Page 29 of Her Temporary Duke (Rakes and Roses #2)

S eth glanced around the main chamber of the Almack Assembly Room.

It was a large hollow with a high ceiling and expansive floor space that would serve mingling and dancing.

The room was complete, the air humming with the mumble of conversation.

He stood aloof from any of those gathered, waiting.

Elliot emerged from the crowd, his wife on his arm. Seth smiled politely.

“Good evening to you, Your Grace,” Elliot’s wife, Margaret, hailed warmly.

“And to you, Lady Arkendale. You are looking rather splendid.”

Margaret placed a delicate hand over her stomach. “I feel well, but if the other children are anything to judge by, that feeling will not last long.”

“Congratulations,” Seth slammed Elliot on the shoulder, “my old friend keeps many secrets, short of his disappearing and reappearing act. And I feel rather affronted that he did not tell me that you were expecting another.”

“It is hard to tell you anything of late, old man. If you are not carousing, you are in company with a certain young lady. I feel I have lost my best friend.”

He smiled as he said it, but Seth knew him well enough to know that a message was being communicated.

He had never ceased to try to dissuade me from the lifestyle I chose. Well, he would be overjoyed if I shared the conversation I had with Amelia the other night... Except, not Amelia. Charlotte…

“And will I finally have the opportunity to meet your betrothed this evening?” Margaret looked between the two men.

Seth grinned boyishly. “You shall. She is coming here in the company of her Aunt and cousins, the Willoughbys of Prescott Estate. In fact, I am waiting for her now,” he finished, looking around the space.

“Betrothed to the celebrated socialite and expert on all things etiquette and fashion.” He shuddered visibly. “I cannot begin to imagine the posturing she must have you doing.”

Seth gave a half-laugh. “She attempted to train me like a prize spaniel.”

“And by the looks of it, she has managed rather well,” Margaret beamed with pride alongside her husband.

The pair eventually took their leave to mingle elsewhere.

How long has it been since I set foot in an assembly room? Up until a few months ago, I would not have been caught dead here and had no interest in any woman who wanted to be seen here. Margaret tells no lies. How quickly things change…

The doors beside him were open, ushering in a polite stream of guests and chatter. He barely noticed them—until she appeared amid the bloom. Charlotte.

She moved into the room behind her aunt and cousins, not yet aware of him watching.

Seth saw her in quarter profile first—the graceful line of her jaw, the delicate slope of her neck—and the rest of the world quietly fell away.

She glanced around with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted in quiet wonder, as if the room held some enchantment only she could see.

That unguarded smile—sweet, almost shy—struck him like a blow.

God help me. I almost wish I had never touched her. Never kissed her. Just to know what it would be like to do so now, for the first time.

She wore no jewels, only a pale, elegant gown that whispered refinement without ostentation.

It needed no embellishment. She needed none.

Never before had a woman captivated him as much as she had after knowing them intimately.

Always, his interest waned after the thrill of the hunt.

But she still drew him in. He was utterly bewitched.

She turned toward him and to Seth; it seemed to happen impossibly slowly.

He was aware of her dark curls falling about her face with the movement of her head, of the gown moving over her body, concealing and yet revealing as it caressed her curves as he so yearned to do again.

And again. And a few more times for good measure.

Damn this place and these people. If I had a wish, it would be that they vanish and leave me alone with her. Damn all wills, solicitors, and grasping usurpers. I would give it all away to have her beneath me presently.

That thought surprised him. In the briefest moment that it took Charlotte to turn and find him, he knew that if she had asked, he would give up his Dukedom, his lands, and his wealth. He would make himself a beggar.

I am utterly enthralled by her. Ordinarily, the women I bed cling to me. Now, it is I who cannot let go.

He stepped forward but slowed as he noticed Charlotte’s smile fall away.

Something passed across her beautiful features, akin to a shadow.

A frown creased her brow, and after meeting his eyes once, she glanced away.

Seth experienced a chill deep inside. A shiver ran up his spine that he knew to be fear.

“Lady Nightingale,” he moved ahead nonetheless and greeted her formally, bowing. “You do make even the briefest of absences feel far too long.”

“It has been two days, Your Grace,” Charlotte replied, her tone polite, her eyes not. “I imagine a man such as yourself is well-practised in surviving longer absences.”

She had placed her hand in his for the faintest of moments before removing it. The rest of her family turned to acknowledge him, but he ignored them. Reginald took her elbow as though to steer her away. Seth stepped forward and removed his hand, smiling over gritted teeth.

“I trust I can rely on being granted the lion’s share of the dances this evening, my lady,” he said to Charlotte, searching her face.

“Amelia, we will take seats over there,” Reginald muttered, reaching for her arm again.

Seth faced him squarely. “My betrothed will sit with me this evening. Off you trot, now, dear boy.”

He spotted anger flicker across Reginald’s face briefly. Then the man turned to Charlotte, his lips curling with smug satisfaction.

“ Amelia ,” he declared, with deliberate emphasis.

“I will join you shortly, cousin. I should speak to His Grace first,” Charlotte coaxed.

“Right, then. I will not be far away,” Reginald muttered.

“Splendid. Do wave if you get lost,” Seth grimaced stringently before turning his back on the other man.

Charlotte walked ahead of Seth around the outer edges of the room. He followed at her shoulder, eyes intent on her.

What has changed? If this is some knavery of Reginald, then I will swing for him.

Reaching a nook in which a marble bust stood on a plinth, Charlotte turned back to face him. She smiled warmly.

“Do not look so thunderous, Your Grace. We are supposed to present the appearance of a happily betrothed couple,” she reminded gently, her tone at odds with her smile.

His posture stiffened. “What? Hang them all. I don’t care a fig for appearances,” he snapped, before dropping his voice lower. “What has happened to make you so cool toward me?”

“Happened? Nothing. This was some time ago, I believe. You would know better than I, though maybe you don’t remember. One pigeon in a flock.”

Seth frowned. “The trouble with being cryptic is that I can’t understand a word. Speak plainly.”

“I have had an interesting conversation with the Earl of Tewkesbury,” Charlotte put in.

For the first time since she had appeared, he saw the anguish that she was holding in check.

“He has something of a vendetta against you. And for good reason if it is true.”

“Tewkesbury? That little boy tied to his mother’s apron strings? What possible reason does he have to be angry at me?” Seth demanded.

“Do you know him or his family?” Charlotte asked.

She turned towards the bust as a couple strolled by and greeted them both. Charlotte responded with a nod and a smile. Seth ignored them. He stepped closer as though sharing her close examination of the sculpture.

“No. I met him for the first time some weeks ago. He was a whelp who wanted help with how to meet society women here in London. I told him to hell with society women, take a membership in a gentlemen’s club.”

Charlotte shot him a look. “I see. You advised him to avoid respectable women in favor of... of what? Courtesans ? Is that all women are to you?”

“They were ,” he shot back immediately. “Until… until I met you. And I mean you, Charlotte , not Amelia.”

“Sophistry. Your dislike of society women clearly did not extend to the Earl’s sister.”

“I have never met...” Seth began, and then his mouth clamped shut.

Charlotte glanced away, and Seth thought he glimpsed something akin to embarrassment for him in her visage.

“I see,” she murmured. “You could not deny it because you are wondering if she was among the many women you have bedded. So trivial, that she could be forgotten about.”

“Not trivial, but yes. One drop in a heedless ocean. I have never denied how I lived my life after breaking free of my father. I was a rake. A libertine. I cared little for women other than as objects for carnal pleasure. I might add that the women I chose wanted the same from me.”

Charlotte laughed bitterly. “That is what you tell yourself after you get away scot-free each time, but her reputation was destroyed. By you . I suppose that is another perk of being a young and brash gentleman.”

“According to him .”

“Yes, and according to you, it wasn’t?”

“Yes, damn it!” he insisted.

“I wish I could believe you. I want to, but your history counts against you. He wanted me to sign an affidavit in which I swore that you had been unfaithful during our betrothal. That is how much he despises you. Why would he hate you so much without reason?”

Seth looked around the room, searching for Tewkesbury but not seeing him. Rage surged within him, and the violent desire for physical revenge.

Did I bed his sister? I do not even know the wretch’s family name! If I did and then discarded her... could she have suffered reputational damage if it came to light? Not intentionally on my part. But if some rat of a scandal monger found out about the assignation...

“Listen to me, Charlotte. I cannot deny that what Tewkesbury is saying might be true. But it might not. I cannot be certain. But if it did happen, then it was not through malice on my part. Merely carelessness.”

She scoffed cynically. “ That is your defense.”

He sighed, buying patience. “It is not intended to be such. God’s teeth, woman, I am exposed before you. Naked and defenseless. I swear to you that the man we are speaking of is dead. You, yourself, impaled him.”

His voice rose with passion, and he seized her hand, uncaring who might be looking or overhearing.

From the corner of his eye, he was aware of Reginald hovering in the background.

Charlotte had never seemed so far away from him, even though he held her hand to his chest. He prayed that she would feel his pounding heart, feel his sincerity.

“You might just be desperate to protect your title. You need me after all,” she declared.

“My title can burn for all of me! I would give it up if you were the reward,” he bit back.

Charlotte’s lips parted in a small gasp.

She blinked away before meeting his gaze again with brilliant eyes.

The Assembly Room faded from Seth’s awareness.

He could see only Charlotte’s eyes. She seemed to be searching his, yearning for the truth.

He sensed that all was not lost, if only he could persuade her.

Damn all those years of inconstancy when I did not care about my reputation but only the sating of my desires. How can I expect to be believed when I have made a life as a rake and a libertine?

“I wish I could believe you. I really, really want to,” Charlotte whispered.

“You can. I swear it,” Seth said earnestly.

They were interrupted by a discreetly cleared throat. Seth glared at the intruder, Reginald Willoughby.

“I am terribly sorry to interrupt. I did not eavesdrop, but could not help but overhear as I passed by a certain tension with regards to one Earl of Tewkesbury.”

“You did,” Seth bit, “a rogue and a knave who spreads lies about me to poison my relationship with your cousin.”

Charlotte stepped away from Seth as though to maintain some distance.

“This is really not your business, cousin,” she stated flatly.

Seth detected a steely tone in Charlotte’s voice, felt the tension between the two.

“It is indeed not, and I would not interfere under ordinary circumstances. These are far from that, as you know,” Reginald responded, frowning intensely but also with a hard tone to his manner.

“Hartham. Push off,” Seth said brusquely, using Reginald’s title instead of his name.

Reginald flushed with anger.

“I heard the Earl of Tewkesbury’s name mentioned, and that of a sister. I have an acquaintance at Debrett’s. I would be happy to ask them for information on the Tewkesbury family tree so that you may reassure my cousin that the allegations against you are untrue.”

Seth was taken aback and exchanged looks with Charlotte. She seemed equally as surprised by the offer.

“Reginald… that is most generous,” she murmured.

“My pleasure, Char—” Reginald coughed, “your pardon, Amelia. Of course, it is my pleasure for my cousin. You are family after all. I will attend to it. Have a pleasant evening.”