Page 56 of Wedded to the Beastly Duke
Adam desperately wanted to deny it or find faults in Rickard’s story, but his father had never been reliable, had always been cruel. The absences alone could confirm the story.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Adam demanded. “When you first came to the house claiming to be my friend, then William’s?”
Rickard’s shoulders were stiff. “I looked into you and your brother before ever approaching your home,” he said after a long pause. Merry music drifted through the open doors, the backdrop of the ball a mockery of the conversation they were forced to have. “Your reputation across London was fearsome, and the accusations I was carrying against your father—I know they have weight. To accuse him of such a terrible thing… I thought you would object.”
Adam snorted. “No doubt you believed the rumors calling me a monster.”
“I didn’t believe them,” Rickard said earnestly, “but when I witnessed your reaction to my presence in the house, I thought perhaps that caution would be best. For days I have wondered how best to break the news. I intended to do it with your wife nearby, so she might temper your reaction, but you forced my hand.”
So she might temper your reaction.
Adam had pushed him against the wall. Such a response was justified, even if he hated it.
“I apologize for losing my temper,” he said stiffly. “But you could have told me at any time. My relationship with my father was not such that I would not have believed you, or been offended by the accusations.”
“I’m afraid I wasn’t aware of that at the time.”
Adam sighed, trying to reconcile this new information, but there was a ball of fury in his chest. Not at Rickard precisely, although he was a manifestation of everything Adam didn’t want to acknowledge. But at his father.
His father, a man too cowardly to discipline without the use of a switch or belt buckle, had betrayed his mother in the most fundamental way possible. Adam had never loved his father, but he had always adored his sweet, gentle mother. She had been the best part of the family, and her death had destroyed him.
Now he would forever be wondering if she had died knowing the depths of his father’s betrayal.
And Rickard, a man who had evidently been brought up to know Society as his right, might be denied a place in it.
Rickard, a product of the union Adam’s father had had with another woman.
Rickard, hishalf-brother.
“William,” Adam choked out. “Did he know?”
Rickard shook his head. “No one knows this now but you and I.”
“I—” Adam broke off, not knowing what he should say.
Beyond the curtains, people were laughing, and the sound was grating on his nerves.
“I understand,” Rickard said, before Adam could say any more. “I’ll find an inn for the night and give you some time. This is heavy news. In your shoes, I can only imagine what I would be feeling.”
Adam shook his head, trying to clear it.
No one knows this but you and I.
He had come searching for answers, but the truth was more than he could comprehend.
* * *
After the exhilaration and excitement of a ball where she had indisputably been the belle, the carriage ride home seemed almost unbearably quiet. Adam sat opposite her, his knee brushing hers, but unlike the tension that had swamped them on the carriage ride in, there was nothing but silence between them now. His face was pale and drawn, the savage beauty of it partially hidden behind contemplation so severe that she had no space for it.
Rickard was not there.
Adam had explained he was going to stay in London for a few days before returning to the estate, but he had given no explanation as to why. Emmeline guessed it was something to do with jealousy, but Adam had barely acknowledged her presence, so she didn’t think he would respond particularly well to a barrage of questions.
Still, as they finally reached the manor and he helped her down, she was alarmed by the distant look on his face. After all the flirting and the way she had left their last conversation, she had hoped that when they returned home, he would have shown some interest in her.
Instead, he looked as though he barely noticed her.
He looked as though he had seen a ghost.
