Page 3 of A Bride for the Wicked Duke (Claimed by Regency Devils #2)

Chapter Three

"H ow about him?” Rosalind said, indicating across the ball room to Lord Alderwin. He was a slightly older gentleman who was not exactly hard on the eyes, but it made little difference as Aurelia knew the man well enough, the things people said of him, how he had a reputation for cruelty and sadism among those ladies unlucky enough to find themselves in his path.

“Pass,” Aurelia said. “And really, Rosalind? Do you think so little of me.”

“That is not --”

“What of Lord Chesterfield?” Eveline took Aurelia by the arm and steered her direction ahead, nodding with her head at the back of Lord Chesterfield. He was the complete opposite to Lord Alderwin; young and dashing, fit and athletic, and truthfully a little too handsome for his own good.

Aurelia clicked her tongue. “Perhaps, only I fear he will spend our entire marriage in front of the mirror. Truly, he is so vain that even Narcissus would blush.”

“He is rather pretty, isn’t he,” Eveline agreed, her expression turning dreamy.

“And broke,” Rosalind said. “Everyone knows it.”

“There you have it,” Aurelia said. “Lord Chesterfield is out.”

“Lord Lakeview?” Rosalind was again steering Aurelia’s attention further into the ball room, this time onto that of Lord Lakeview. He was of average height, his features plain, his reputation middling. But he was also known to be wealthy, and to be in search of a bride who he might shower with this wealth. “I have heard he is quite kind,” Rosalind pushed. “At the very least, he should be considered worth approaching.”

“I guess...”

“I still think you should try Lord Chesterfield,” Eveline continued, her gaze still very much stuck on the handsome lord. “So what if he is poor? You two could simply run away together. No one would begrudge you.”

Aurelia laughed. “I will consider it.”

“Is there anyone else?” Rosalind continued, pulling Aurelia’s gaze from Lord Chesterfield. “You really must get a move on, Aurelia. Time is not your friend.”

“What’s the rush?” Eveline asked. “We have all night. And these things are not to be hurried.”

To this, Aurelia and Rosalind looked at one another but said nothing. They knew well enough why time was of the essence, but had not shared the full details of this endeavor with Eveline as Aurelia did not think she needed to be told. Let her simply assume that I have changed my mind of my own accord, and that I am not doing this for her. If she found out the truth, I dare say she would do everything she could to stop me. Just to prove that she could, if for no other reason.

Having said all of that, it was not as if Rosalind knew the whole story, as Aurelia had not shared with her that His Grace was the one whom she had met with last week. As far as Rosalind knew, the owner of Aurelia’s family’s debts was nothing more than a loan shark who had no connection to the peerage whatsoever. Hopefully, she will never find out.

Regardless of who she owed the debt to, the result was the same, which was why Aurelia had come to tonight’s ball with one goal in mind: to find a husband. Easier said than done.

They had been at it for an hour now, standing toward the back of the ball room, surveying the attendees, searching for the perfect man who Aurelia might deigned to be worthy of her hand. So far, and needless to say, it was not going well.

“What of Lord Harrow?” Rosalind asked. “He has been watching us all night.”

“Who?” Aurelia followed her friend’s gaze and shuddered when she saw to whom her friend was suggesting. He was a spindly man, possessed of a beak-like nose and beady eyes, greasy hair, and a smile on his lips that made her skin crawl. Yes, he was watching the three of them with keen interest, but that was not exactly a point in his favor. “I would rather take a long walk off a short cliff.”

“Ha!” Eveline laughed.

“He is...” She shuddered, daring one more look at the man – who was still watching them – before turning away. “... creepy. And I do wish he would stop staring.”

“At least he is interested,” Rosalind pointed out innocently.

“Somehow, I doubt I am the one who has captured his interest,” Aurelia said with a wink, even if there was a layer of truth to her comment that added another less than appealing worry she was dealing with tonight.

Rosalind was, in Aurelia’s eyes, gorgeous. Dark hair. Big brown eyes. Pixie-like features. And a curvy body that she knew men to trip over themselves in pursuit of. Eveline too, short like Aurelia yet skinny, with elegant features that would only grow more beautiful with age. Not that Aurelia wished Lord Harrow to be staring at her, but she was certain that of the three of them, she was the last one he might have wished to take notice of.

Aurelia had always been self-conscious where her weight was concerned. Although she thought of herself as pretty, with her dark hair and deep brown eyes, she was also plump in figure; a body-type which she and her mother argued about constantly, as women of the ton should not allow themselves to get as large as she was. Or so her mother said. It played havoc with her confidence, and although it wasn’t the reason she had abstained from the romantic scene all her life, it certainly didn’t help!

These were fears that she had to overcome and rise above, as she no longer had the luxury of turning her cheek up at courtship. And if she might have gotten cold feet and changed her mind...

“Oh no,” Rosalind groaned.

“What?? Eveline asked.

“My brother,” Rosalind said, exhaling sharply. “Why is he watching us? I told him, I wished to spend the beginning of the night with you. He really does not like you much, Aurelia.” She laughed. “Considering how you two spoke to one another the last time you were together, I guess I cannot be surprised.”

She is speaking about the ball last week. Although she is not wrong either, as I have no doubt His Grace thinks less than little of me. Just as I do him.

The duke stood across the ball room. Engaged of present with several other lords, all of whom pandered to him like sycophantic worshippers, he still managed to keep an eye on Aurelia, ensuring that she saw him doing so.

Seeing him again tonight had brought about strange emotions in Aurelia. On the one hand, she wanted to hate him, as he was the one who had put on her this most harrowing task in the first place. On the other... she could not ignore the warmth which spread her body and made her heart race each time their eyes met. She remembered him standing over her. She remembered the power he had in that small room. She remembered... he has a dark side, more than he lets on. One which, for some reason, I find myself drawn to.

But she could not let herself get distracted. Her family were counting on her. And with His Grace watching, she figured that she had to act now or see her family doomed.

“Lord Lakeview it is,” she sighed with regret.

“Oh, good,” Rosalind said. “I think he is a fine choice.”

“A bit boring.” Eveline curled her lip. “He has a face that you would not recognize if he was standing right next to you.”

“I am going to talk to him,” Aurelia said with a firm nod, forcing confidence which she did not feel.

“I will leave you to it.” Rosalind took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Good luck.”

“I will find mother, I suppose,” Eveline grumbled as she slunk away.

Aurelia watched her friends go, still working up the courage to approached Lord Lakeview. Again, she caught the duke watching, and she curled her lip at him and widened her eyes to warn him off.

About to make her approach, Aurelia saw movement out the corner of her eye. She followed it to where Rosalind was walking toward the back of the ball room, and then outside and onto the balcony. Likely, she was just getting some fresh air. Thinking nothing of it, Aurelia was again about to work herself up to approaching Lord Lakeview, only to again become distracted. This time it was a distraction that had her gasping.

Lord Harrow was slinking across the ball room, his path fixed on the balcony where Rosalind had just disappeared. He wore a sinister smile as he hurried for it, and when he reached the doorway, he made sure to look over his shoulder and survey those nearby as if double checking that nobody was watching him. His smile grew and he stepped outside.

Oh no...

Rosalind was a most innocent creature, the type who might trust a wolf who invited her into its den without questioning the obvious danger. Aurelia did not know anything about Lord Harrow, but she knew his type, she knew that look in his eyes, and she knew that to leave him alone with her friend was a mistake she was not willing to make.

She did not care that she had a mission of her own. Nor did she care that the duke was watching her. Her friend needed her, and that was all which mattered. And so, Aurelia acted.

Across the ball room, she hurried for the balcony, breaching the door and stepping into the cool night. It was dark outside, the moonless night making it difficult to see. Not that she needed to, for she spied immediately her friend and Lord Harrow. Worse than that, she heard them.

“... a pretty thing like you should not be out here on your own,” Lod Harrow purred. His back was to Aurelia, and he blocked her sight of Rosalind.

“I am perfectly fine, thank you,” Rosalind said, her voice shaking.

“You are now that I am here,” he continued. He stood over Rosalind, far too close, his black coat making him nearly invisible. Which Aurelia figured was the point. “I have been watching you all night, you know. And I pray it is not too bold for me to tell you that I like what I see.” He purred again. “Very much.”

“Yes, well...” Aurelia could picture her friend’s panic. “If you do not mind, I must be heading back inside.”

“What’s the rush.” He moved to block her.

“Please, my brother --”

“Is busy, I am sure. No need to hurry. No need to leave.”

Aurelia would not describe herself as brave, as much as she was short tempered. She often spoke without thinking. She often acted without considering the consequences. And where many a young woman might not dream of inserting themselves into a situation that screamed danger, Aurelia was not one of them. Not when her friend needed her.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Aurelia spoke up, which had Lord Harrow jumping and spinning about. “But I am afraid I must steal my friend from you.”

“Aurelia!” Rosalind cried with relief, hurrying to step past the troublesome lord. “I --”

“Easy there.” Lord Harrow shot an arm out to block Rosalind from passing him. “This doesn’t concern you,” he sneered. “So, I suggest you do the smart thing and turn around and head back inside and forget you were ever out here.”

“The smart thing?” Aurelia said with a frown. “Clearly, you do not know me very well at all. I never was one for listening. Just ask my mother.”

Arm still extended to block Rosalind, his lip curled into a snarl. “I said get. Don’t make me ask again.”

“And if I do?” Aurelia asked innocently. “Make you ask again, I mean. What will happen? You haven’t been very clear.”

Even in the dark, Aurelia saw the man’s eyes flash with anger. Teeth bared, fury enveloping him, he growled a warning at Rosalind as if telling her to stay put and then he strode for Aurelia, arm outstretched to grab her.

Aurelia’s heart leapt through her throat, and she might have cried out was she not suddenly taken by panic. It was all well and good to do the right thing and try and help her friend, but this was the other side of the coin where her boldness often led her. Into danger which she had no way of extricating herself from.

Lord Harrow came to a sudden stop, his body turning rigged and his eyes widening with fear. He balked, chin wobbling, scampering back a quick step in a way that might have suggested that Aurelia had suddenly grown by several feet and was now holding a weapon.

“This looks friendly,” the voice of His Grace spoke from behind Aurelia. Calm and poised, there was no anger to it, no sense that he had just stumbled upon a most troubling situation. “I hope I am not interrupting.”

“Your Grace!” Lord Harrow stammered. “I... I was just introducing myself to --”

“My sister,” His Grace continued. From behind her, Aurelia felt His Grace’s presence as he stepped in closer, which had Lord Harrow’s eyes turning even wider. “And Lady Hawkins. Although if introductions were what you were after, Lord Harrow, you ought to know better than to find yourself alone with two young ladies.”

“I --”

“Have surely become lost,” His Grace spoke over Lord Harrow, still perfectly calm. “I might even be willing to believe that you stumbled out here unknowingly, at which time you saw these two ladies alone and realized that it was best that you made yourself scarce.” A beat as Lord Harrow’s chin trembled with fear. “Now!” His Grace finished with emphasis.

Lord Harrow did not need to be told twice. He yelped and jumped on the spot, then quickly scampered past Aurelia and His Grace as if his coat had caught fire.

“Gerald!” Rosalind cried out with relief, rushing toward her brother. “Thank God you are here. Lord Harrow, he --”

“Is a nuisance and a pest,” the duke spoke over his sister as he walked around Aurelia. He did not turn back to look at her, focusing himself on Rosalind who stopped short before him. “And you ought to know better than to find yourself alone with him.”

Rosalind grimaced and looked away with shame. “I am sorry, Gerald. I did not mean it.”

“Now, wait just a moment,” Aurelia spoke up, suddenly angry. She stepped between the duke and Rosalind, fixing her annoyed gaze on His Grace. “Rosalind did not find herself out here with Lord Harrow – this was not her fault. He followed her out here.”

“Aurelia!” Rosalind gasped.

“And you should be relieved that was all he did,” Aurelia continued hotly. “It is just lucky that I found them when I did, or who knows what might have happened.” Hands on her hips, she continued to glare at the duke.

The duke frowned at her. Not angry at being snapped at. Not apologetic at the mistake made. Rather, he appeared curious, perhaps even amused that Aurelia had suddenly chosen to attack him. A tilted head, he looked down at her, in no way put out by her glare holding her eyes as he dared her to look away. Which she did do, finding it impossible to match the coolness of his gaze.

“You found them, did you?” he said eventually.

“I did,” Aurelia said. “I saw Lord Harrow following Rosalind and I thought it best that I intervene. A good thing I did to.”

“Rosalind,” he then said. “Is this true?”

“I did not mean it,” Rosalind hurried. “I was just coming outside for some fresh air and --”

“Lord Harrow followed you...” He nodded along as the story fell into place. “And Lady Hawkins here came to your rescue. Do I have that right.”

“I am sorry,” Rosalind continued. “I did not mean it. Truly! I should have been more careful.”

The duke said nothing. Again, he looked at Aurelia with a sense of curiosity that she did not fully understand. The curve on his lips was esoteric. The glimmer in his eyes was... again, she had no idea. But whenever she tried to meet them, Aurelia felt her stomach turn in ways she didn’t fully understand. She wanted to be annoyed by the duke’s chastisement of her friend, but she could not get past the very real fact that he had saved them both.

And the way he did it... I have never seen someone so in control and domineering. Someone so confident that the world seems to move around them.

“Inside, Rosalind,” he said finally. “We will speak of this later.”

“But --”

“Now,” he said, still not angry, but with enough command that Rosalind knew better than to argue. She put her head down and hurried past Aurelia, a quick smile of thanks as she did.

Aurelia thought to follow her friend, but she sensed that Rosalind’s dismissal was not for her. In fact, the duke had placed himself in front of her, blocking off her path, making it all too clear that she was not to go anywhere. At least not until he was done with her.

Alone suddenly, Aurelia was again inundated with similar feelings to that which she had experienced the other night. Not fear. Not worry. Rather, a sense of powerlessness that wasn’t nearly as disconcerting as it should have been. She could feel his eyes on her, and she tried to meet them, but his gaze was so overwhelming that she found herself looking away.

“It seems that I am in your debt,” the duke said finally.

“What?” Aurelia snapped her head up in shock.

“You saved my sister,” he continued simply. “What is more, you did so despite knowing it would impede on your own plans. That is why I followed you out here in the first place, to remind you of what was promised.” He chuckled. “And here I thought you had come out here to stall.”

“I came to help your sister!” she cried as if he was mocking her.

“Which I have acknowledged,” he said, still perfectly calm. He was always that way, she was beginning to realize. So perfectly controlled of his emotions... well, that was until I tried to blackmail him. That dark side which he works so hard to keep hidden. “ And am just as grateful for. Again, you have my thanks.”

“Oh...” She blinked with embarrassment. “That is... you are welcome.”

Silence fell upon them again.

Aurelia, never much good with silences, always having to fill them because she could not keep control of her tongue, found herself unable to do just that. The duke stood over her, staring down, studying her in ways that made her feel uncomfortable. He was just so damn confident in himself, caring not for the way she squirmed under his gaze. Likely, he enjoyed it.

She tried to look at him, again glancing away as soon as she met his eyes. There was a sense that he could see right through her, that he had her in his thrall, a toy to do with as he wished. Likely, it was a power dynamic he was used to.

“The question now becomes, what am I going to do with you,” he said suddenly.

“Huh?” She looked up again.

“On the one hand, we had a deal,” he continued. “A deal which I cannot possibly see you fulfilling tonight.”

Aurelia’s temper seized her. “I --”

“Put my sister’s safety above your own needs,” he spoke over her. “Which is nothing short of admirable. A fact which I am taking into consideration. Believe me when I say that I am.”

“Oh, well, how very kind of you,” she said with sarcasm.

“The truth is, when I saw you ducking out here, I wasn’t in the least bit surprised,” he spoke across her again, his voice still calm. “I never truly believed that you had it in you to find a potential husband in one night. It was a promise made that I was certain to be to my own benefit as you, Lady Hawkins...” He chuckled and shook his head. “Forgive me, but from everything I know of you, the chances of you finding a suitor in a single evening is so ludicrous I find it difficult to believe you even considered it an option.”

There it was again, that anger. “How dare you!” she hissed. “The reason I have not bothered with courtship until this point has nothing to do with --”

Suddenly, the duke stepped into her. So quickly that she didn’t have time to step back. And as he did, he shot up a single finger, placing it over her lips to silence her. Her eyes went wide as she felt him; both his body on her and his finger to her lips. And her heart... it began to beat so quickly that it hurt.

“It has everything to do with you.” He dropped his voice to a whisper as he leaned over her, his finger still against her lips. “You forget that I know you, Lady Hawkins. Who you are. What you are like. There is a good reason you have remained single all this time, and it has everything to do with who you are. Do not say otherwise.”

Her heart was racing. Her body was running warm. She wanted to argue. She wanted to tell him exactly what she thought of him. But the feel of his finger, the touch of his body, and the way he was looking at her made it very difficult to even breathe, let alone to speak.

“You are a bad bet,” he continued in that same whisper. “One which I would do best to exercise myself from as quickly as I could, for I have no doubt that was I to give you one month or five, it would make no difference. However...” He leaned in closer, his finger leaving her lips, tracing itself down her chin which he then raised so that she was looking right at him. “You helped my sister tonight, meaning that you helped me. That is not something I will soon forget.”

“What... what do you... what are you saying?” Aurelia could barely speak, her mind focused on his finger under her chin, his breath which traced her lips as he spoke, and the look in his eyes which held her like a hand had reached itself out and wrapped about her heart.

“You asked for one month, so I will give you one month. One month to find a man willing to...” He chuckled deeply and flashed his eyes. “Or able to, is perhaps a better way of thinking about it. A man able to see in you a wife worth attaching himself to, and quickly as I expect you to be married within the month. Not just engaged. Do I make myself clear.”

“And if I don’t?”

He smiled. “You know the answer to that. I am reasonable, Lady Hawkins, do not think otherwise. But my mercy has its limits.”

It was exactly what Aurelia needed to hear. Exactly what she had set herself to achieve this night. But it came with a backhand, his mocking her in a way that seemed to amuse him. He had all the power here, he knew it, and he didn’t mind letting her know it.

He is confident now, but will that confidence last if the ton was to find out his dark secret? The man he really is? I doubt that very much.

“You better hope that I do find someone,” she said, trying to speak bravely, but barely managing a whisper. She even tried to pull her chin free, but the duke followed her with his finger. “Lest your secret accidentally find its way into the public discourse.”

That did it. The duke’s eyes flashed with anger in ways that Aurelia was certain only she had ever seen. Strangely, it excited her. She wanted to see the anger boil to the surface. She told herself it was because she hated liars and would take great pleasure in the duke revealing himself to the world. But that is only half the reason. If that...

“You play a dangerous game...” His finger stroked her chin, and she trembled. He leaned in closer... closer... closer still and she found her entire body shaking as she pictured what he might do. His moved his mouth to her ear, whispering, “I would be careful, if I were you...”

And then, as quickly as it had started, the duke pulled himself back, straightened, and once again took on the air of propriety. “I suggest you return inside shortly. No doubt your mother is wondering where you have gotten yourself too, and I would hate to see her worried.” With that, he turned and strode inside, not another word said.

Aurelia exhaled, having not even realized that she’d been holding her breath. What just happened! She had gotten what she wanted. The night was a success, anyway she looked at it. Yet she could not dispel that lingering feeling that things would only get worse before they got better.

What was more, she sensed that when they did, the duke would be right there to let her know. That thought excited her even more.