Page 147 of His Grace, the Duke
“What?” James muttered, feeling his jealousy and protective instincts rise.
“What?” shrieked the duchess, ready to drag Rosalie by the curls.
“WHAT?”
The group spun around, all eyes on the doorway as Piety Nash pushed her way in.
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Rosalie
Rosalie gasped, feelingBurke’s arm go around her as he dragged her out of the way of Piety’s wrath.
The woman stormed into the sacristy, eyes murderous. “You swore!” she shrieked. “You swore to me you had no designs on the duke! You gave me your word, you wretched, unfeeling snake!”
“And I did not break my word,” Rosalie replied, eyes wild with confusion as she glanced from Piety to the duke.
“You have dashed all my hopes,” Piety sobbed.
“Whatever I did or said, I swear to you, it was wholly without intention,” Rosalie countered, looking desperately at the duke, willing him to intervene.
“George, please just explain yourself,” said James, inching closer to Rosalie.
The duke shrugged. “I just wanted to be brave for once. I wanted to believe I could have a say in my own life.” He glanced around at each of the faces in the room. “I’ve spent my entire life failing you. All of you. Over and over again. I fail you because I cannot bear to see those hopeful looks onyour faces, daring me to rise to the occasion, rise to the great and noble task set for me as a duke of the realm.”
He turned to face the duchess. “Mama, I entered the world a disappointment to you. I was weak and mewling. My nursemaid told me how you could hardly stand to hold me. How I cried and squirmed like the devil’s own imp. Apparently, I was born to be your torment.”
“George . . .” she whispered, tears in her eyes.
He turned to his brother. “James, to count the ways I have failed you would take more time than we have left in our lives. I have been the worst possible example to you of what an elder brother should be. I have been selfish and insolent, dismissive, uncaring, unhelpful. I don’t deserve your fidelity.”
James crossed his arms. Rosalie saw how he struggled. His desire to placate his brother warred with his well-earned feelings of resentment and frustration.
The duke smiled weakly at Burke. “I’ve even failed you. I’ve never given you your due as an unspoken member of this family. I didn’t even ask if you wanted to be a ‘Corbin,’ I just thrust the name on you without a second thought. Do you?”
Next to Rosalie, Burke stiffened. “Do I want to be called ‘Corbin’?” He glanced from James to George and shook his head. “No, I will never be a Corbin. I am a Burke through and through.”
“The Burke name will get you nowhere in life,” the duchess retorted.
Burke had the audacity to smirk. “Good, then I shall be exactly where I want to be.”
“Oh, how can you be so aimless? So-so irrational? To take our name and marry Olivia Rutledge would secure you for life—”
“I am already secure,” he replied. “James provides me with all the living I need. I seek nothing else. If any of you had bothered to ask me, I would have told you how I felt.”
She raised an indignant brow. “So, you are content to just live in his shadow?”
He glanced at James and smiled. “Yes.”
The duke gave a curt nod. “Then it’s settled. My last act as duke will be to rescind the offer I made to you at the Michaelmas ball. You are no longer Horatio Corbin. And unless I am very much mistaken, you have no interest in being Baron Margate either... am I correct?”
Burke huffed a laugh. “George, I would rather chew off my own arm and throw it at the lady than take her hand in marriage.”
The duke smiled. “Then consider yourself free of her.”
The duchess swept forward. “George, you cannot do this. The agreement is already struck—”
“The way I see it, the only thing keeping their sham of an engagement in place is you, Mama. I tell you now, it is done. You are to leave Burkeandthe lady alone.”
