Page 94 of Her Duke By Accident
“That night,” Miss Ayles began, breathing deeply to speak through her tears, “the duke went to Benedict House because Lady Tollock refused to let him live it down. I heard him whineand complain all day about it, about the pressures of society and the ever-watching eye of the ton. He dreaded all the women who prowled the halls in search of a wealthy bachelor, like the duke.”
Miss Ayles tilted her head in a cruel way as she looked at Alicia. “And suddenly there wasyou,” she sneered. “The beautiful and innocent lady who managed to keep him ensnared long enough in a library for the ton to witness the scandal.You.”
“Nothing that happened that night was on purpose, Sophia,” Alicia said, hoping to reason with the governess. “It was circumstance, and the duke knows that.”
“He doesn’t,” she argued, shaking her head rapidly. “I know him, and he doesn’t.”
“I don’t think you know him as well as you think.”
Sophia snarled at her. “You know nothing.”
“Please,” Alicia pleaded, “I’m giving you a second chance, Sophia.”
She narrowed her eyes skeptically. “What?”
“Show me that you are not inherently evil,” Alicia said. “I know you aren’t. You were scorned, left with no choice but to act in the way you did to achieve the things you wanted. You were human, and I can forgive you of that. All you need to do is show me.”
Sophia’s lips parted, a look of astonishment filling her face. “That’s all?”
“Yes,” Alicia breathed, almost reaching for her. “That’s all, Sophia.”
The governess looked down at her feet, her eyes searching. Hope brewed in Alicia’s chest, and she stepped closer, her lips spreading into an inviting smile.
“You’re a fool,” Sophia hissed.
Alicia’s hands dropped. “What?”
“You’re a damnedfool. Did you really think I’d turn around, just like that?”
“I thought?—”
“You thought you were some mighty duchess, about to grant me a second chance by the grace of your heart?” Sophia sneered, tears streaking down her face. “You can never be a duchess. You will fail. No matter how hard you try.”
“Sophia Ayles!”
Before she could finish, Matthew came marching towards them with the constable in tow. He came to Alicia at once, reaching topull her into his chest. Alicia let him, feeling limp and weightless in his arms.
“You will be coming with me,” the constable demanded, taking her from Renfield’s grasp.
The governess cried silently as she was taken away.
“I thought I told you to stay,” Matthew spoke into her hair.
She pressed her face into his chest. “Everyone deserves second chances.”
He squeezed his arms around her. “You are kinder than me.”
Stepping up on her toes, Alicia pressed a soft kiss against his cheek. “Don’t worry, my dear,” she whispered, a smile curling up at her lip, “we’ve got the rest of our lives to work on that.”
“The rest of our lives,” Matthew mused. “I quite enjoy the sound of that.”
“Do you?”
“I do.”
Alicia smiled and raised her face to him.
And the rest of their lives it was.
