Page 57 of The Duke's Hidden Scandal
“Lady Wentworth, you must know that I have been desirous to speak with you upon this topic for some time. We were interrupted before, but now I feel confident that I will be able to express myself as I wish.”
Charlotte did not know where to look and focused her attention on a place just to the right of his left ear.
“I am quite overcome. I have never known a lady like you, and I have enjoyed our time getting to know one another in these past few weeks,” his eyes glinted in the moonlight. “I believe we could build a life together, a good life, and make each other happy.”
His words are everything society says I should want, but all I feel is fear.
“Lady Wentworth, our families are destined to be joined by our union. You and I will be the talk of the town, the envy of everyone around us.” His teeth glinted as he looked up at the night sky for a moment before fixing his eyes on her once more. “I do not wish to delay any longer. I have approached your father, and he is agreeable to this match. I would ask you most fondly for your hand in marriage and do everything I can to deserve you for as long as life grants us.”
As long as life grants us, how long that sounds.
Charlotte’s shoulders hurt from how tightly they were held upright. She pasted a smile on her lips, knowing that any other reaction would show her displeasure more clearly than anything.
Though eloquently put, Lord Kilby’s words did not speak of love or happiness but only of what their union could lead to in their social circles. She knew he did not love her. And now, by some cruel twist of fate, as she sat with another man asking for her hand in the darkness, her true feelings for the duke were finally revealed to her.
I know I do not love Lord Kilby because I love the Duke of Lindenbrook with all my heart.
An owl hooted somewhere in the trees above them. If the duke were here, he would have remarked upon it, and the comment would almost certainly have made her laugh. She looked at Lord Kilby as her heart seemed to slow, watching herself from a distance as she followed the path of duty and threw her heart to the winds.
“Yes, my Lord,” she said solemnly. “I would be happy to accept.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The following morning, Colin awoke in his study, slumped in his chair before the cold remnants of the fire.
He had dreamed of paper and awoke to paper. It seemed that the documents, missives, and letters were multiplying before his eyes.
He could feel the legacy he had worked so hard to redeem, crumbling all around him. It had taken years of endeavor to secure the investors who were supporting the estate renovations, yet apparently, to lose them could be done overnight.
With a long sigh, he rubbed a hand over his face and looked out of the window at the dawning of a new day.
Only the evening before, he had dismissed the idea of running from his responsibilities, but now the thought of escaping the scrutiny of society and the despair of the last few days was almost irresistible.
He glanced down at his desk, familiar nausea rising within him at the almost illegible and increasingly erratic notes in his father’s hand. He lifted a ledger in order to close it, and as he did so, a piece of folded paper fell out onto the floor.
Bending down to pick it up, he froze. It was a letter he had not seen before from his father to Lord Richard Wentworth.
With quivering hands, he unfolded it. It had been written the day before his father’s death but had never been sent.
Dear Lord Wentworth,
I write to you with the pain of many years behind me in the hopes that we might make amends for the feud that exists between us.
Long have I sat at this desk, considering what could have become of my life if things had turned out differently—if I had acted more honorably.
I regret the decision that led to you losing the seat in the House of Lords. I was not the one who spread the rumours, but I did not dissuade anyone else from encouraging them. I know your character and your integrity now. I understand that the allegations of fraud would have been deeply hurtful to you.
In truth, there is more to our history than you may be aware of, and I allowed that to cloud my judgment.
I contact you now, in order to attempt to right a future wrong. In the next few lines, I will give you details of my life that no one knows, that I have kept close to my chest all these months, praying I would be able to escape. But alas, I believe my time is upon me, and I have been unable to do so.
I have been embroiled in a very serious matter that has caused me great unhappiness, of late. I trusted the wrong man and have been unable to see a way of extricating myself from what is a dire situation.
You and I were both at the Watson’s soiree several months ago. I, too, spoke with the gentleman of the house about the investments that he had made and was intrigued by them. I chose to follow the same path, along with some other men—including Lord Percy Kilby.
Colin’s fingers were shaking so violently that he had to steady the paper between both hands.
I was most gravely deceived by Kilby’s character. He is a braggard of the first order, and I am telling you this—as my greatest rival—in the hopes that my destruction will fuel your own will to destroy him also.
