Page 1 of The Duke's Forbidden Bride
Chapter One
“Well, well, well.” Boots clicked against the stone floor, and suddenly Eleanor Barnes’s cramped room—hercell, for that was truly all it was—seemed even smaller as William Coleman, Lord Belgrave, crossed the threshold. “Three years and you have not changed, Lady Eleanor. Well, I try to greet you as the lady your birthright says, but you hardly look worthy of any title.”
The door had creaked open, the sound echoing off the low stone ceiling of her room in St. Euphemia’s House of Mercy.
A shudder went down her spine, a pit yawning open in her stomach, as it always did.
However, this time, Eleanor did not look up into the cruel, flat eyes of Sister Martha, with her sneer and pious words, or even Sister Susan, with her righteous hand raised before her lips ever opened.
No, she looked up at the last man she had thought she would ever see again.
Before Eleanor could break her stony silence, Sister Susan finally showed her weathered, wrinkled face.
“Lord Belgrave, whatever you may require after your visit is at your disposal. We will be more than happy to provide you with anything you need. Of course, you are always welcome to dine with Mother Caroline as well.”
“Thank you, Sister,” Lord Belgrave said, but his eyes remained on Eleanor.
She wished they would not. She wishedshecould look away, but she couldn’t.
“You may leave us now.”
“Of course, Lord Belgrave.”
Do not, Eleanor wanted to beg, forcing the weight of fear from her tongue, from her eyes, so he did not see or hear it.
Please do not leave me alone with him.
But of course, they would—they were perhaps crueler than him. They would not think twice about what kind of man she was left with.
Her heart beat a nervous staccato in her chest, pounding in a way that made her feel ill.
The heavy, wooden door slammed shut.
“Eleanor Barnes,” Lord Belgrave drawled, laughing lowly at her. “My, how you have fallen. How small you look, kneeling there beside the bed. Were you indulging in your prayers? Did you turn to God, after all, thinking he would save you after your… ruination?” He crouched, tilting his head at her. “Did you pray that I would forget you, Eleanor?”
He was taunting her, and she refused to give in, to be affected. She lifted her chin. The convent and its host of nuns who wielded their religion cruelly had broken her spirit long ago, but she could not let Lord Belgrave see that.
His cold blue eyes caught the meager light of her candle. They were nothing but icy chips. How had she ever thought he was charming and handsome?
He extended his hand, uncurling his fingers. “Here, let me help you up. Do they ask you to kneel like this for visitors? Perhaps you did not know I was coming. Did they tell you? They knew about my arrival. I sent word this morning.”
Eleanor’s stomach dropped. She should not have felt the betrayal clumping through her guts, sifting through the heavy contents of her breakfast she was already fighting to keep down.
Lord Belgrave’s eyes trailed over her, making her feel exposed.
“Silent,” he mused. “You never were before. Do you have nothing to say to me? I will admit, I expected anger from you. Three years is a long time to think.”
“I have done enough thinking,” Eleanor finally answered, her voice a rasp. She only used it to pray long enough to avoid the nuns’ wrath. “I do not need to think more.”
“You did enough thinking, and not smartly so, when you snuck into my study at our engagement ball.” His voice was hard even as he smirked at her.
His life had not been affected by that terrible night. That night that had ruined everything. That night, Eleanor hadlosteverything.
His eyes bored into hers, and she forced herself not to look away.
“Well, as you said, three years is a long time. That ball was very long ago.”
“And yet, by the look of you, it’s not long enough. I still see you fighting yourself. Has it finally exhausted you, Eleanor? You made yourself the perfect lady, and now look where it has gotten you—in a convent, playing the pious, little acolyte.”
