Page 27 of A Virgin for the Duke of Depravity (Ton’s Beasts #2)

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Christopher said, but he made no move to take her hand. His voice was even, and he did not seem interested in her in the slightest.

“Shall I leave the two of you alone to get to know one another?” The Earl smiled wolfishly at Christopher before his eyes raked over his granddaughter. “I am sure that my granddaughter will please you if you take some time to get to know her.”

“I am not interested in getting to know her.” Christopher did not bother to mask the boredom in his voice. “I would prefer my money, old man.”

Margaret stared dejectedly at the floor, knowing that this was her fate. She would be married—maybe even to Christopher—and there would be no blissful union here.

These men were here for an auction and did not care one iota for her.

Leo had offered her protection. Protection from men like these, protection from the stifling cage she was about to walk into.

What would have happened at this auction had she stayed at Devishire Mansion? Would the Earl still be able to auction off her hand if she were not there to make good on his promises of matrimony?

I should have stayed with Leo. He would have known what to do to help me escape this fate.

Was it too late to run? To turn around, head out the front door, and walk back to Olympus, the last place anyone would ever expect to find her.

Anyone but Leo, at least.

The only problem was that she was here now, and she was very certain that the Earl was not going to let her out of his sight, even for a moment. To let her leave would be to ruin his dastardly plan to increase his wealth and possibly restore his estate.

“If you will excuse me, I must refresh myself after the journey,” she lied.

The ride to the estate had not taken long, but she had to get out of the conversation with Christopher and her grandfather.

“I will show you the way,” the Earl said. The calculating expression on his face confirmed that he would not allow her to leave.

“I wouldn’t dream of taking up your time. I will ask the servants.” She dropped her hand from his arm and turned on her heel to walk back the way she had come.

Her grandfather called after her, but she did not turn around.

When she left the ballroom, she turned right. Instead of locating a servant who could show her the way to her chambers, she opened the first door she found. Quietly, she closed the door behind her, leaned against it, then sank to the floor.

There had to be a way out of this predicament. There had to be a way that she did not have to marry one of the men her grandfather had gathered.

All of them had to be desperate for a wife to agree to such an arrangement. All of them were clearly titled, wealthy, tempting catches for the young ladies of the ton. She dared not wonder why they remained unmarried.

When it came to Christopher, she had her suspicions that he was rude and pompous, the kind of man no woman would willingly wed. He was the opposite of Leo in every way, even if she had not exchanged more than a few words with him.

How would she get back to Devishire Mansion? Was it even possible for her to undo the damage she had done by leaving?

She did not know the answer, and she did not have long to find out. The auction was imminent, and then she would be spoken for.

Think harder, or you will be forever married to one of those dreadful men.

She dropped her head in her hands and tried to think more quickly, but it was of no use. Someone was trying to open the door, but her back was pressed against it.

“Margaret, open the door this instant,” the Earl barked. “The servants saw you come in here, and I know you can hear me.”

Even her brief respite from the old man was ruined by a bunch of nosy servants who were loyal to him. Could none of them see what was happening to her?

She rose to her feet, stepped back from the door, and straightened her spine. She would not allow her grandfather to see that she was bothered, not until she figured out how to get out of this mess.

“Forgive me, Grandfather. I merely needed a moment,” she said smoothly when he pushed open the door.

“We do not have a moment to squander. These men are here to bid for your hand, and we must show them that you are a worthy bride. Why else would I have brought you here?”

Margaret ducked her head so that he would not see the way her anger colored her cheeks.

When she did not respond, the Earl grabbed her roughly by the arm and dragged her back to the ballroom.

“It is time you do your duty to me,” he said, leading her toward one of the men in the corner. “Need I remind you of how unpleasant this could be for you and your friends?”

Margaret wondered if she would ever be free again.

Leo had known that Margaret was departing for the old Earl’s estate this morning, but he could not bring himself to say goodbye to her. Instead, he allowed silence to fester between them, driving her faster into the arms of her dastardly grandfather.

After everything he had shown her, after she had begged for his touch at Olympus, how could she simply leave him like this?

He paced up and down the endless rows of orange trees. Even this place held memories of the first time Margaret walked into his estate, how she had asked him if he would hold a book club meeting while she was here.

And indeed, he had held a very private book club with her, despite how he had chastised her for asking such a question. The little nun-to-be had been nothing but surprising from the moment he laid eyes on her.

He sat at the base of the nearest tree and propped his elbows on his knees, holding his head in his hands. How was he going to move on from Margaret and what she brought out in him?

He had told Aaron he wanted to break her, but it seemed that she had broken him.

Leo groaned into his hands as he tried to think of a way out of the situation. He wanted to get Margaret back, but he could not simply waltz into the Earl’s estate and stake his claim on her. He had no intention of marrying her, so perhaps it was best that she find someone worthy.

He heard the little girls playing before he saw them.

Annie and Kitty were giggling as they ran around the orangery. At a distance, he could not tell which girl was which, but one leaped and grabbed a low-hanging branch of the nearest tree. She came tumbling down with more laughter.

The girls eventually saw him sitting at the base of the tree, and the laughter died on their lips.

Annie cautiously drew closer to him, Kitty trailing behind her. She paused in front of him, the first time her small frame had ever towered over her uncle. A frown creased her features as she stared at him. Finally, she asked the question that he knew the girls would eventually come to him with.

“Where is Margaret?”

Leo did not look Annie in the eye, but he could not bring himself to answer her. The girls were too young to understand the intricacies of the ton, the way marriages and alliances were forged between families.

Even if he could force the words out, they would clamor for him to force Margaret’s return.

“She is not in her chambers,” Kitty said, as if Leo did not know.

“Will she come back?” Annie asked.

It was the one question that Leo wished he had the answer to. Surely, he could find a way to hasten Margaret’s return to the estate.

He could not bring himself to answer the girls. He merely shook his head, hearing Margaret’s voice in the back of his mind. She chastised him for not engaging with Annie and Kitty, for not talking openly with them.

But she was not here any longer, and he could not be the man she wanted him to be.

The girls finally realized they would get no response from him and left. Leo watched them walk back to the mansion through the rows of orange trees. Gone were their antics before they had spotted him. There was no swinging from branches, no laughter.

They would be heartbroken that Margaret was gone. To them, she was another adult who had left them behind.

How would he manage to parent Annie and Kitty if he did not know the first thing about interacting with them? He did not know how he would explain Margaret’s predicament to them or the role that he had played in it.

He buried his face in his hands and let out a loud curse that caused the birds in the tree beside him to scatter.

“I wondered if I would find you here,” a woman’s voice came from somewhere behind him.

He did not have to look up to know that his friend’s wife had come to tell him how he had failed her.

Theresa would have expected him to protect Margaret.

When he did not say anything, she came to stand in front of him. He looked up to find her standing with her hands on her hips, the gentle swell of her belly poking out of her small frame. Her eyes narrowed, and her brow creased as she studied him.

“How could you let this happen to Margaret?”

Her voice was confident and sure, stern and commanding. If he had been able to chase away his nieces with his silence, it was clear that Theresa would not be easily scared away. She would stand here and demand answers until he would take responsibility.

Leo did not answer her. Not because he could not, but because he truly did not know how.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you have been doing with her.” She tapped her foot impatiently on the ground in front of him. “Margaret does not have the stony face she believes she has.”

Still, he could not bring himself to answer her. He merely shook his head.

Margaret was not as interested in him as Theresa seemed to think she was. Margaret knew that he would not marry her. Could not marry her.

She had gone to seek what she needed: a husband.

“Why would you let her marry another man?” Theresa’s question hung in the air between them.

This time, Leo had an answer that he could give her, though it may not be to her satisfaction. He considered the advantages of voicing it, but then thought better of it. His reply was simple.

“Because I cannot marry her.”

“Yes, you can.” Theresa sighed and rolled her eyes, as if she knew something about him that he himself did not yet know or understand. “In fact, you must marry her.”

“I must marry her? You misunderstand our arrangement. I did not ruin her.” Leo did not want to admit how desperately he had wanted to ruin her, to have her in a way no one else ever had.

But the truth was that while he had not been a perfect gentleman, he had done nothing irreparable. Theresa was within her rights to demand that he marry Margaret, but he would not heed her. He had never been interested in marriage before, and he would not start now.

“You may not have ruined her, but you defy the Queen.”

“I defy nobody,” Leo laughed bitterly.

How could Theresa accuse him of defying the Queen when he simply chose not to claim Margaret?

“You are one of the ton’s Beasts,” she said simply. “Now that Margaret’s true identity has been revealed, she is an unwed lady over the age of twenty-two.”

She looked at him pointedly, trying to force him to see things her way.

Leo knew that the Queen had mandated that he take a wife from a titled family and that Margaret fit the requirements. But he could not force himself to do as Theresa asked.

“I could not care less about the edict,” he said, looking up at her.

Anger clouded her features; her eyes narrowed, and her nostrils flared at his defiance.

“And what do you care for, Leo?” She stomped her foot to make her point. “Obviously not my friend. Not those girls who just ran out of here because you refused to speak to them. Is it just yourself then?”

Theresa demanded an answer from him, but he could not bring himself to give her one. The truth was that he was not sure what he did care about. He thought he had an answer at some point, but it was long gone.

“My, my. What a lonely life you are forcing on yourself,” she said sadly when he did not answer. Her features softened just the smallest bit, her eyes growing glassy.

Leo could not argue with her. She was right in many ways. He was the monster that she painted him to be. The monster who would allow Margaret to fall into the clutches of her grandfather, despite knowing what he had done to her family.

“I do not expect you to understand, Duchess.”

“But I do,” Theresa retorted. “Margaret was truly terrified of that man. She hid in a convent to get away from him. I do not expect you to understand what life was like there. How desperate she would have to be to endure Mother Superior’s harsh treatment.”

Leo thought of the discipline Margaret had talked about and winced at the idea of her in the clutches of the nuns.

“You are truly going to leave her to face her grandfather alone?” Theresa’s voice was suddenly low and quiet. It could have been a growl if she had not been such a perfect lady.

When Leo did not respond again, she shook her head.

“Aaron and I will be leaving. Thank you for your hospitality.”

She turned and walked back to the mansion, no doubt to pack up her things and leave.

Leo deserved her scorn. That much was certain. He did feel like he had done a great disservice to the nun in his care, that he had abandoned her to her greatest fear.

What would he do if the Earl treated Margaret the way he had treated her mother? Would he even know if something bad happened to Margaret?

There were too many questions buzzing around his mind.

He stood from his spot at the base of the orange tree and wandered back to the mansion. Theresa had given him much to think about.

He stalked to his chambers, unsure where to go from here. Surely, a duke could figure out how to outsmart an earl at his own game.