Page 78 of A Duke Under Her Spell
“You will make the name to be that of an honorable estate, I have no doubt,” Felix reassured him. “You are a good man and more than worthy.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,” Alexander bowed graciously.
“Please, call me Felix. We have become brothers in this, you and I.”
“Indeed, we have,” Alexander agreed. He reached down and laid a hand on Marybeth’s foot squeezing it affectionately. “We will leave you to rest now, but will return upon the morrow. When we do, I would like it very much if you would consider coming to live with us at Enfield. You are our sister, and with Father dead there is no reason why you cannot be with our family.” He and Felix exchanged a look Marybeth did not understand. “At least for a time.”
“Thank you, but I do not know that I could ever feel at home at Enfield. I fear all I would ever think upon would be our father’s heinous deeds. I cannot countenance the reminder that I share the same blood with such a man. ‘Twould be better if I simply returned to my croft, alone.”
“That is understandable. It is our intent to wipe away all memory of the man from the place and reclaim it as our own. We will rebuild our family’s legacy, upon that you may depend,” Alexander promised.
Thomas stepped forward and smiled down at her. “There is something of note that my mother used to say before she died. We were always miserable growing up under our father’s rule. We would go to her and threaten to run away. She would smile sadly, take us into her arms, and say that blood did not a home make, but love. Then she would ask where in the world would we ever find as much love as she held in her heart for us. The answer of course was that there was no such place.”
“A wise woman,” Felix murmured.
“Yes, she was. You see, she wanted us to realize that in this cruel world we still had a safe place with her. That no matter the hardships we might have endured, that there was still someone who loved us. Had we fled from our family’s legacy, we would have been deprived of witnessing that love. Do not choose the lonely, loveless path, dear sister. You believe it to be safer, easier, but it is not. For in our love you will always find a home, a safe place.” The brothers all nodded in unanimous agreement.
Thomas’s words brought tears to Marybeth’s eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He nodded, smiled, then all seven brothers filed out of the library leaving a giant void where they had once stood. Marybeth nearly called them back to her but refrained from doing so for fear of making a fool of herself blubbering. She turned her eyes to the remaining men.
Oliver smiled down at her and winked roguishly, “You have family here too,” he promised. He dropped a kiss on the top her head.
“Yes, she does,” replied Felix his eyes never leaving her face.
Oliver grinned knowingly at the Duke, then left the room, dragging Mr. Wheatly with him. Marybeth turned and met Felix’s eyes. “The Earl threatened to kill you if I did not leave you in Bath,” she whispered. “I would never had left you otherwise.”
“I know,” Felix replied, smoothing the hair back from her face.
“Can you ever forgive me for leaving your mother thus?”
“I already have.” Felix placed a kiss on the palm of her hand.
“How is the Dowager Duchess?”
“She was poisoned by Bredon and Mrs. Snow, but she is recovering. Mrs. Taylor and I were able to save her in time.”
“Mrs. Snow?” Marybeth questioned in surprise.
“She and Bredon were lovers.”
“Oh, my…” Marybeth murmured in dismay.
“Yes, it came as quite a surprise to us all. Mrs. Taylor is caring for her now.”
“I am sorry that I was not able to help you.”
“You were a bit preoccupied with your attempts to die to be of much service,” Felix teased gently, the sadness in his eyes belying his jesting tone.
“You saved me,” she whispered in gratitude.
Felix shook his head. “We saved each other.”
Marybeth blushed, then frowned in thought. “All of this for an ancient legend. Did you mean what you said to the Earl about the treasure not existing?”
“I do not know. I do not believe that it does, nor do I care to find out.”
“Can you imagine spending one’s entire life in search of such a thing only to meet such foul ends?”
