Page 57 of Her Rogue of a Duke
His menacing figure filled up the doorway. Shock and dread washed over Francesca as she regarded him with raised brows. What washedoing here? She had not told anyone about her plans or where she was going. She had not even made the decision to leave until a few hours ago.
“Ah, good evening, cousin,” he greeted with a sneer. “How good to see you. Leaving so soon?”
Francesca clenched her jaw as she glared up at him, mind spiraling.
His sudden intrusion into her carefully laid plans unsettled her, sparking a flurry of questions that raced through her mind like a relentless storm.
How had Gerard discovered her intentions to escape? The timing of his arrival was uncannily precise. She had been cautious, deliberately withholding any hints of her impending departure, leaving everything until the final moment. The idea that Gerard had somehow figured everything out sent a shiver of unease through her. Had she been betrayed somewhere along the line?
But that would mean…
“How did you find me?” Francesca demanded, her voice quivering a touch as she tried her best to mask it. “How did you know I’m leaving?”
Gerard recoiled back in mock horror. “Deary! Now, is that any way to greet your favorite cousin?” he spoke drily. “I have been quite beside myself with worry. With your father away, and you left to your lonesome, it has had me in a state of considerable apprehension, every day worrying if you were well while residing under the shelter of thatrogue,Elmcroft. Tell me, has he hurt you in any way?”
Francesca did not believe him for a single moment. She knew Gerard better than that. He was scheming something, and she knew it did not bode well for her.
“You have not answered my question,cousin,” she hissed. “How did you discover I was here?”
Gerard blinked, feigning confusion, “Why this concern? Are you not relieved I’m here?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I am concerned because this is my first time returning to Oakvale in weeks and you have miraculously appeared on my doorstep at the perfect time. No one had known I would be here. So I ask again, how—”
“Why would it be such a secret?” He interrupted, looking like a callow schoolboy as he struggled to suppress a grin. “Is it so strange that I should find you in your own home?”
Francesca rolled her eyes. She was not convinced by his act. “I have no time for your charades, Gerard,” she snapped, turning her back to him and poking at her bags, pretending to be unpacking and hoping he would believe her. “State your reasons for being here. Or, I am more than happy to kindly show you the door. I am rather busy presently.”
Gerard appeared nonplussed by her dismissive tone. “Let me ask you this, at least. Is there anything you feel the need to confess?”
Francesca abruptly turned to face him. Her heart hammered in her chest and she felt the blood drain from her face, but she fought to keep her composure as she studied his expression for a hint of anything.
“I haven’t the faintest what you are implying,” she said slowly. “I am not keeping any secrets from you—if that is what you are suggesting.”
Gerard's lips curled into a sardonic smile. He advanced on her menacingly, but turned off-course at the last step, before rounding her and coming to a halt at a portrait on the back wall of the entrance hall, a portrait of the Baron and Baroness of Oakvale—her parents, when they were much younger. Studying it casually, he spoke, “Ah, but, my dear Francesca, secrets have a way of slipping through the tightest of lips. Your father's solicitor—Mr. Campbellwas it?—was more inclined to divulge than to maintain his fealty to your father… or rather,you.”
The implication struck Francesca like a bolt of lightning on a clear summer’s day. Mr. Campbell? Her father's trusted legal advisor, the man she had turned to for guidance in the wake of her father's passing… had betrayed her? No… no, that could not be possible. He had been loyal to her and her father for years.
“I don’t believe you,” she retorted, though her voice wavered with a hint of disbelief at her own words.
“Alas, my lady, money and promises of absolution can persuade even the most stalwart of men,” Gerard replied, his tone laced with an unsettling blend of amusement and triumph.“Mr. Campbell was easily swayed by the allure of silver and the promise of evading culpability for concealing your father's untimely… demise.”
Francesca's chest heaved with a tumult of emotions – indignation and dismay battling within her. The man she had trusted with her greatest secrets had succumbed to Gerard's treachery, bartering her safety for personal gain and fleeing in cowardice. She felt her hands ball into fists at her sides, her knuckles whitening.
“How could he?” Francesca's voice cracked with emotion.
“He is a man, and like any other man, he values self-preservation above all else,” Gerard remarked coolly. He turned to regard her and his eyes sparkled with a malicious delight at her frown. “Oh, please do not blame him. What I’d rather we discussed is you. For it appears all the pieces have fallen into place, and you have found yourself in a rather precarious position.”
Francesca met his gaze with defiance, her resolve flickering to life amidst the chaos. “You do not frighten me,” she declared with steely determination. “I refuse to be your pawn, or anyone else's for that matter. I am not as easily swayed as Mr. Campbell.”
With an air of defiance, Francesca pivoted on her heel from Gerard, refusing to grant him the satisfaction of witnessing her fear. Her mind raced with thoughts of how to navigate the treacherous web of deceit woven around her. Francesca's heart sank and Mr. Campbell’s betrayal stabbed through her like adagger to her heart. She had trusted him… her father had trusted him! How could he have done this to them?
“It is over, Chessy,” Gerard cackled, as he rounded on her once more, this time coming to a stop right before her. “Your little ruse has run its course. You will find you are on your own now. You may as well confess to concealing your father’s death too—Blast, I might even consider putting in a kind word for you.”
Francesca’s eyes flicked toward the door behind him but he shook his head and clicked his tongue. “Ah, ah, do not even entertain the thought of fleeing,” Gerard warned. “I wised up to your antics and summoned the constable—he’ll be arriving here any moment now.” He released a bark of laughter. “You fancied yourself clever, but you have been truly and utterly outmaneuvered! I was so certain something was strange about you. I have visited Oakvale several times in the last few weeks, only to consistently find yourself—and your father, absent. Once I was able to get Campbell to spill his secrets, everything else fell into place. Now, you stand to lose all, while I shall inherit Oakvale, your fortune, and everything your father cherished that should have rightfully beenmine. Had you confessed at the outset, I might have even considered putting you up somewhere, perhaps even allotting you some pin-money until you had married that Hucklow fellow you were so keen on chasing about. But now… now, you will be left with nothing. Devil take it, you would be rather fortunate to not be thrown into gaol by the time the constables arrive. And as for Elmcroft? He will no more associate with you than he would a common lady of the night. Ha!”
Francesca gritted her teeth and fixed him with a withering glare. His insufferable arrogance grated on her sensibilities, and in a surge of defiance, she lashed out. “You are pathetic, Gerard,” she hissed. “A parasite feeding off others’ fortunes, incapable of forging your own path. You bled your own father’s wealth dry with your gambling and debauchery, and now you seek to drain my father’s legacy too? Perhaps you are deserving of that fate—a fate where you will find yourself back in squalor—penniless, with no prospects or shred of dignity. Just as you have lived thus far. Right where youbelong.”
As her words cut through the air, she could see the rage building in his eyes. She would not put it past him to resort to violence and attack her, but she was beyond caring. She had lost everything already—her father, her home, her future… Joshua.