Page 94 of Her Duke in Shining Armor
Just before the trial three weeks ago, Eleanor knew she had to escape London. It was not the sneers and whispers she couldn’t handle, it was more her reaction to them that she feared. Her spirit was already ripped to shreds from mourning her mother and the mixed feeling of hatred and reluctant understanding for her father and with any provocation, she might lash out and draw more attention to herself.
To save herself from shame, Eleanor had asked Aaron for asylum and that very same day, he had moved her and Miss Malcolm into the East Wing, across from his West Wing grand chamber. As her father was in jail, her grandfather had become her guardian, to protect her image even though she was an adult.
Now, curled up against him in the sitting room of the Barvolt Mansion in Oberton, she sipped her tea and felt Aaron’s lips brush against her ear.
“I think I now know why I gave you that dance card filled with only my name.”
Eleanor twisted her head to look at him. She was eager to know the answer a question that had plagued her for months. “Why?”
The Duke was close to her with one of his shins resting on the other knee and his left elbow resting on the arm of the loveseat. Fleeting hints of red glimmered in his brown hair and his green eyes were so close that they temporarily enveloped her vision.
“I realized that I did not want anyone else dancing with you,” Aaron said simply. “I don’t want anyone coming within three feet of you.”
Eleanor giggled. “What about your dogs, Icarus and Erebus?”
At the mention of their names, the two Irish Wolfhounds stirred from where they lay dozing by the empty fireplace. They cocked their black and white, grizzled heads. Their tongues were hanging out over sharp fangs.
“Even them,” Aaron grunted.
“You’re incorrigible,” Eleanor snickered and sat up.
With the peculiar whistle she had learned from Aaron a few days ago, Eleanor called them and instantly two sets of large paws were jostling for space by her thighs. Enchanted with them, Eleanor scratched them behind their ears and smiled into their sharp, grinning faces.
“Don’t listen to your master,” she cooed. “He’s too possessive for his own good.”
Aaron cursed under his breath.
“Your Grace!” Mr. Harold censured from the doorway. “In the presence of a lady! My, my, your parents must be rolling in their graves.”
“Not you too Harold,” Aaron groaned. “Please.”
“Why not?” the impeccably-dressed butler tilted his silver hair, “I am the only who will enforce your parent’s point of view.”
“And I am here to enforce Lord Norwich’s point of view,” Miss Malcolm added as she entered the room with a pleasant smile.
“It’s collusion, the lot of you,” Aaron grumbled lightheartedly.
“Ahem,” Mr. Harold, “I have a Mr. Wilcox and a Lady Darcy Sutherland for you, Your Grace and My Lady.”
Eleanor was on her feet as Darcy came in, bearing her token basket of sweet treats.
“Eleanor, darling!” Lady Darcy smiled, “Is Oberton hiding you away from us?”
“Yes,” Eleanor grinned unrepentantly. “But then, I had asked him to. I am so glad to see you, but did you come all this way to give us buns? Not that I’m complaining.”
“It’s more than that,” Mr. Wilcox added. “London is erupting. Brisdane’s trial is pulling women activists and right-wing supporters out of the woodwork like never before. Doctor Nithercott gave his testimony yesterday and Mrs. Briks’ will be today. You have upended the peerage, Lady Eleanor…but that is not all. Oberton, the man who tried to kill you—”
“Excuse me?” Eleanor cut it with alarm on her face. “Kill you? Aaron! Why did I not know about this? What happened?”
Aaron’s reply was calm, “You were in the middle of a crisis with your father, Eleanor. There was no way I would burden you with mine. But since it is out in the open, let me tell you all before Wilcox steals my thunder.”
They sat and Aaron began to explain from the night of the Greyson’s ball to when he had openly called out Wyndrake at White’s. He then explained the inconsistencies with his shipping business and how he had not only found out but gained written proof of Wyndrake’s scheme to ruin him. He then concluded with how his coachman Burns had gotten killed and how he had barely escaped the same fate.
Eleanor listened with a steadily increased heart rate and when Aaron was finished, she spoke, “I understand…I do, but I am still a bit hurt that you did not tell me this.”
Aaron reached out and covered her hand with his, “I’ll try to not exclude you anymore.”
A smile tugged her lips. “No, you won’t…well not until thing get crucial, at least.”
