Page 21 of A Wicked Earl’s Secret Baby (Lustful Lords and Ladies)

Chapter 21

During the ride across town, Dorian could not stop imagining every possible way this conversation could go. Claire could simply slam the door in his face. She could call him a liar. She could refuse to believe a single word he said, and he would not even be able to blame her.

There was also the very, very slim chance that she might actually believe the words he had to tell her.

It was that slim possibility that had him riding as quickly as he could to her house.

Only a few minutes from her door did the unwelcome notion and intrusive thoughts start to well up inside of him. She might not have known what had happened when their engagement had suddenly been dissolved. But she had not waited for him, either.

How much time had passed before she had taken another husband? Only three months, if his memory served him. She had not mourned him long. She had passed over him in favor of that clergyman without a proper grieving period. Unlike her, but he could not fathom why. She had been every bit as in love with him as he had been with her. Had she not?

Things such as that simply could not be faked. He was certain of it.

Naturally, Dorian had not been gifted with an invitation to her wedding. But he had gotten the announcement that she was wed. From Dolores, in fact. At the time, she was one of the only people from this life who still kept in contact with him regularly, and he had thought little of it.

The information Dolores chose to send to him was sporadic at best. A notice of Claire’s anniversary, to be celebrated by the clergyman and his wife. A note to explain that, apparently, the couple had missed their fifth due to Richard’s illness and wished to celebrate the milestone with a lavish party to make up for the lost year.

At the time, he had merely thought his sister was attempting to keep him abreast of the situations he was missing out on back home. He certainly had never thought things would end up this way.

In a fit of rage and grief, he had crumpled the announcements into nothing and cast them into the fire. Dorian had been so consumed with rage for days on end that he had almost gotten himself uninvited from whatever club and country he had been in at the time.

He had turned to his traveling companions for support. The very memory of it seemed foolish now, knowing they had always been his sister’s men. How could he have been so blind? Had he truly allowed his heartache to overshadow every single aspect of his life? Furthermore, just what else had he been so drastically wrong about?

Claire’s marriage, if he was being honest, was one of the very few reasons he had chosen to simply never return to London. He would not have been able to handle seeing her in the arms of another man. It would have been wholly and utterly impossible to stomach. Additionally, he had thought he was helping his father with the work assigned to him. He’d thought he and his father had always only been indulgent to Dolores’ ministrations. Another incorrect assumption. He should have known better. She had seen a weakness of his and exploited it. He could not and would not ever forgive her.

Regardless, seeing things from her point of view would not change the facts. It would not abate his anger in the slightest.

In another life, perhaps he would not have had a sister. He could have been paired with a less ambitious woman, or at the very least one who was not so ruthless. Then things would have been different. He could have been allowed to spend those years with Claire. Perhaps the clergyman’s daughter might have been his own.

Over the course of seven years, there were a great many children that they could have had. Nothing would have made him happier than having an expansive family with her. He had dreamed of it since he had first met her when they were children.

Claire had been his best friend, his whole world since he could remember.

And yet she had simply taken rumors as fact? She had not even bothered to substantiate the claims that had been made against him? Had he not been thorough in showing his love and devotion to her? He was not always the closed-off man that he was today.

Racing across town to speak with her as he was, he could feel the younger side of him, more impulsive and hopelessly romantic, bubbling up once again. Would it be wise to be so vulnerable when there was still so much he did not know?

Even now, as angry as he was, he could not refrain from placing his trust in Claire.

She must have had a reason for shirking one possible family in favor of another. He could still remember reading Dolores’ lies. Claire had moved on. She was only attempting to better her station with him while she had actually been in love with a clergyman the whole time. He had never quite believed it possible for a person to lie for such a long time.

Dorian needed to find out the truth. No matter the cost.