Page 33 of The Beast’s Duchess (Duchesses of Inconvenience #1)

Chapter Two

The Worst Choice

“ W hat?” Audrey yelled, staring at her father with her mouth agape. “You agreed to what?!”

“Audrey, please, calm down. I had no choice.” Lord Cyderton massaged his temple with his thumb and forefinger. “It was either accept his offer or let the bailiffs ransack the house.”

Audrey was shaking with rage, her heart thundering in her chest, and she dug her nails into her palms to keep from screaming. “There must be another way.”

“This was the Duke’s price. You know how much we owe him, how—” her father began, but she cut him off.

“I am all too aware of our current financial troubles. After all, the Duke is responsible for them.” Audrey shook her head in disgust. “I do not understand why he is doing this to us. You knew his father, did you not?”

Lord Cyderton was pouring himself a measure of whiskey. He looked at Audrey and then poured a second glass, offering it to her as he said, “Yes, I did. He was a most honorable and kind man.”

“And yet his son is not.” Audrey took the proffered glass and sipped from it. “And that is the man you want to marry me off to? Some heartless monster who thinks women are to be sold like cattle in a market?”

Her father winced. “I had no choice.”

“There is always a choice.” Audrey’s voice was full of fire and fury.

How could he do this to me?

“I will not do this, Father. You cannot make me.”

She shuddered. Marriage . She had seen what it had done to women, how it had robbed them of their spark. Of everything that made them interesting. She would not let it happen to her.

Much less to some foul duke who is ruining my family out of some petty cruelty.

“Audrey, I know how you feel about marriage?—”

“Yes, it is a cage designed to break a woman’s spirit and personality. All for some man’s vanity.”

“And do you feel this way about my marriage to your mother? Do you think I have broken her spirit simply for my vanity?” the Earl asked.

“Well, no. But that is different. You and Mother were in love,” Audrey pointed out, folding her arms. “There are always exceptions to the rule. That doesn’t change what I have witnessed with my own eyes.”

The Earl sighed. “Nor does it change our current predicament. Do you really wish to subject your mother and sister to the shame and violence the Duke could visit upon us?”

“But I do not understand why it has come to this.” Audrey frowned. “I ran the accounts myself last quarter. And, of course, there is the research I have done into modernizing farming methods. From a business perspective, the Duke should have been more than happy to allow us extra time.”

An odd, unreadable look crossed her father’s face, and she frowned at him.

“You did explain the farming method, didn’t you?

” Audrey felt a mix of confusion and anger.

“The one they have trialed in France? The one that would likely allow us to increase our yield by at least thirty percent? Yes, there is a risk, but it is minimal, and should my calculations be correct, then the three-month extension would allow us to easily pay the Duke’s initial sum and more, should he wish to charge interest.”

She sighed.

Perhaps Father felt unsure how to explain the method. After all, he does struggle with modernity. I wish I had known that damned Duke was visiting today, I could have been here. Could have prevented all of this from happening.

“I did not get a chance to tell him,” Lord Cyderton said, a pained look on his face. “Or rather, I dared not take this proposal to him.”

Audrey gaped, fury rising within her once more.

“Do you mean to tell me, Father, that instead of presenting the Duke with my very well-researched and thought-out proposal, you said nothing? No, not even nothing. Rather than explaining the benefits of modernization and the success it could bring, you opted to sell me to him. To trade me as though I were one of your horses.” Her voice shook with her rage.

“I thought you valued me and my opinion. We have worked on this estate together for years. I thought we were partners.”

“Audrey, you do not understand.” There was a desperation in her father’s voice that infuriated her even more.

“Of course, I do not understand! You have given me away to one of the most unkind, cruel, and vicious men in the country to pay off your debts.” Audrey’s heart threatened to burst out of her chest. “We have paid the installments, we have shown him we can be trusted. And yet, at the first opportunity to negotiate, you were too much of a coward to do so.”

“Please, Audrey, I—” Lord Cyderton’s voice rose.

“I will not marry him. I won’t do it. I shall send him a letter. I will explain everything to him and make him see reason—” Audrey declared, louder than her father.

The Earl cut her off, his anger seeming to flare. “He will not hear a word of it.”

Audrey folded her arms across her chest.

How can he have so little faith in me? I thought he trusted me.

“Why not? Is he not a shrewd businessman? Of course, he will listen. We have held up our end of the bargain, so far.”

“We have not!” her father roared, his self-control snapping.

Audrey took a step back, caught off guard. She surveyed his face, expecting to see anger. What she saw, however, chilled her to the bone.

Shame.

“What do you mean?” she asked quietly.

“I did not pay the Duke.” Her father’s voice broke.

“You. Didn’t. Pay. The. Duke.” Cold fury and horror punctuated every one of her words.

This cannot be true. God, how could he do this?

“I… I wanted to be rid of this accursed debt. I… thought… Well, we had done so well, but still, all I could see ahead were months—no, years of struggle. And of course, there are your dowries to think about.”

The Earl ran a hand through his hair, leaving it in complete disarray as he did so.

“I have no need of a dowry, I am not getting married,” Audrey replied without thinking, barely processing the words as they left her mouth.

“Your sister does.” Lord Cyderton sighed. “And, well, I heard of a man who nearly doubled his fortune in a single night. And a source told me it was a sure thing. I thought…”

Audrey looked at the broken man before her. “Father, what are you saying?”

“But I was wrong. Oh God, I… But then I thought perhaps, perhaps I could win it all back. But it kept getting worse,” Lord Cyderton continued, his shame written all over his face.

“Oh God, Father. Please… No.” Audrey did not know if she was more angry or despairing—it felt as though the world was crumbling around her. “Please, tell me you didn’t gamble away the money we owe the Duke.”

“It is worse than that. I lost… I lost everything, Audrey. We have nothing left.” Lord Cyderton buried his face in his hands, his words coming out muffled. “I may just be able to pay the others ba?—”

“Others?”

How much worse can this get? God, please, let there be no more.

Audrey felt little hope.

Lord Cyderton nodded miserably, his head in his hands. “Yes. The amount is far less than we owe the Duke but still substantial.”

“You are not wearing your father’s ring.” The shock of seeing the pale mark on her father’s hand, where the ring had sat, pierced Audrey’s heart like a dagger.

This is real. This is really happening.

“You sold it?”

“Yes.” Lord Cyderton hid his hand behind his back.

For a moment, they stood in stony silence. Then the full weight of her father’s betrayal hit her, and she felt her rage take hold.

“You gambled it all away.” She gritted her teeth, disgust and fury coloring every syllable. “And now I must pay the price for your folly? How could you do this to us? To me? To Mother? To Lily?”

“It was supposed to be a sure thing.”

Audrey snorted. “There is no such thing as a sure thing in games of chance!”

“I had no choice!” Lord Cyderton yelled, striding towards her.

She did not back down. Instead, she met his gaze and yelled back, “You had every choice! We had a plan. A plan which would have seen us struggle, yes, but ultimately be free of this debt.”

Audrey shook her head in disgust.

If I had been a son, would he have listened to me better?

“You have made everything ten—no, a hundred times worse. What were you thinking?”

“I am sorry. I have failed all of you.” Her father deflated, the anger leaving him as he collapsed into an armchair, his head in his hands. “It should have never come to this.”

“Well, it has, and wallowing in self-pity will help no one.” Audrey turned away from him. “You said the Duke would return tomorrow with the contract.”

“Yes, but, Audrey, please do not do anything rash. Think of your mother and sister.” The Earl looked pleadingly at her.

Rage as she might against her father’s folly, and the cruelty of the Duke of Valleron, Audrey would not allow her mother and Lily to bear any more pain than they had to.

I will do whatever is needed to keep them safe. I will make this right.

“I am not going to do anything rash.” Audrey turned away from her father. “I am simply going to make sure that this contract works for both parties.”

And show the Duke that I will not be cowed by some entitled, cowardly bully.

Oh, she would marry the man, but she was not going to make it easy on him.

I will make him regret every day of the rest of his life.

Perhaps she would enjoy marriage, after all.