Page 97 of A Bride for the Devilish Duke

“That will be all, Wilkins,” he said quietly.

The butler nodded and turned on his heel to take his leave.

“What does he say?” Emma asked anxiously.

“He suggests that I might wish to meet with him to discuss the fact that he believes my wife to be tainted. In fact, he describes you as a fallen woman who sold herself to him when her father could not afford the rent required for your family's former home.”

Emma swallowed, suddenly very aware of the scar. The memory of that day loomed large in her mind, creating a panicked terror. She tried to catch her breath, to control her racing heart.

“Why would he feel able to say such things? He must know that I will challenge such baseless accusations,” Damien muttered darkly.

Emma found that she could not speak. It felt like her world was about to come crashing down around her. The revelation would be made and Damien would reject her in disgust.

He took her in his arms suddenly, tossing the paper aside.

“I see your fear. I am here, and there is nothing that can harm you. Nothing for you to fear.”

“I do not fear him, but what he might make you think with his lies,” Emma exhaled shakily.

“There is nothing he could say that I would believe,” Damien assured her.

“If all secrets are to be revealed today, then you should know. Silas Sutherland is the man who attacked me. Who left me with this scar,” Emma said, weakly.

Damien did not breathe for what was an eternity. “…And now I have the last secret that you were holding from me. The identity of the man who wronged you.”

His voice made iron seem soft. His face was set, harder and crueler than a statue. There was murder in that face.

“There was no affair, and my... honor remained intact. He tried to force himself on me, and in my struggle, I was... I was singed. He panicked and fled...” Emma began.

Is this the end to my all-too-brief paradise? Is this secret to destroy my happiness as I always feared it would?

Damien crumped the note and stuffed it into a pocket. Then he turned to Emma and took her hands in his own, pressing her fingertips to his lips with equal parts tenderness and passion.

“I do not doubt it. I do not doubt you. Do not fear that this secrethasor willevercome between us,” he said with utter conviction.

It shone from his eyes, leaving Emma with no doubt. She found herself smiling, feeling a lightness in her heart.

“Now I understand what you meant when you said you felt free. I did not know I was carrying the weight of this secret, it has been a burden for so long…” Emma breathed weakly. “I must go and see Josie. She has spoken to him and I must ensure she is well after that encounter. She will also be worrying herself sick about Charles.”

Damien nodded. “Go. I must speak to Harry. I pray that he will understand my decision.”

Emma stood on tiptoes to kiss him.

“If he loves you as a brother should, then he will understand,”

They went into the house and Emma went in search of her sister as Damien headed upstairs for his brother. Emma found the breakfast room empty. Steam rose from the spout of the teapot and a slice of toast sat on a plate ready to be buttered.

Perhaps she was sitting down to breakfast when Sutherland arrived and she has not yet returned to it. Goodness knows I'm not sure I would have the stomach for food after being in that man's odious company.

As Emma crossed the hall between the breakfast room and the drawing room opposite, she saw something on the floor. It was a necklace, its delicate chain snapped.

She stooped and picked it up.

It belonged to Josie.

Fear gripped Emma, turning her insides to ice. She ran to the drawing room, throwing open the door and looking inside. The room was empty but a chair had been overturned and lay on its side. Now the meaning of Sutherland's note was clear. What had seemed a vague and amorphous threat now seemed very specific.

He had taken Josie.