Page 40 of Her Duke Next Door
“I shall have our carriage prepared for you,” the Duke said, striding ahead. He hovered somewhat awkwardly, looking at her, as though he no longer knew how to address her now that she was his wife.
His wife, Mary thought to herself, with a deep blush. She turned her face away so he would not see it. Her sister, Anne, would be in hysterics when she found out! Not a moment after the Duke disappeared out of sight, Mary saw a shadow by a nearby tree and her heart kicked into a panicked rhythm when she saw Hugh striding toward her, his face a livid red.
“Youtreacherous, heinous harlot!”
Mary reared back at the insult. She stumbled, scrambling back for a protective Duke who had gone ahead to prepare their carriage.
“Howdareyou do this to me!” Hugh yelled.
“My lor?—”
“You will not hear the end of me, Mary, I promise this to you,” he spat, raising a hand without going to strike her. Still, she flinched back. “I shall be there, on every corner, no matter where you go. You think the Duke of Livingston can keep you safe? Ha! You shall end up just like his late wife. He might own you now but that is no privledge the way you think it is.”
Mary tried to compose any reaction to those words but Hugh caught them.
“You do not know the stories, Mary? I suggest youdoattend one afternoon tea with your sister and the ladies of the Ton. I am sure you will find out a great deal about your new husband. Do you not think there is a reason why you do not know? An honest man clears his name with those he wishes to believe him. A guilty man keeps his secrets. You are spoiled goods, Mary. I do hope he knows what he has gotten himself shackled to. And I do hopeyouknow, as well. Perhaps the two of you deserve one another. This is not the end, Mary. You cannot escape me forever.”
And although he walked away from her, leaving Mary trembling, she believed his words. It would not be the last time she saw him.
Still, as she regained her composure before she climbed into the carriage, she put to bed the comments Hugh had made about the Duke’s late wife. The Duke himself had promised to tell her. What could the Duke’s wife have become while married to him?
* * *
“Your Grace, there is something I must do.”
The words left Mary with a sense of great dread.
“I must inform my family of what we have done,” she told him. “And I must admit I am fearful of their reaction.”
To her surprise, the Duke let out a bark of laughter. “But you have been married before.”
“Yes but they knew about that,” she said. “My father gave his blessing.”
“Ah.”
“And my mother… I hope she will be happy but my sister will most definitely have her opinions. Mostly, she shall be hysterical that she was not involved in the ceremony.”
“I do believe it would have caused problems for us had we needed to put on a performance for your family’s sake.”
“Undoubtedly,” she agreed. “But still… I worry.”
“Shall we do it together?”
She paused and thought that, yes, that could work.
“I shall invite them for dinner tonight.” She glanced sideways at the Duke. “Do you remember that I told you that they were a large family? I did truly mean it.”
“I am sure I can handle your family.”
* * *
He was rather confident of that statement until he was faced with the intimidating force that was Lady Angleton.
In the doorway to Ruxham House, she smiled brightly at him but there was something beneath the polite façade. This was a foreboding woman; he could tell by that smile.
“Your Grace,” she said, greeting him. Her eyes flicked to Mary, who remained at his side. “Mary, my daughter.”
“Hello, Lady Angleton,” Dominique said, standing straighter. He swallowed, at the mercy of this distinguished woman who he overranked but at the moment she was a mother, not just a Lady of her house. And upset mothers were fearsome indeed. “Welcome to?—”
