Page 33 of A Duchess Bound (Dukes of Dominance #2)

“ D o you know where she is?” Gerard asked.

Leedway shook his head. The man’s shoulders were set with tension, so distressed at his sister’s plight that he did not even request that Gerard leave them, so he and Dorothy could discuss Lady Bridget in confidence.

“How bad is it?” Dorothy asked, her wild eyes sweeping over the crowded ballroom. “What happened?”

“She was found unchaperoned with a lord,” Leedway said, lowering his voice.

“Which lord?”

Leedway finally seemed to realize that Gerard was there and perhaps someone who was not a part of their family and therefore, someone who should not have been a part of this conversation.

“If it is a scandal, I will learn about it soon enough,” Gerard said. “I will help you if you will only let me.”

Leedway raked a rough hand through his hair. He looked anxiously about, as though he anticipated a crowd of gossipmongers to descend upon them without warning.

“Let him help,” Dorothy said.

Leedway looked aside at Dorothy, his shoulders set tensely. For a heartbeat, indecision flickered in his eyes. Then, as if he were a puppet whose strings had been cut, Leedway seemed to slump and fold in on himself. “Lord Fourton,” Leedway said. “Do you know him?”

“Passingly,” Gerard said. “He is not a respectable man.”

“This is all my fault!” Dorothy exclaimed. “If I had been watching Bridget tonight, she would not have sneaked away with him!”

“No,” Leedway said. “No, do not think that!”

“But she is young!” Dorothy exclaimed. “It is her first Season, and…”

“And we must find her,” Leedway interrupted. “I heard that she was in the library, but by the time I entered, she had already gone. I thought that she might have sought you out.”

“I have not seen her,” Dorothy said.

Gerard did not recall seeing the young lady either, but it was feasible that he might have overlooked her presence, for his own thoughts had been so consumed by the elder Leedway sister.

“Have you looked in the gardens?” Gerard asked.

The gardens were, of course, where many sought to hide away from transgressions committed at balls. He knew that Bridget had a particular fondness for them, though, as he had encountered her there once before.

“It is worth looking there, yes,” Leedway said.

He hurried away without waiting to see if anyone would follow.

Dorothy swept behind him. Her face pinched with worry and guilt, and Gerard’s own chest ached.

While he did not know what it was to care for a sibling, he had seen with his own eyes the tenderness with which Dorothy cared for Lady Bridget.

She was distressed—her brother, too—and seeing the evidence of how the siblings all loved one another stirred within Gerard feelings that he was not yet ready to name.

“Is it true?” a sly, female voice asked.

The speaker was Lady Hart. She and Lady Amelia clustered together at the edge of the ballroom. While Lady Hart’s expression was one of shameless curiosity, Lady Amelia seemed only anxious, fidgeting with her skirts.

Leedway swept past them, continuing down the corridor that led into the gardens, but Dorothy stumbled to an ungraceful halt. She looked at the women with wide eyes, a blush coming quickly over her face. “Is what true?”

“About Lady Bridget and Lord Fourton,” Lady Hart said. “I just overheard Lord Beaumont speaking about it.”

“N—no,” Dorothy said. “It cannot be true. I am—am certain that it is a misunderstanding.”

Lady Hart laughed. “How could it possibly be a misunderstanding for a young lady to be in a room with an unmarried man?”

“Who was that?” Lord Ashmore joined them. “Do tell. I have been starved for want of a scandal this Season.”

Dorothy’s eyes widened.

Gerard took one look at her and realized at once that the young woman had not the faintest idea of what to do.

And why would she? Dorothy had never before weathered a scandal.

Oh, the ton knew that Leedway was a little rakish, and Dorothy had engaged in several dalliances with him.

But a rakish brother was a trifle, scarcely worth mentioning, and he and Dorothy had never been caught.

Dorothy needed his aid. Gerard cleared his throat. “Were you not going to the gardens to converse with Leedway on the matter, my lady?” he asked.

Her lower lip quivered a little. Gerard ached to pull her into his arms and soothe her, but he knew it was not the time for sentimentality.

“You should join him,” Gerard continued. “I will answer the questions about this supposed scandal.”

Dorothy stared at him for just a heartbeat, her face stricken and her body tense. He ached to cup her cheek and smooth away the harshness of her furrowed brow. Gerard curled his hands into fists to keep some semblance of control.

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

She turned away and followed Elias out. Tenderness bloomed in Gerard’s chest as he watched her retreat. He longingly traced the curves of her body, only alluded to in her pale blue dress. Then, she was gone.

“What do you know about the matter?” Lady Hart asked. “I was unaware of you being particularly close to Lady Bridget.”

“I am not,” Gerard said, waving a dismissive hand.

It was the truth, but Gerard knew that he must be careful with how he spoke of Lady Bridget.

He was a rake, and there was every chance that his word would not be believed.

He might well deny having ever spoken to the lady, only to have one of them—perhaps, Lady Hart or Lord Ashmore—insist that Gerard was lying, in some vain hope of saving the young lady’s reputation.

“Is Lady Bridget involved in the scandal?” Lord Ashmore asked, his eyes wide. “I had expressed an interest in courting her.”

“Oh, yes!” Lady Hart exclaimed.

“We do not know yet,” Gerard said. “It is only a rumor. We ought to wait until we know the truth before spreading gossip about Lady Bridget.”

“The truth is clear enough to me,” Lady Hart said. “I have heard that it was Lord Beaumont who found them, and he is a man with a spotless reputation.”

“But you did not hear of it from Lord Beaumont, did you?”

“No,” Lady Hart scoffed. “But the matter is easily verifiable.”

“Then, we should wait until we can verify it,” Gerard said between clenched teeth.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw ladies and gentlemen speaking to one another, their gazes drifting toward Gerard. He heard the low murmur of Lady Bridget’s name among the whispered conversations. The word of the scandal had already spread across the ballroom.

Maybe Leedway and Dorothy would have found Lady Bridget and left already. There was no way to stop a scandal, especially not one involving a man as notorious as Fourton, but maybe he could keep anyone from following Leedway and Dorothy.

“I am unsurprised,” Lord Ashmore said. “I always did suspect that there was something disreputable about her.”

“Why would you say something so dreadful?” Gerard asked. “Lady Bridget is a respectable, young woman. Anyone can see that.”

“Evidently not.”

“Are you speaking of Lady Bridget?” Lord Darlington joined them.

Gerard straightened his spine. “Yes,” he said. “I was just saying that we ought not to speculate about what may have happened until we have proof. It is uncouth of us to gossip.”

“Uncouth,” Lord Darlington echoed. “Since when do you care about gossip, Layton?”

“Yes, since when ?” Lord Ashmore asked.

“Perhaps, I am trying to be a better man,” Gerard said stiffly.

“A worthy goal,” Lady Amelia said suddenly. “I think you are right. We…we should not gossip.”

“You only say that because you are her friend,” Lady Hart said. “That does leave me wondering about His Grace’s motivations, however.”

“There is nothing to wonder.” Lady Everleigh joined them, her chin tilted imperiously up. “His Grace is right. It is ignoble of us to gossip about Lady Bridget.”

Gerard cast her a grateful look.

“Well, I intend on learning what the rest of the ton believes,” Lady Hart said.

The lady snapped her fan closed and strode regally away, joining a cluster of gossiping young women. Gerard cast Lord Ashmore a sharp look, and he shook his head, his expression somewhere between confused and amused. He turned away, and after a moment of hesitation, Lord Darlington followed.

“Thank you,” Lady Amelia mumbled. “I know that Bridget did nothing wrong.”

“Of course.”

She returned to the ballroom and was quickly lost in the crowd. Gerard let himself relax a little. In truth, he had done very little, but maybe he had given Leedway and Dorothy enough time to flee with Lady Bridget.

“You like her,” Lady Everleigh said quietly. “I can understand why.”

“Lady Bridget?”

“You know who I mean.” Lady Everleigh paused. “How could I not when you were staring at her as if she held your own life in her hands?”

He shook his head. “That is untrue. We are acquaintances—nothing more.”

“I see.”

Gerard glanced down the corridor. “I am going to see if they have succeeded.”

Without awaiting a reply from Lady Everleigh, Gerard hurried down the corridor. It seemed too soon that he reached the door that opened into the gardens. He heaved it open, a cool wind sweeping over him.

Gerard listened carefully as he followed the path outside. For several minutes, the only sound was the stone crunching beneath his boots. Then, he spied three figures in the dark, moving slowly toward him. “Dorothy?” he asked.

Belatedly, he realized that he had neglected to use her title. Gerard hissed between his teeth, hoping that whoever approached would not notice.

“Your Grace,” Dorothy said.

At last, he could make out the pale faces of Leedway and his sisters. Lady Bridget sniffed, her breath hitching. Even in the dark, he could spy the trails that tears had left down her face.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Gerard asked.

“No,” Leedway said. “Thank you, though.”

Leedway walked past him with Lady Bridget following. Dorothy paused for just a moment. Time seemed to halt in that instant, and Gerard raised his hand, intent on stroking her cheek or taking her hand. But he?—

He could not do that. He had rejected Dorothy, and it would be cruel to touch her again and tempt her love.

“I am sorry,” he said softly.

“For what? You are not to blame.”

“I know,” Gerard said.

He was not entirely certain that he was talking about Lady Bridget .

Gerard was thinking about how he had rejected Dorothy, and that, indisputably, was his fault.

Now was not the time to discuss how he had hurt her, though.

Lady Bridget took precedence, as he suspected she had throughout Dorothy’s life.

“This is not your fault either,” he said, remembering how her first impulse had been to blame herself. “You deserve good things, my lady.”

She shook her head. “No, I—if I had been there?—”

“She will soon be of age,” Gerard said softly. “You cannot protect her from every danger in the world. No one could do that.”

“Dorothy!” Elias shouted.

Dorothy’s brow furrowed. She cast Gerard a final, fleeting look. And then, she went after her brother.

Gerard remained where he was, thinking about how close he had come to saying something more personal to her than he had meant.

He curled his hands into fists. He was not a suitable man for Dorothy, and no matter how much he tried to change himself, he doubted that he could ever become a man who was worthy of her.

But maybe he could help her weather this storm.