Page 18 of Stone Cold Duke (Frigid Dukes #1)

Chapter Eighteen

“ W hat is this?” Matthew asked, holding up the letter to Miss Jenkins as she returned to the room.

“That is the letter that Her Grace handed to me before she left,” she told him.

“It is strange.”

“I am sorry, Your Grace.”

“She speaks of my not wanting to see her. Of my sending her away. Yet, I did nothing of the sort. Why would she believe that I had sent her away?”

Miss Jenkins simply looked away from him, mumbling something about knowing nothing.

“That is nonsense, and you know it,” he replied sharply. “You know everything that happens in this house, and we both know it. You know what has happened to Diana. Now, where has she gone? And why does she believe that I wanted her gone?”

“I do not know where she has gone, Your Grace. I would assume that she has returned to her family, but I do not know that for certain.”

“Fine. What happened here? Why did she believe I wished her to be gone?”

Miss Jenkins still hesitated, and he scowled at her.

“Need I remind you that you work for me , Miss Jenkins? I am the one who pays your wages, and in return, you keep my household and ensure everything runs smoothly. Allowing my wife to flee without alerting me is certainly not running my household smoothly. Therefore, telling me what happened here is the least you can do.”

“Your uncle came this morning,” she said finally, and his eyes narrowed in confusion.

“He was informed that I was not at home?”

“He was, Your Grace. But… he was not here to see you.”

“What business had he here that did not pertain to me?”

“He wished to see Her Grace.”

“And what business would he have with her?” His voice was sharp, and again she hesitated, but he knew that she knew far more than she was letting on. “Tell me everything that you know.”

“I do not know that it is my place to relate private conversations?—”

“It is your place to answer my questions. Everything that happens in this house is my business, therefore I must be privy to it.”

“He specifically requested to speak with Her Grace. And when he did… he told her that she was to leave at once.”

“What authority did he have to banish my wife from her own home?” Matthew asked indignantly.

“He said that it was your wish that she be gone, Your Grace.”

“What?” He stared at the housekeeper in shock, attempting to reconcile what she was saying to everything his uncle had done for him in the past.

Why would his uncle send his wife away? And why would he lie and say that Matthew was the one who wanted her gone?

“He told her that you did not wish to see her again or to speak to her. He quite insisted, Your Grace. Even when she begged to be allowed to see you again.”

“She wanted to see me?”

Matthew took solace in that. The fact that Diana wanted to see him indicated that perhaps all had not been lost.

“Indeed, Your Grace. She protested most stringently that she be allowed to see you, to speak to you. She requested his help in convincing you to give her just a few moments of your time.”

“And what did he say to that?”

“He said that he had already tried. That John and Isabelle had tried. And that there was nothing any of them could do to convince you.”

“He lied to her. I had not spoken to him about this at all. In fact, I had no reason to believe that he knew anything about our disagreement. He was away when I arrived at the manor last night, and I did not see him this morning when I spoke with John.” He spoke mostly to himself, but Miss. Jenkins responded even still.

“I did not know that he lied, Your Grace. He said that it was your wish that she be gone, so I believed— we all believed that was what you wanted.”

“What else did he tell her?” he asked, ignoring the surprise on her face.

“They spoke about children, Your Grace. And he affirmed everything she said about the difficulty of childbirth and the pain of it. In fact, …” she hesitated but then continued without urging this time. “it sounded as though he were attempting to scare her off the idea of having children.”

“The very thing she was most concerned about. The very reason for our disagreement, and he chose to focus on the worst of it.” Mathew frowned.

He was still shocked that his uncle had done such a thing. And for what reason?

What reason could he possibly have for sending Diana away?

The Marquess had been unhappy to learn that Matthew married Diana instead of Marigold, but he could not have been so angry as to sabotage Matthew’s marriage… Could he? And to what end?

“What else did he say to her?”

“Not much,” Miss Jenkins replied. “Simply that you wanted her gone and that you did not wish to see her. ” She hesitated then and looked at him more closely. “Is that not what you wanted?”

“No. I never wanted her gone. I fully expected her to be here when I returned. I needed her to be here when I returned. I do not know how my uncle heard about what was happening in our relationship, and I certainly don’t know where he got the idea that I wanted her to leave. I never said that to John, and John was the only one I actually spoke to about any of this. Uncle must have overheard us talking. But then why would he come here to send her away?”

He continued pondering over the situation even after he dismissed Miss Jenkins.

He would have to go after Diana. Because the only place she could have gone was her parents’ home.

But before he went to her, there was something else he needed to do…

When he arrived at his uncle’s house, he jumped down from his horse before it had stopped moving, thrusting the reins into the hands of the stable boy who had rushed out to meet him.

He strode through the door, ignoring the footman who was just about to open the door and seemed startled by his abrupt entrance.

“Where is my uncle?”

“Your Grace—” the footman began, but Matthew was not in the mood for platitudes or niceties.

“Tell me where he is,” he ordered.

The footman’s eyes widened in surprise. “He is in the drawing room, Your Grace. I shall announce your presence?—”

“There is no need,” Matthew hissed, before marching across the hall and yanking open the door to the drawing room. “What are you on about?” he barked as his gaze landed on his uncle, who was sitting near the window.

“Ah, Matthew, it is good to see you,” the man began.

But it was clear that Matthew was not here for a social call. His eyes blazed as he stared at the man who he had once thought of as a father. The one who had aided him throughout his life.

“I will give you one chance to give me a good reason for sending Diana away, and one chance only.”

“Sending Diana away?” John stared from his father to Matthew in confusion, but Matthew barely spared him a glance.

“It was for your own good. That girl was never going to be good enough for you,” his uncle replied calmly.

“That is for me to decide, not you.”

“The girl did not want children, yet she married you knowing you need to have an heir. It is best to be rid of her now before she pulls you down further with her reputation and her stubborn ways. I took care of things for you. The same way that I always have.”

“What does that mean?” Matthew asked, seeing his uncle in a completely new light.

“Oh, Matthew, you did not really think that everything in your life and your business would go so smoothly, did you? Did you truly think that it was that easy to make your way in the world?” his uncle scoffed.

Matthew’s eyes widened in shock as so many things from his past suddenly flashed in his mind.

All of the stories and whispers he’d heard about himself over the years. The times his uncle had rushed him past his peers or told him to ignore the people that he knew in favor of certain contacts.

“What have you done?” he asked.

His uncle gave him a grin that was… well, certainly unnerving.

“I’ve made you into what you are. I’ve ensured that you were seen as a formidable businessman and that you were able to thrive the way that you have. Without me, you would have been nothing at all. You never would have been able to get where you are without my assistance.”

“It’s because of you that they’ve always said those things about him,” John said, stunned as he stared from his father to Matthew. “The scandal sheets that have called him heartless and cruel. The rumors that you told me to ignore…”

Matthew glanced at John and then turned his sharp gaze back to his uncle. “Why? What could you possibly have to gain by making me appear this way?”

“It has allowed you to become a strong businessman. No one is willing to risk your wrath, and that has made an immense difference for you. Besides, I did very little,” the man shrugged. “It is you who created this persona. Your reclusiveness and your rigid schedules and routines. You are the one who made people think this way about you.”

“My nature would not have made people think me cruel and heartless without your interference,” Matthew retorted.

“Perhaps not. But you should be thanking me for what I’ve done.”

“For creating this solitary life for me? To what end? What could you possibly have to gain from it?”

“What could I have to gain from it? I could ensure that you never married. And that you never had a child of your own,” his uncle snapped.

Matthew stared at him in shock and confusion. “But why? Why would it matter to you whether I wed or not?”

“Because your son would become the Duke after you step down. And that I could not allow to happen.”

“What are you talking about? Why would you not want him to have a son to become the next duke? ” John asked, bewildered.

Matthew turned toward him without another word. His uncle, however, scowled at his son.

“I did not raise you to be that stupid . If Matthew dies without an heir, the duchy will pass on to me and then to you, John. To my son.” The Marquees turned back to Matthew. “To whom it belongs.”

“But… why…” John seemed incredulous still.

Matthew, on the other hand, could very well understand why his uncle would want John to inherit the duchy, but what he couldn’t understand was how he could possibly have missed the fact that his uncle was sabotaging his life from the start.

“Your father was always the perfect one. Always the one that was destined for great things. He was everyone’s favorite,” his uncle spat out angrily. “And then he died young, leaving a son who was barely old enough to take the charge even under my wing.

“But I was your uncle. Your last remaining relative. The one that you turned to immediately for assistance. And it was perfect. I realized that your father’s ship sank on its way to America, I could not have planned anything better myself.”

Matthew’s eyes widened in shock as he remembered the horrible day when he had learned that his parents were not returning. And the way he had immediately turned to his uncle for solace. He had thought that he found it. Thought that his uncle had joined him in his sorrow, grieving the loss of his older brother while Matthew grieved the loss of his father and mother.

“And to have you there, right where I needed you. Turning to me for everything. I was able to mold you into exactly what I wanted. Sure, your father’s stubbornness and pride won out, and I could not make you submit to me, but I created a persona that would ensure you would be hard-pressed to find a fitting bride.”

All he could do was stare at this man who he had thought he knew. The one he had never realized was against him from the very start … But he didn’t need to say anything else, because his uncle was continuing on entirely on his own.

“And Marigold… ah, she was the perfect bride for what I wanted. Too mild and sweet and innocent to ever protest your cold and heartless manners. She would never have loved you, and you would never have forced a woman into your bed, so the two of you would never have produced an heir.”

“And if I never produced an heir…” Matthew trailed off, his voice cold.

“Then the duchy would pass on to my family. Where it belonged. And while I may never become the Duke, I have a son. A son who would be a much better fit for the role because I would teach him everything he needs to know.”

All it took was one glance at John’s bewildered expression, and Matthew was even more sure that his cousin had known nothing of this wild scheme and was just as horrified by it as he was.

“But then you returned with a wife whom I hadn’t chosen. Diana,” he sneered. “Of all the sisters that you could have chosen, you chose the one who may have seemed least likely to challenge everything but was in fact the most likely to destroy all of my plans. That spitfire who would stand up to you without fear. I could not have it. I had to do whatever was necessary to ensure that you did not destroy everything I had worked for. Everything I had spent so long cultivating.”

“You sabotaged my life. And for what?” Matthew snapped. “You were the one who trained me. Who taught me. If you wanted me to become a certain type of man, I would have. You know that because you created this lie about me.”

“Yes. Yes, I did. But I didn’t want to turn you into the perfect Duke. I wanted my son to be the perfect Duke. For years, I stood in your father’s shadow, watching him make stupid decisions. Watching people fawn over him for no reason. Watching him train you. And I knew that I could do better. Knew that I was better. And yet I never had that chance. But my son… my son could have that chance. All I had to do was get you out of the way.” his uncle sneered at him.

John opened and closed his mouth as though he were trying to figure out just what to say.

“But that girl… she challenged everything that I had planned. And so she had to go.”

“ That girl , is my wife, ” Matthew replied coldly. “And I shall go and get her back.”

“Good luck. I’ve already told her that you want nothing to do with her. That you cannot forgive her for what she has done. She is prepared to be sent away forever. To be disgraced amongst her family. And she will not easily be swayed.”

“I will do whatever it takes,” Matthew vowed. “And you… I never wish to see you again. You shall have no place in my household ever again.”

With that, he stormed toward the door.

John raced after him, a stunned expression on his face. “Matthew! I did not—I never?—”

“Not now,” Matthew snapped, rushing out the door.

He knew that John was afraid that he blamed him as well, but there was no time to reassure him because he needed to get Diana. He needed to reach her as soon as possible.

His horse was gone, and he looked around quickly for a solution, but John did not stop, charging ahead.

“Bring me Charger!” he shouted, and within moments, his horse was led out of the stables and handed over.

John handed Matthew the reins, his eyes searching Matthew’s as he did. Sadness and perhaps even fear were evident in that gaze, but Matthew had no words at this moment.

The only emotions running through him were anger at his uncle and his own fear that he would not reach Diana in time or would not be able to convince her of his regard—no, of his love for her.

All he could do was clap a hand on John’s shoulder for a moment, hoping to convey his appreciation, before he swung himself onto the saddle and raced away.