Page 74 of Snowbound with the Scoundrel
Francis looked her up and down.“I take it you are my brother’s new bride.How he convinced the likes ofyouto marry him, I have no idea.But this doesn’t concern you.It concerns Clarissa Weatherby and those wallflower sisters of hers.”
Claire’s eyes were shooting sparks.“IamClarissa Weatherby!”
“Not anymore!”Rupert observed cheerfully.
She looked up at him, her expression abruptly turning fond, and squeezed his arm.“That’s right.As of a half-hour ago, I am Clarissa Dupree.”
Rupert felt a pleasurable hum go through his body to hear those words on her lips.
She rounded on Francis, poison flooding back into her eyes.“But the point is, it is very much my concern, as your friend William Ellison wrote those horrible things aboutme!”
Francis’s lips were pinched.“Look, Ellison didn’t mean anything by that letter.He was just having a bit of a joke.”
A shadow fell over Francis’s head.“So,” Jasper St.James boomed from behind him, “you admit that William Ellison is the author of the letter slandering my wife.”
Francis was so startled, he actually jumped.“Norwood!”he squeaked.“I didn’t notice you there.”
“Not sure how you managed to miss him,” Rupert said, his gaze traveling the length of the duke’s six-and-a-half-foot frame.“He’s remarkably noticeable.And you also failed to mark my solicitor, standing just behind him.You getting all this, Laurie?”
“I most certainly am,” Laurie replied.
“Look, Norwood,” Francis began, a drop of perspiration beading on his temple in spite of their snowy surroundings.“I’m sure you don’t want any trouble.”
The duke stalked around, so he was facing Francis.“Indeed, no.My wife and my sisters-by-marriage did not want any trouble.And yet trouble came and found them.”He leaned in, his voice growing menacing.“Nor did your brother deserve to have his reputation sullied, to have dishonorable words he never wrote attributed to him.”
Francis made a mocking sound.“I will own that it is unfortunate that one of the women caught in the crossfire turned out to be your duchess.Wretched luck, that, although no one could have foreseen that she would have such a precipitous rise.But Rupert?”Francis snorted.“Nobody cares aboutRupert.”
The duke loomed over Francis.His voice was downright dangerous as he said, “Icare about Rupert.Rupert is my brother now.”
Francis gulped, his face taking on a green hue that would’ve looked nice next to the festive garlands bedecking the castle’s halls.Not that he was going to be invited inside, if the way Laurie and Lady Emily were glaring at him was anything to go by.
But Rupert’s heart was feeling warm and toasty, in spite of the fact that he was standing outside in the snow.Rupert is my brother now!He hadn’t thought of anything beyond having Claire as his wife.But he’d also managed to obtain a new brother, the right kind this time, the kind who punched bullies in the face for you, instead of the kind who punchedyouin the face for absolutely no reason at all.As well as three sisters who could not be more delightful.
Ever since Auntie Imogen died, Rupert hadn’t felt like he had any family left.His father and brother thought he was an embarrassment and preferred to pretend he didn’t exist.
But, by marrying Claire, he had managed to get himself a family ready-made, and quite a splendid one at that!Up until that very second, he hadn’t realized how much that would mean to him.
Francis seemed to have realized that his efforts to cozy up to the duke would not be successful.“Fine,” he sneered, his nose in the air.“We’ll see how well you enjoy being Rupert’s brother.”He spun on his heel, his efforts to look haughty suffering when he slipped on the snowy ground.But he managed to stay on his feet as he swept back into his carriage with an air of wounded dignity.
As they watched the horses start forward, Norwood clapped Rupert on the shoulder.“I believe I will enjoy it just fine.”He inclined his head toward the castle.“Now, did Lady Helmsley not say something about a luncheon?”
They started toward the castle, but Claire held him back.“Are we really required to attend the luncheon?”she whispered.“I can think of one or two things I wouldmuchrather be doing.”
Rupert hummed appreciatively.“I can think of several dozen things I’d rather be doing with you.But I wouldn’t hurt Lady Helmsley’s feelings for all the world.I know she went to a lot of trouble to put something nice together on short notice.”
Claire sighed theatrically.“Very well.But let’s plan on mysteriously disappearing as soon as the dessert course has been served.”
Rupert smiled at his new bride.“I love the way your mind works.”
She beamed up at him.“And I love everything about you.”
Rupert found it difficult to formulate a reply.Those were words he’d never thought to hear.
But the one thing Rupert had learned over the years was that if you kept trying, every once in a great while, things broke in your favor.
He smiled as he entered the castle with his new partner, in every sense of the word.
