Page 18 of The Dark Duke’s Cinderella (The Untamed Ladies #1)

CHAPTER 18

“L et go of me,” Alicia protested, trying to shake off Philip’s grip on her arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Philip clenched his jaw and walked faster, dragging her toward the stables in the distance. Thick formations of trees lined the path to their destination, shielding them from view.

A handful of guests had slipped out of the ballroom earlier to roam the gardens, and Philip had meant to clear his mind there. Anna’s behavior—brooding in a far corner of the room, shooting daggers his way when she thought he wasn’t looking—had eaten away at him all morning.

After the ceremony, his new wife had insisted they all walk back to the manor for entertainment. It had been an obvious lie. She couldn’t stand the thought of being alone in a carriage with him and wanted to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.

It shouldn’t have affected Philip, but it did.

When he had exited the house to get away from her, Alicia had come marching down the drive toward him. She had called his name, shouting that she had something important to tell him. If she really wanted to talk, they would do it in private.

He dragged her to a stop halfway between the stables and the house. It was cooler under the shade of the trees, and the smell of horses drifted in the air toward him.

Alicia turned to him with a smirk. “I take it Anna is already driving you up the wall,” she said, tilting her head teasingly. “And now you’re taking your anger out on me.”

“Your cousin has comported herself as a perfect lady all morning,” Philip retorted, not quite convincing himself. “The same cannot be said for you. Have you come to cause trouble? I was told that you would not be here today. The earl forbade you from attending the wedding.”

“And what a slight that was. Every Walford relative in a hundred-mile radius is here except for me. It is my right to be among them today.” She crossed her arms. “I would have arrived in time for the ceremony if the coach from London hadn’t been delayed by hours. I was dropped off in the village and had to walk all the way here.”

“And what had been your plan? To interrupt the wedding and prevent our marriage?” Her silence was the only answer he needed. “You disgrace yourself.”

“What an awful thing to say to your cousin. Or have you forgotten that we’re family now?”

“By law and nothing else. Why you expect me to honor that connection is a mystery. If what Anna told me is true—you think very little of me, indeed. Coming here to disrupt the wedding is but the culmination of your ill intentions.”

“Ah.” Alicia laughed. “So, she told you what I said.”

“She told me enough to know that you would not be welcome here even if Magnus did not abominate you.” Philip refused to give her the satisfaction of meeting her eyes. “Anna, on the other hand, reveres you. And you have rewarded her loyalty and worship by causing her nothing but pain. To what end?”

“I love Anna,” Alicia argued, pressing a hand to her chest. “And I will always advocate for what is best for her. Do not expect me to apologize for trying to come between you and her.”

“A bleeding heart brought you here?” he scoffed. “Don’t make me laugh. I think the truth is much simpler: you cannot stand the thought of losing to your cousin, who by your estimation has never been your equal. On that account, you are right. Anna is a far better woman than you could ever strive to be… She is… She is…”

Graham’s ring sat in his vest pocket, and it pressed against his chest, reminding him of his friend’s trust in him.

Alicia may have been right. Philip had no way of knowing what time would make of his marriage to Anna. But it was like he had told her—there was no room for doubt now. And he did not doubt that Anna was a diamond who had unluckily fallen into his hands.

“There is nothing you can say to convince me to abandon my loyalties to Anna,” he persisted. “I have made a vow to her on this day—and it is one I intend to honor for as long as we both live.”

“How very principled…” Alicia took a step back, seething. “And yet how strange that your morals shift depending on your mood. One moment you are the selfless colonel disfiguring himself to protect his country, the next you are nothing more than a rake pursuing a woman almost ten years younger than you despite knowing you had no interest in marrying her.”

Philip shook his head and began walking away. “I do not need to take this from you,” he said. “I am returning to my wife. Do as you wish, Miss Walford.”

He stopped when he heard voices in the distance, drifting past the house. He was trapped. And Alicia was far from done, coming to stand in front of him.

“Yes, that’s just like you. Walking away. Perhaps if you had more integrity, chosen to be one man or the other, things would not have turned out the way they have. You were the same when you courted me. Hot and cold. Too fickle to commit yourself to anything—not even this conversation.”

Philip bristled at his charges, in part because she was right. Had he been more restrained with Anna, none of this would have happened.

“And Anna? Well, I suppose you’re at least alike in that regard,” Alicia scoffed, continuing her tirade. “She hasn’t the first idea of who she is. The most fulfilling thing she has done in her whole life is pretend to be me for an evening. That night at the opera was just the beginning of the end… Maybe that’s what you see in her, what has made this whole farce tolerable. The shadow of me, living within her.”

“What?” Philip paused, and his anger gave way to terror. “The two of you could not be more dissimilar, and I reject any notion that my interest in her was left over from interest in you. There was no interest—has never been any interest. I should have made that clear from the beginning, even at the cost of your feelings.”

Alicia’s demeanor shifted, a fire sparking inside her. She hadn’t liked that comparison, the fact that she had been unable to tempt Philip with all her tricks and wit, while Anna had charmed him effortlessly simply by being herself.

“But your accusation, about Anna…” Philip’s chest rose and fell with ragged breaths. “What are you talking about? The opera?”

“Ah. It seems she cannot be trusted to tell you everything. Allow me to enlighten you. On the evening you attended Tacredi , I was too unwell to perform my first scene. Anna had come down to see me before the show, and she agreed to sing in my place while I recovered backstage. You should have seen the way her face lit up when she returned.

“Just like that, I knew that she had always wanted to be me, and at that moment, had become me. So perhaps I got it wrong. Maybe she took an interest in you because if she could not have my career, she could at least relive a moment of my past by acquainting herself with you instead.”

The latter half of Alicia’s reply went unheard. Philip shook his head softly, wishing she had been lying.

Anna had sung that evening. It had been her voice that had stirred him, not Alicia’s. But that wasn’t all.

“I had thought…” His throat was dry, and he gripped his cravat to loosen it. “At the opera…”

There was no point in telling Alicia the truth: that he had encountered Anna that night and assumed she had returned from a tryst. That singular event had given him enough permission to flirt with her—consciously or subconsciously—to let her in, mistakenly believing that she wasn’t as innocent as she had claimed. And if she hadn’t been perfect, if she had a dark past, then their marriage wasn’t built on a difference in morality.

But Philip had been wrong . She was perfect, innocent. And he had just condemned her, an angel, to a lifetime at his side.

“I’ll let you think on what I’ve said,” Alicia declared airily, alerting him to her departure. “It may be that I have come too late to prevent this travesty, and I will have to live with that. But I would be on my guard if I were you… I do not easily part with the things I want most.”

* * *

Anna pressed herself against a large oak at the border of the courtyard. The bark scratched her hands while she watched Philip and Alicia through the gaps between the trees.

What am I even watching for? Some proof that Alicia was right? The moment he leans in and kisses her?

Her stomach churned, and she pressed her head against the trunk. She had kept her eyes fixed on them, losing them from time to time as they oscillated between the thin birches around them. They were speaking loudly, but still too quietly for her to hear. Something was wrong, and it was more evidence that Alicia had been telling the truth about her and Philip—about their history.

When she saw no signs of their discussion ending, she turned back toward the house. What was the point in tormenting herself further? She had seen enough.

The sounds of celebration echoed through Bristol Park. Anna forced a neutral expression as she rejoined the guests. She spotted her friends on the dance floor, dark-haired Margaret dancing with a handsome gentleman, and a vision of Philip and Alicia flashed before her eyes.

She bumped into one of the tables, rattling the china table settings. George glanced up at her from his seat, laughing softly at her poor footing. He was a welcome sight, and Anna took the chair beside him. She leaned against him for support, breathing in the comforting smell of the only man she could trust.

“Long morning?” he asked, looking down at her lovingly.

“Yes,” she replied. “And I’d rather not talk about it.”

“We could discuss these dry croissants instead.” He poked one with the end of his fork and banged it against his plate. “Are there no decent bakehouses in Bath?”

Anna laughed, smiling when he patted her head.

“Everything will be alright,” he whispered. “At least we’re attending a wedding and not a funeral.”

“There’s time yet.” Anna took a deep breath, stretching her arms on the table. “A funeral might be happier.”

The string quartet played two songs in the time it took for Philip to return inside. He crossed the ballroom with determined footsteps, and Anna realized too late that he was heading toward her. She straightened in her seat, looking awkwardly at George. He was still furious with Philip—it was written all over his face.

“Where did you disappear to?” George asked, tearing apart his pastry and shoving pieces into his mouth. “We were readying a search party to retrieve you.”

Philip considered his answer, his brow furrowed in guilt. Before he could reply, Alicia appeared at the entrance. She waltzed through the archway with purpose, attracting the attention of the nearby guests. Her mother and father spotted her first, greeting her with shocked expressions and cautious glances in Magnus’s direction. Alicia’s father had not entirely forgiven her for defying his wishes and becoming an actress—but he evidently wasn’t going to cause a scene now. The earl shot her a disapproving look, then turned to continue the conversation he had been having. Their family had just weathered one scandal, so why cause a scene by casting her out on Anna’s wedding day?

“Why is Alicia here?” George asked, narrowing his eyes at Anna and Philip in succession. “How did you get Magnus to agree to invite her?”

Neither gave him an answer. Anna stared down at the tablecloth and heard George abandon his seat. Philip took it immediately, and Anna leaned away from him. She hated how much his presence affected her.

He placed a hand on the back of her chair, leaning in like only a husband could. Her face and chest tingled pleasantly. She had half a mind to punch him—and half a mind to kiss him.

“On my honor, I tried to get her to leave,” he whispered, and she squeezed her eyes shut at the sound of his voice so close to her ear. “I stepped outside a moment ago and saw her approaching the manor… She is determined to stay. But she hasn’t any reason to cause trouble.”

“And on my honor, I think you are lying,” Anna hissed, glaring at him. “She has reason and the means, thanks to you.”

Philip leaned back in shock, and Anna immediately regretted her outburst. She rose from her seat prepared to walk away, when Alicia approached their table.

“Surprised to see me?” Alicia drawled, raising an eyebrow coyly. “I couldn’t miss my cousin’s wedding day.” She rounded the table and embraced Anna. “I won’t stay long—I’m staying elsewhere for the night.”

“Good,” Anna blurted out, then corrected herself when she caught people looking. “I mean to say, it is good that you have somewhere to stay. The house is packed tight.”

Alicia drew her in for another hug. “I hope you’ll forgive the silly things I said to you the other day. It was wrong of me to try and tell you how to live your life. I think the two of you are exactly what you deserve.”

She released her, leaving only the smell of her perfume on Anna’s wedding gown.

“Congratulations, Your Grace,” she said to Philip, bobbing a curtsey.

Philip didn’t dignify her with an answer, probably worried he would expose them with anything he said.

Anna’s nostrils flared as Alicia returned to her parents, leading them by the arms to the refreshment table on the other side of the room. She imagined her cousin reaching for a petit-fours and bursting into flames.

“I don’t want to be here anymore,” she gritted out. Her bottom lip quivered, and she despised herself for it. “I want to go home.”

It was a stupid request. Where was home for her?

“You and I are of the same mind,” Philip replied, but there was no warmth in his voice. He looked back at Alicia’s retreating form, and Anna’s desire to punch him came back threefold. “I’ll see to it that it’s done.”

Once the next dance came to an end, word began circulating that the newlyweds planned to leave. Rosamund was delighted, proclaiming that only the happiest of couples left their wedding breakfasts early. She accompanied Anna upstairs to pack her trousseau.

Anna’s new lady’s maid, a young woman from Cardiff named Cari, sent her belongings downstairs and ordered for them to be loaded into the waiting Wells carriage.

Freed from her wedding dress, Anna proceeded downstairs in her traveling suit. Philip stood at the bottom of the staircase, speaking with her father and the butler.

“Anna,” he said when he saw her. “Would you?—”

She walked past him without a word, clutching her valise as she made for the doors.

The guests crowded around their carriage when it came time to say goodbye. Anna threaded through the crowd, hugging George and her friends tightly. She didn’t know when she would see any of them again, and the uncertainty of her future filled her with dread.

Philip opened the door for her to climb into the carriage. He hovered a hand over her back, and his touch sent a shock up her spine.

As the carriage rolled away, Anna pressed her nose to the window. Alicia stood at the back of the crowd, smiling before George stepped up beside her. It was the last thing Anna saw before the carriage turned toward the gates.

“It’s a long drive to Sussex,” Philip began, leaning his elbow on his side of the carriage. He was visibly unimpressed by her treatment, dropping his mask now that they were alone. “We will likely arrive at nightfall. There will be places to rest in between while the horses are changed. It needn’t be a silent journey. If you have questions about Cotoneaster?—”

“Any questions I have about the house can be answered by your sister when she joins us tomorrow.” It felt wrong to punish him, but she couldn’t help herself. “It needn’t be a silent journey, but I would prefer it that way.”

Anna nodded with a little moue, convinced she had gained the upper hand. It was a hollow victory. Being callous didn’t make her feel good.

“I have exhausted myself trying to make this day as painless as possible for you,” Philip said after a moment’s silence, surprising her. He rested his head on his clenched fist, staring out the window. “And for my effort, you have rewarded me with a lack of manners I never expected from you. What has changed?”

Anna looked down in shame. “I had hoped that this day would go quite differently.”

“You and I both. But that does not explain your behavior.” He turned to her, compelling her to look at him. “Will you punish me forever for my mistake?”

She wondered what mistake he meant. Leading them into a marriage… or whatever affair he had with Alicia? If she hadn’t been so afraid of the answer, she would have asked him outright for the truth.

“I don’t know,” was all she could say. “But I will avoid being short with you so long as I can.”

Their journey stretched on, and Philip occupied himself with silence. Anna feigned sleeping, her mind racing, until they reached the first stop of their journey.

She remained inside the carriage as Philip stepped out for a walk, hoping he still thought she was unconscious. The insides of her mouth had been chewed to shreds, and she bit down hard in surprise when the door at her side swung open.

Philip reached out to stop her from toppling to the ground, gripping the carriage door with his other hand. He held her long enough to steady her, leveling her with a particularly damning look, before stepping away.

“You need fresh air,” he said, gesturing around. “And something better to do with your time than pretending to be asleep.”