Page 44 of Duke with a Lie (Wicked Dukes Society #4)

Aubrey chuckled and then grimaced when pain radiated from his split lip. It amused him that having a thoroughly beaten face would render him the ruffian, but he was in no condition to argue. He was about to have the most important conversation of his life.

Preferably without an audience.

“Your son is the ruffian,” Rhiannon said, pinning Whit with a scolding glare. “He attacked Richford and is the source of all his injuries.”

“Not without provocation,” Whit pointed out. “It’s hardly my fault he refused to defend himself.”

“My actions were indefensible,” Aubrey said grimly, hoping not to have to repeat his transgressions before the dowager.

Once had been quite enough.

Now, all he wanted was some time alone with Rhiannon. Supposing he could persuade Whit and the dowager to grant him that.

“I shan’t argue with you on that count,” Whit said.

The dowager was still frowning at Aubrey. “I do hope your face will clear up before the wedding. It wouldn’t do for my Rhiannon to have a groom who looked better suited to prizefighting than being an honorable gentleman.”

He glanced at Rhiannon, warmth stealing into his heart, and this time, he allowed it. He didn’t force it away or try to tamp it down. He didn’t tell himself that feeling was mere lust. He knew what it was.

Love.

“You’ve spoken with your mother, then?” he asked her quietly.

She had risen from the settee and came to his side now, the symbolism of her action not lost upon him. “I have. Mater knows that Lord Carnis was trying to force me into marrying him against my will.”

“Poorly done of him,” the dowager said, shaking her head in disgust. “I never thought the earl to be so ill-mannered. To think that I once had the most enlivening discussion with him concerning taxidermy sparrows.”

That certainly explained rather a lot about the fellow, Aubrey thought.

But he kept that to himself, instead turning to Whit. “May I be granted an audience with your sister?”

Whit’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know if that is wise, given the circumstances.”

“I think it’s rather too late to fret over me being ruined,” Rhiannon told her brother softly.

Which was hardly pleading the case for them.

“Yes, Richford has already managed that, has he not?” Whit asked pointedly.

He deserved his friend’s ire, and he knew it would take time to fully regain Whit’s trust. Rhiannon’s, too. But he was committed to making amends. To doing better. He would prove himself to them both.

“I intend to rectify the matter at once,” he said. “I promise to observe propriety. You have my word as a gentleman that nothing improper will occur.”

Rhys was silent for longer than Aubrey liked before looking to the dowager. “Mater, what say you? Shall we allow Richford to propose in privacy?”

“Well, someone had better propose to her,” the dowager said primly. “I do believe she’s increasing.”

Stunned, Aubrey looked back at Rhiannon, whose sky-blue eyes met his. She was carrying his child? He had been so careful…

Not the first time, his conscience reminded him.

He had been so carried away that he hadn’t completely withdrawn from her with enough haste.

“Rhiannon?” Whit demanded, his voice sharp. “Is this true?”

Still staring at Aubrey, she nodded. “Yes.”

A grin of sheer elation broke over Aubrey’s face, and he didn’t give a damn that it felt as if someone were planting him a facer all over again. Rhiannon was with child. His child. Their child. Perhaps a girl with flaxen hair who ran wild or a boy with dancing blue eyes and a penchant for mischief.

“By God,” Whit grumbled. “If the two of you don’t set a date for the wedding at once, I’ll have no choice but to thrash Richford a second time.”

“As soon as possible,” Aubrey blurted. “I hope.”

“Come, Whitby,” the dowager interrupted, rising from her seat and sliding a basket of embroidery onto her arm. “I’ve been meaning to show you my fern collection.”

“Christ,” Whit muttered beneath his breath. “Not the bloody ferns.”

But he obligingly offered the dowager his arm just the same. She accepted it, and the two began leaving the drawing room.

“I’ve just acquired the most delightful fern that’s native to the Mediterranean, the asplenium billotii …”

Whit turned back. “You have one quarter hour.”

Aubrey wanted to argue that it wasn’t enough, but his friend’s warning glare kept him silent as he watched Whit escort the dowager from the drawing room. When they were gone and the door discreetly closed, he turned to Rhiannon at last, opening his arms to her.

She flew into them, and no embrace had ever felt more right.

“You’re going to have a babe?” he asked, holding her close, his hands on the small of her back.

“Yes. I think so. I’ve missed my courses.” She paused, biting her lip. “I know it is unexpected. I didn’t know what to do.”

Realization hit him.

“My God, Rhiannon. You were going to marry Carnis while you carried my child?”

Her brows furrowed. “Everything was happening so quickly. I didn’t know what to do, and I had the babe to consider. I didn’t want our child to be born in shame, without a name. Can you forgive me?”

“There is nothing to forgive, my love.” He shook his head, furious with himself.

“It’s my fault, everything that happened.

I should have asked you to marry me the minute I recognized you at Wingfield Hall.

If I had, you never would have found yourself in such desperate circumstances, at the mercy of a vile gossip like Lady Heathcote and being blackmailed into a marriage you didn’t want. ”

At his mentioning of the viscountess, Rhiannon stiffened. He knew why.

“There’s something I must tell you,” he began, his voice hoarse with emotion. “A few things, actually. Perhaps we should sit. Are you still feeling ill? Did your mother send for the physician?” Belated panic swept over him. “What about the babe?”

This was all new, and it was bloody terrifying.

Rhiannon laid a gentle finger over his lips. “Hush. I’m perfectly healthy, so you can stop worrying. Dizziness and an uneasy stomach are to be expected, according to Mater. She suffered the same when she had Rhys and me.”

Relief swept over him, and he kissed her finger. “Good. Excellent. Not that you’re feeling ill, and not that you told your mother that you’re with child out of wedlock… Christ, little wonder she was glaring at me… But the rest, that it’s an ordinary occurrence and no cause for concern…”

He was babbling and he knew it. Rhiannon gazed up at him with sympathy.

“This is all new for me as well,” she said.

Bloody hell, this woman. She was stronger than he was. So much braver. She had given herself to him, had loved him, and had expected nothing in return. And all he had given her was heartache and fears over how she would provide for their unborn babe.

“You are far too generous where I’m concerned,” he said, taking a deep breath. “What I’m about to tell you may change your opinion of me. If it does, I won’t blame you. But I must tell you, just the same.”

“Is it about Lady Heathcote? Whatever happened at Villiers House, I don’t want to know,” she began. “It has no bearing on our future, and?—”

“Nothing happened,” he interrupted. “That was part of what I wanted to tell you. When I left Wingfield Hall, I was desperate to keep you from me. I knew I had to do something reckless or you would stubbornly forgive me and try to make amends. When you told me you loved me, I was terrified. I didn’t believe I was capable of loving you or being the husband you deserved, so I left like a coward.

And I took Lady Heathcote with me because I thought that if you believed I had betrayed you with her, you would be too hurt to continue pursuing me. I thought you would be better off.”

“Do you mean that the two of you didn’t… But I saw you together. She was in your lap.” Tears welled in Rhiannon’s eyes, and she blinked them away. “I don’t want to know, Aubrey.”

“I didn’t bed her, Rhiannon. I’ve done a lot of wretched things and made far too many mistakes where you’re concerned, but that isn’t one of them.

She was in my lap, trying to persuade me to join her when you arrived.

But I never did, and after you had gone, I sent her on her way.

If I had thought, even for a moment, that she would have tried to hurt you, I never would have taken her with me. ”

“I believe you,” she said, shocking him.

Heaven knew he’d done nothing to earn her trust. But he was relieved he had it just the same.

“Thank you.”

She nodded. “But why were you so desperate to keep me from you? Why did you push me away? Help me to understand.”

Aubrey swallowed hard and forced himself to relive that horrible day.

“When I was sixteen years old, my father went mad and killed my mother in a jealous rage. He thought she had taken a lover. They quarreled, and somehow, he took a knife and, well… As she lay dying, he went to his study, took out a pistol, and shot himself. I was the one who found my mother in her sitting room. She was already gone. I… I heard the report of the pistol.”

He could still see his mother, lying there in her silk gown soaked with blood.

Could smell the coppery tang in the air, feel his throat closing with horror as he tried helplessly to wake her.

But just as swiftly as the past rose up before him, the present was there to anchor him.

He forced himself to inhale deeply of Rhiannon’s jasmine scent, to absorb her vital warmth and softness, to hold her tightly to him and just be.

The past could not harm him.

Not any longer.

“My God, Aubrey.” Tears were running down Rhiannon’s cheeks now as she gazed up at him. “I had no idea.”

“The servants were paid well to keep what had happened a secret. My grandmother did her best to prevent the truth of my father’s sins from becoming fodder for wagging tongues, but there were whispers.

And you see, I… I vowed that day that I would never be like my father.

I suppose a part of me has been afraid that if I fell in love, I would also go mad and hurt the one closest to me.

I couldn’t bear that. I thought I was protecting you, keeping you safe from me. ”

“I am so sorry for what happened to your mother and for the horrors you endured. If I could travel back in time and change it, I would.”

His sweet minx, always putting him before herself.

“You were naught but a girl then.”

“And you were a boy.” Rhiannon dashed at her tears with the back of her hand. “A boy who deserved so much better.”

“The past is where it belongs.” He cupped her cheek, catching another stray tear on the pad of his thumb. “Neither of us can change it, but we can choose the future. I choose love. I choose you and our child. And I hope you’ll choose me as well.”

“Of course I choose you,” she said. “I’ll always choose you. I love you, Aubrey.”

He lowered his head, pressing his forehead to hers. “And I love you. I’m so sorry for leaving you that morning. I promise I’ll never leave you again.”

She rubbed her nose against his. “I won’t let you.”

His poor beak hurt thanks to Whit’s fist, but he didn’t say a thing. He would suffer the pain a thousandfold if it meant she was his forever.

“Will you marry me, Lady Rhiannon Northwick, and do me the greatest honor of my life by becoming my wife?” he asked.

She didn’t hesitate. “I will.”

His lips found hers, and he kissed her tenderly, showing her without words what he felt for her.

When he lifted his head again, his minx was back, tears no longer glistening in her eyes. “What took you so long to come to your senses?”

He thought of the wretched state King had found him in and grimaced anew. “I was in a bad way. Kingham came to me and helped me to see reason. He pulled me back from the edge. It took me a few days to collect myself and come to London.”

Rhiannon cradled his swollen cheek. “Oh my love, you’re in a bad way now.”

His face would heal, just as his heart had.

He turned, pressing a reverent kiss to her soft palm. “On the contrary. I’m in the best way. Because I have you and our babe.”

Rhiannon sniffed, looking misty-eyed again. “I want to kiss you, but I’m afraid I’ll hurt your lip.”

“Kiss me anyway, my love,” he said, framing her beautiful, beloved face in his hands.

She rose on her toes and settled her mouth softly against his.

He kissed her back with all the love that was burning for her deep within his shadowed heart.