Duke and came back a ghost,” the man retorted. “That’s the short of it.”
Harry shook his head. “You’re no more fun than Francis—orAntony, I might add.” He clicked his tongue against his teeth. “All right, I’ll be plain with you. When at first I heard the rumors of your return, I didn’t want to give them any credence. After all, we had all mourned you by that point. Mary most of all.”
The mention of Mary piqued Alexander’s interest. After her insouciance at the ball, Alexander had thought the matter beyond reconciliation. “Go on,” he said at last.
“I don’t want you to think that any of us wish you dead, regardless of whether it would make things more convenient… because it’s simply not true,” Harry said quickly.
“But itwouldmake things more convenient if I stepped aside, you’re saying,” Alexander stated as a half-question. “We both saw how Mary reacted at Summerhead, and I suppose she’s made you privy to the shared aftermath of my arrival near the stables.”
“Can you blame her?” Harry said through a laugh. “She’s hardly thrilled about marrying Antony as it is. And then youdrop on herfrom the high heavens looking as you do and expect her to… What? Pronounce her undying love for you in the middle of the ball? She thought you weredead, Alex. And we both know how Mary is. She’s not one for great displays of emotion at the best of times.”
Alexander sighed. “If you think this would only burden her more, why ask me here today?”
“Because I fear that if she doesn’t get the chance to speak with you properly before she’s wed, she will regret it for the rest of her life. Ever since you took your leave, she’s been running around as half a person. I cannot say whether this sudden change was grounded in the loss of you or her visceral rejection at the idea of being a wife,again, but she is most unsettled, Alexander. She is simply not happy.”
“And you believe I can make her happy?”
Harry placed a firm hand on his old friend’s shoulder. “No, I didn’t say that. But I do believe you might help her find whatever it is that will settle her. A sense of closure, I suppose. And, perhaps, she can do the same for you.” Harry smiled, and Alexander realized it was the first time anyone had smiled at him genuinely since he had returned. “The service is over soon. Wait here, and I shall bring Mary to you.”
With that, the man jogged off back toward the church.
“Oh! And for what’s worth,” he called back as he left, “I don’t think you look nearly as monstrous as they say.”
Alexander sat under the old horse-chestnut tree of the churchyard for what felt like hours although he was sure his rising anxiety was tampering with his perception of time. In the moments since his conversation with Harry, he had gone over all possible outcomes of his upcoming conversation with Mary nigh one hundred times.
Part of him hoped she would see him for who he was, his face be damned, and accept his heart without scruple. But from what Harry had shared, Mary was not like to reveal the truth of her sentiments to him, regardless of what lay within them.
He paced around the churchyard until they were upon him at last, his riding trousers stained green with his gentle brushing to-and-fro against the damp grass. Mary and Harry were locked in a heated discussion as they strode toward him. He noticed she was dressed in grey although she had always claimed to despise the color. Her hair had been pulled out of her face, falling over her shoulders in soft, brown tendrils.
“Lady Mary,” he said when at last she stood before him. He followed up with a nod to Harry, who was beaming from ear to ear, probably from the lunacy of the venture.
“I shall leave you to it,” Harry said as he slunk away. “Though, do remember to play nicely.”
Mary watched as Harry trotted away, but Alexander had eyes only for her. There was a strange intimacy about the moment. They were as close as they had been the night of the ball, but there was no one left to shield her from him. She seemed disarmed by his presence and let her arms fall loosely to her sides.
“Your Grace,” she said to break the silence.
Alexander couldn’t help but shake his head in bewilderment. “I am overjoyed to see you, and I am even more glad that you agreed to meet with me.”
“Well,” she began in a huff, “Harry hardly left me the choice.”
“Is that so?” Alexander said, and he could not help but smile.
“Quite. He refused to leave unless I spoke with you, and we were to share a carriage. He said he was going to lock himself inside, bar the doors, and have me walk home,” she replied with an unsure smile of her own.
“Before I say anything else,” he said, “I apologize for my behavior at your ball. I know words cannot make up for the scandal I may have brought upon you nor for the cruelness of my words outside the stables, but I must try. I still don’t know what ardor seized me and convinced me to ride down as I did and to intrude upon you in such a fashion.”
“And,” she cut him off, “to hit my betrothed square in the face.”
Alexander chuckled darkly. “Yes, and that.”
Mary considered her next words, and the smile fell from her lips. “I cannot imagine this is easy for you, Your Grace. I will not pretend to understand you, and I fear I never shall. I will also not deny that your sudden appearance at Summerhead was hardly well-received… But I can sympathize with your loss, and I would be lying if I said I did not feel some guilt over what has transpired.”
“The engagement, you mean?”
Mary nodded. “It was not a thing I sought for myself—let me be clear as to that. Only a few weeks after we heard the news of your passing, my mother and brother thought it best to find me a new match. As Lord Burkley was only recently returned from the war himself, the opportunity seemed too propitious for them to pass up. He was a friend of the family, as you were, a man of good standing… In truth, I had very little say in the matter.”
