Page 20 of The Duke of Sin (Rakes and Roses #1)

CHAPTER 20

B enedict had left over an hour ago and Alice was in her room, a lump of cloth on her lap as she stitched another petticoat in place. His rejection had not hit her hard as the same reasons he had told her were the same ones she had considered herself.

Her aunt would not like the broken courtship, but she did not need to worry; she knew another courtship would come about fairly quickly in the wake of her failed one.

“So, Penelope, then?” she’d asked.

The blades of his cheeks had tinged red. “Is it that obvious?”

“To others, maybe not, but to myself, I see how you look at her and I cannot be any happier. She will be honored to have a man like you give her the attention she deserves,” Alice had told him. “If it means anything to you, you have my blessing.”

Benedict had risen immediately. “It means the world! But I must ask one thing—I have no desire to draw unnecessary attention to yourself or Miss Penelope with the... abrupt deviations in my courting habits. If she is willing to accept, I shall be honored to formally ask for her hand a month from now.”

“Ouch!” she jumped as the needlepoint pricked her forefinger. “That is what I get for not using a thimble.”

She stared at the single drop of blood blooming on her finger and fought the sense that she was so untethered, even though she had expected Benedict’s rejection.

Swiping away the droplet, she slipped the thimble on and stared at the delicate daisies she’d embroidered on the skirting.

“Penelope is going to be all right,” she assured herself. “If anything, this might be even better than Rutledge.”

But what about myself? Do I just swan off into spinsterhood with grace… Edward is the only one I want, but he is not willing to budge on his decision to marry.

At least she would have the memories of their brief shared time together to hold onto for a lifetime.

“Alice?” Penelope came into the room. “Do you have a moment?”

“Always,” she glanced up. “Is it what you wanted to talk of from earlier?”

Nodding, Penelope sat and nervously twisted her fingers in her lap. “I wanted to ask you if you could somehow arrange a trip back to our old hometown? I—I feel a trip to mother and father’s graves might help me center my thoughts.”

Tilting her head to the left, Alice considered it. It would also do to check in with their old cottage, the rents from that house were what minded her and Penelope each month.

“I don’t know,” she said, scrunching her nose. “It is a long trip and I do not think Aunt or Uncle will relieve their carriage for that long. Are you—how are you feeling?”

“Not much different from the other days, I suppose,” Penelope said with a shrug. “I have been trying to amuse myself, rather, convince myself that everything is not catastrophic, but it still hasn’t set in yet.”

Alice bit her lip, unsure of when to tell her sister of what—or rather who —was to come. “How about we go book shopping tomorrow instead? I think a bit of fresh air will do us both the world of good.”

Frowning, Penelope asked, “What do you mean?”

Tracing the last design she’d sewn, Alice admitted, “Lord Brampton broke the courtship. And before you ask, no, it was not because of anything I did or he did. The connection was… not the one we both thought it would end up being. It was a mutual decision, Elly.”

Her sister’s face fell, “I am so sorry.” She reached out and touched Alice’s hand. “You seemed so good together.”

“It is all for the best,” she looked down at her sewing. “Something tells me something better is coming down the line, however.”

“Well,” Penelope rested her head on Alice’s shoulder, “You always do know what is best.”

If only that were true.

“Alice, Penelope,” Aunt Agatha stuck her head around the door, “It is time for dinner. Will you please help Anna set the tables? Richard is coming home tonight as well, so make a place for him too.”

Sharing an exasperated look with Penelope, Alice set her sewing aside. “Yes, Aunt. We’re coming, aunt.”

Leaving her room, they entered the dining room, and while Penelope smoothed out the tablecloth, Alice studiously avoided the Sèvres porcelain and took out the bone china tableware. She set the table while trying to think about the trip to the Temple of the Muses tomorrow.

“Penelope, can you get the silverware, please,” she asked over her shoulder while making the settings. “I’ll help you when I am done with these.”

Her aunt entered the room and Uncle Richard followed soon after, his traveling clothes rumpled and his hat dusted from the road. He hurried in, sweeping off his hat to press a quick kiss to his wife's cheek. “Terribly sorry for being late, my dear. I’ll be down shortly.”

Aunt Agatha wrinkled her nose. “Hurry, dear, you smell a fright.”

Richard hurried out of the room with swift hullos to Alice and Penelope before vanishing from the door. Quietly, Alice finished setting the table as Penelope laid down the last fork.

She took her seat and watched as Penelope poured out a glass of water and sipped it—she prayed that the food would not make her sister ill to the point her aunt would grow suspicious. There were only so many times a person could have an upset stomach in a week.

“Alice, dear,” her aunt looked her over. “How is the lovely Lord Brampton? I would love to have him over for dinner soon, I am sure we can get a lovely goose or turkey. I have been meaning to try asparagus in lemon butter sauce, or mayhap roasted potatoes drizzled with crème flavored with dill.”

“I am sure he will be around again,” Alice smiled thinly, “and as punctual as he is, he will send ample notice so we can prepare.”

“Oh, good, good,” Aunt Agatha nodded. “Where is Eliza?”

“Maybe asleep,” Penelope suggested. “She was out with her friends very late last night. You know she needs twelve hours of rejuvenating sleep per night, or day.”

“My poor dear is so fragile,” Aunt Agatha sighed. “She gets so overwhelmed at times. I fear I may have passed on my delicate nerves to her. My poor girl, I may have condemned her to a life of frailty and constant bed rest.”

“ There is nothing delicate about her ,” Alice murmured while sipping her water.

“Richard, dear, would you please get Eliza,” her aunt said as the butler and the single maid came in with the platters of food.

The jarring scrape of his chair made Alice wince; as Richard stood, Eliza came into the room, the frills of her nightgown peeking at the neck of her robe. She patted her bonnet and said, “Do not bother, father. I am here.”

“Are you all right, dear?” Agatha asked.

Taking her seat, Eliza nodded. “Just tired. Yesterday—” her eyes bored into Alice’s, “—was a very arduous day, to say the least.”

Mystified about why Eliza was trying to skewer her head from her body, Alice minded her meal and dug into the pheasant pie with little enthusiasm.

All through the meal, as her aunt chattered on about the various soirées Lady or Lord So-and-So were throwing as the Season began to get to its height, she avoided Eliza’s scathing glaring and snide quips as she had no energy—and little care—to mind her temperamental cousin; she only had a mind to plan for her next day with Penelope.

“Aunt, may I borrow the carriage tomorrow?” she asked. “Penelope and I would like to drop by the bookstore, and I have some sewing supplies to purchase, and some remedies from the apothecary—”

Eliza smacked her cutlery down with a resounding thud.

Agatha glanced between her scowling daughter and Alice. “Oh, I am not sure that can be arranged, dear. We may require it for an emergency—”

“And I can ask Lord Brampton about that dinner if I run into him,” Alice smoothly put in.

Bobbing her head at once, Aunt Agatha chimed, “Yes, of course, it makes sense to run all your errands at once! Yes, you may have it for an hour or two.”

“Thank you, Aunt,” she replied, pointedly avoiding the venomous gaze of her cousin. “We’ll be back soon enough.”

While pulling her coat away in the cool afternoon, Alice looked over to Penelope and the two books she clutched under one arm.

“I must confess, I feared Eliza would have tried some stunt to take the carriage and leave us stranded.”

Resting the books on her bed, Penelope giggled, “I had the very same idea! And she climbed into the carriage the moment we returned. Do you have any idea where she has been slipping off to lately?”

“No inkling,” Alice sighed. “But she has found something else to be angry at me about. I do not know what it is, but I am not surprised she is miffed.”

Pulling the pins from her hair, Alice carded through them, then asked her sister, “How are you feeling?”

“At the moment, fairly well,” Penelope huffed, tugging her half boots off. “I still sometimes think about what will happen when Aunt learns of my condition, but I feel as if I am borrowing trouble.”

Reaching over, Alice gave her younger sister a warm hug. “I know you doubt me now, but it will be better one day.”

“Against all odds,” Penelope tried for a smile, “I do.”

Moving from her sister’s room, she entered hers and dropped the pins in her hand on her dressing table, then rolled her neck. Her thoughts flittered to Edward and her heart twisted a little at thinking of him; his fierce gaze, how his voice would go from warm with those he cared about to icy steel for those who deserved a set-down.

Her hand trailed to her neck where the spot he’d sucked on that night still felt tender and sensitive.

Somehow, despite their disastrous first meeting and subsequent conflicts, she had slowly and steadily lost her heart to him. Edward was a very complicated man; his aloof disposition held a passionate nature and for good reason. She had no inkling at what others would think of his intimate predilections, but she didn’t think many would think highly of them.

Was it normal for a man to want to tie a woman up and spank her?

A knock came on her door and curiously, she answered it, “Pene—oh, Sarah. How may I help you?”

The maid held a flat white oak wood box in her hand, “This came for you today, Miss. It is from Lord Valhaven.”

A frisson of shock ran through her for a moment, but she reached out and took it. “Thank… you.”

Closing the door, she set the box gently on her bed as though it were a sleeping serpent, then took a step back, pulse thrumming in her ears. Slowly, she reached over and lifted the lid, only to have her vision peppered with black spots. Resting on the black velvet inside was a white-gold necklace, its five teardrop-shaped pendants cradling glittering diamonds.

The links between the pendants were made with white gold flowerhead detail, and beside it was a pair of similarly designed ear pendants. It was a necklace fit for a queen.

Her heart found another rhythm under her breastbone.

Tucked under the necklace was a card that she had not noticed before; drawing it out, she read Edward’s slashing hand, “ For you, Alice. E .”

“He is out of his mind…” she whispered, daring to reach out and touch the jewels, only snatching her hand away when she felt the cold ice of the diamonds. “He has truly taken leave of all his senses...”

She couldn’t cover the box and shove it in a drawer fast enough to stop her heart from beating through her chest.

There was no question she would be returning those jewels to him by daylight, with a polite demand to know what from the nine realms of hell had possessed him to give her three generations of fortune in a box and what he had expected to happen after.

“It matters not if I love him,” she breathed out. “I cannot accept this from him. It feels… it feels like a bribe.”

Sighing, she fell to her bed. Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.