Page 99 of A Duchess Bound
Gerard forced a sharp smile. “You are more astute than I thought. I am not happy with the match, but why should that matter? Truth be told, the most frustrating aspect of all is that I am actually beinggood. I am beingselflessfor the first time in my life, and it is producing entirely undesirable results!”
Halls’s eyes flickered with something that might have been sympathy. “I wish that it were not so, Your Grace. Men should never be punished for doing good.”
“What a worldthatwould be,” Gerard said. “I will spend the day in my study. If anyone arrives, tell them I am away for the day.”
“Doing what?”
Gerard crossed the floor, pausing by the stairs. “Tell them that I am engaged in serious business or some such. Make it sound arduous and time-consuming.”
“Tell everyone that, even—even the lady?”
Gerard paused, his hand curled over the banister. “Which lady?”
“The one you are to marry. Lady Dorothy, I presume?”
“You presume incorrectly. But—” Gerard hesitated. “No—I mean, yes. You must tell her that I am away, and if she comes, do not tell me about it. I do not wish to know.”
“Very well, Your Grace.”
Gerard darted up the stairs. He had not considered that Dorothy might come to see him, but that sounded just like something she would do. Had she not come to his townhouse again and again? His throat tightened. Never again would she come to his townhouse. If she did, he must send her away.
They could not be alone together anymore. Gerard clenched his jaw and tore open the door to his study. He had once pushed her against the wall of his study and pleasured her with his hands. Never again.
Instead, it would be Lady Bridget, who he…
Gerard stared at the wall, silently imagining what it would be like to hold her there instead of Dorothy. Lady Bridget was a beautiful, young miss. He clenched his jaw, a fissure of discomfort blooming in his chest when he imagined it all.
There was nothing wrong with Lady Bridget. No man would ever find a flaw in either her body or character, but Gerard could not forget and could not ignore that Lady Bridget would never be Dorothy.
There was a light knock at the door. “Enter,” Gerard said.
Halls opened the door and offered a decanter of amber-brown liquid. “Pardon the interruption, Your Grace, but I thought that you might wish for something stronger than usual.”
Gerard laughed bitterly. “You are right.”
Halls placed the decanter on Gerard’s desk and dutifully retrieved a glass.
“Pour yourself one also,” Gerard said, “if you have the inclination to hear me brood.”
“As you wish, Your Grace.”
Halls retrieved another glass and filled them both with the spirit. Gerard flung himself into the chair behind his desk and seized his glass. “To my marriage,” he said, lifting the drink.
Leedway had congratulated Gerard in the same manner, with a wry smile and a mocking toast.
“To your marriage,” Halls said.
They clinked their glasses together, and Gerard took a small sip from his. How dreadful the arrangement was! He had saved Lady Bridget’s reputation in a manner that none of them wanted.
But at least, Dorothy would be able to rest easy at night, knowing that Bridget was safely wed to a man with a fortune sufficient to maintain the life she deserved. That was better than nothing, was it not?
CHAPTER 35
The next week passed in a whirl of activity, filled with trips to the modiste, visits from the ton, and appointments with solicitors and the vicar. Dorothy tried to throw herself into all the work of planning Bridget’s wedding, hoping that she might manage to occupy her attention enough not to think about Gerard.
Of course, she failed. At last, it was the night before the wedding. Dorothy paced in her bedroom, trying to put her mind at ease. There were worse fates for a young woman than marrying a man whom she did not love. That was, indeed, the fate of most men and women in the ton.
She sighed. As the night dragged on, her energy did not wane. At last, Dorothy conceded defeat. Sleep would not find her soon, if ever, the night before her sister marriedthat man.
