Page 19 of The Duke’s Ultimatum (Unrelenting Lords #1)

CHAPTER 19

E leanor’s heart was racing. Every door she tried was locked. She chanced looking behind her to see if she was being followed. Nerves danced in her belly as sweat began to bead on her forehead.

Door after door was locked, and she knew she was running out of time.

“Eleanor? Are you down there?”

The Viscount!

Eleanor turned to run towards the voice. Or was she running away from it? Blast these hallways all looked the same. Didn’t she just come from this direction? She heard shuffling and voices coming from behind a door. She stopped and turned the doorknob.

“Eleanor? Where are you?”

Anxiety took over her body, and her hand began to shake. The noises behind the door quieted.

“Is someone in there? Please open up!” She banged her fist on the door.

With one push, the door gave way, and she stumbled into the room. She regained her footing, closed the door behind her, and looked around. The room was darkened with sheets covering old furniture. It didn’t look like anyone had been in this room for years. So, who was making the sound that caught her attention?

“Hello?”

A knock from the door behind her made her jump. “Who’s there?”

“It’s me, Simon. Open the door. Are you ok?”

Eleanor heaved a sigh of relief. She rushed to the door to open it, only to find it jammed. She shook the handle, hoping to jar it open.

She heard muffled voices coming from further in the room behind her, and her body froze. Chills ran down her spine as she turned and…

Eleanor woke with a start. She wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand as she sat up. She took deep breaths, hoping to calm her racing heart.

This was the third night in a row when she couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t shake the feeling of being chased. Whatever her dream was about, it caused her heart to pound within her chest.

She rubbed her face and took another deep breath. It was just a dream. Nothing to be concerned about. She told Sarah about her dreams, and she surmised Eleanor’s dreams represented her timetable for finding a husband. Eleanor ignored her sister’s idea. Things seemed to be going well with Simon, despite his reaction to her dancing with the Duke.

Eleanor could tell he was unhappy with her for her actions that night; thankfully, he didn’t let it spoil their evening. Other than that, the rest of the evening was quite pleasant.

She saw him several times over the past few days, albeit the Duke was there for each occurrence, but the two men at least were civil to each other.

The times when she was alone with Simon—with her mother chaperoning, of course—she realized they had many things in common. Normally knowing such things would pacify her nerves, but she couldn’t help but feel like something was missing when she was with Simon.

There’s nothing missing when I’m with the Duke.

“Ugh. Stop it,” Eleanor chastised herself. “It’s just a girlish crush, remember? And I don’t do those anymore.” She flopped back down onto her back, pulling the cover over her.

She heard the same shuffling sounds she heard in her dream and sat up. “What in the world?”

The sound came again, but this time it was accompanied by voices. She threw the cover off her legs and padded to her window. She drew back the curtain and squinted as the moon’s light came shining through. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw her sister, Sarah, standing in the courtyard below.

What is Sarah doing out this late at night?

Just as Eleanor was about to turn to grab her night coat, she saw a man step towards Sarah. Eleanor froze until she noticed the figure looked familiar.

Sarah was talking to—no, not talking to, arguing with the Duke.

Eleanor leaned into the window but couldn’t hear what they were saying. She placed her hands on the bottom panel and tried to pull it up, but alas, it was too heavy. Hoping to get it budge enough for a slight crack of air to come through, she tried again.

The window budged and opened a bit. Angry voices drifted in from below.

“How could you?” Sarah said, her voice panicked and distraught.

Graynor stood firm in front of the wailing woman. “You are not to speak of this again. It is done.”

Sarah pushed past him and ran into the house.

Eleanor stumbled back from the window. What was that about?

Worried about her sister, she grabbed her house coat and quietly ran to Sarah’s room. She pushed through the door, but Sarah hadn’t made it back to her room from the courtyard yet. Eleanor looked around for any clue that could tell her what just happened. Why was Sarah out so late? Was she meeting someone? Eleanor’s heart sank. Was she meeting with the Duke?

Eleanor shook her head. No, that couldn’t be. Sarah has been mad at the Duke; there would be no reason for her to be meeting him. Besides, Eleanor shouldn’t care who the Duke saw, even if that included her sister.

Sarah’s door flew open, and a hysterical Sarah dropped a bag before she threw herself on the bed, sobbing. Eleanor turned to her sister and quietly walked to the bed.

“Sarah?”

Her sister jumped and screamed. “Eleanor! What are you doing here?”

Eleanor eased down next to her. “I heard you and His Grace fighting outside, and I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

At the mention of the Duke, Sarah’s sobs turned into wails. Eleanor gathered her sister into her arms and stroked her hair, trying to calm Sarah down.

“Sarah, what has happened? Who has caused you this much pain?”

Sarah sniffled into Eleanor’s chest.

“Th…the Duke.”

Eleanor’s hand stilled on Sarah’s head. She took in her sister’s nightgown that was covered with just a coat.

“He wouldn’t let me go.” Sarah sobbed on another breath.

Eleanor tried to swallow the lump that formed in her throat. Eleanor’s mind was warring with her heart. The image of the Duke standing in front of Sarah and his words echoed in Eleanor’s head. “You are not to speak of this again. It is done.” Surely he wouldn’t do something despicable to someone in his care?

Eleanor took a breath. “Go? Go where?”

Sarah sat up, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hands. “Promise you won’t be mad?”

Eleanor sighed and braced herself. “Tell me everything, Sarah.”

Sarah curled into a ball. “I was running away to be with Byron Wilkens.”

Eleanor’s eyes rounded, and relief flooded through her system. That was until what her sister said finally registered.

“What?! Sarah! What were you thinking?”

Sarah moaned into her pillow. “You sound just like him.”

“Who?”

Sarah sniffled again. “The Duke. He’s a tyrant, Eleanor. I’m sorry I ever sided with him and not you. You were right to be wary of him. He is a pompous, arrogant man who just wants to control us. He doesn’t care about what we want.” She cried into her pillow.

Eleanor sat helplessly as her highly emotional and very passionate younger sister mourned the loss of her first love. She rubbed Sarah’s back, hoping the sensation would help calm her.

“Sarah, look at me.”

Sarah peeked out from her pillow, her eyes red and her cheeks tear- stained.

“I do believe the Duke means well.”

Sarah laughed. “Ha!” she spat. “You do not. You’re constantly fighting with him. You and he never agree on anything. And I was the fool that said you should give him a chance. Well, I did, and look what happened. Byron will never want to speak to me again.”

Eleanor chewed her bottom lip. Dealing with her sister during one of her emotional outbursts was exhausting in daylight; navigating one in the early morning after a fitful night’s sleep was downright daunting.

“I won’t lie and say that I agree with how His Grace chooses to approach certain things, but he is a great businessman, and I do believe he got that way by being able to read people. Maybe he knows something about Bryon’s family, and he wants to protect you from it. Or maybe it’s that he doesn’t know Byron’s family, and he wants to before anything happens.”

Eleanor took a deep breath. She knew her sister was going to hate the next thing she was going to say, but it had to be said.

“The other possibility for the Duke stopping you could be… your age.”

Sarah jumped up. Eleanor dropped her head. Yes, that would be the one she reacts to.

“I am so sick of people telling me I’m too young to do things. Since when does love have an age limit?”

It was Eleanor’s time to laugh. “Love? Sarah! Do you hear yourself? You’ve met with this boy a handful of times, and it’s love?” Eleanor rolled her eyes. “Sarah, I think your books are going to your head. Maybe you should pick up one of Beatrice’s books for a change. Romance and love don’t work the way your books say it does.”

Sarah leaped from the bed and began to pace the room. “Says who? You? I’m sorry, Eleanor, but I do not think you should be the one to lecture me on how love works. You’re in your third year, and you’re being forced to settle with the Viscount, who, let’s face it, is not a great catch.”

Eleanor swallowed and looked down in at her hands in her lap. Her sister’s words stung. Not because they were hurtful but because they were true. What did she know of love? She was a step away from being engaged to a man with whom she felt nothing but friendship.

Sarah’s words hung between them.

“I’m sorry, Eleanor.” Sarah rushed to kneel in front of Eleanor. “I shouldn’t have said that; it was unkind of me.”

Eleanor gave a slight smile and willed back the tears that threatened to fall. “No. You’re right. What do I know of love? I don’t think I’ve ever felt it or anything close to it to be honest.”

Sarah sat back on her heels and groaned. “It’s not fun.”

Eleanor’s smile grew. “All right then, wise one. Tell me what love is. If it’s not fun, why are we pushed to find it?”

Sarah pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. “Well. I can say that the feelings I feel when I’m with Bryon are like I can walk on air.” Sarah stood up and started dancing around the room. “I have so much energy that I feel like I could run for days and days and never tire!

“And when he accidentally touches my hand, I feel shocks run up my arm straight into my heart and…” Sarah collapsed onto the bed, next to Eleanor. “… it feels like my heart explodes.”

Eleanor chuckled. “It sounds dangerous.”

“Just the opposite. It’s lovely,” Sarah said, sighing. “But that brute of a duke said it was nonsense, and the feelings will fade, but he’s wrong.” She pouted. “Our feelings for each other will never fade.”

Eleanor took in her sister, her face flushed from recounting her idea of love. “If that’s the case, then why the rush?”

Sarah looked up at her sister. “Huh?”

Eleanor shrugged. “If your feelings for him will never fade, then why rush to run away together? Take your time, have a season, wear pretty dresses, show each other off properly, then marry at the end of the season, and make it an event everyone talks about,” she added with a wink.

“But it feels like it’s just too big to wait.” Sarah sat up. “Like, if we don’t do something about it right now, it’ll just disappear. It’s too big to hold onto, so we need to grab it while we can.”

Eleanor shook her head. “We’ve established that I may not know the ins and outs of love, but I will say, if love disappears because you can’t shout it from the roof tops and make it official, then I don’t think it’s a love worth having.”

Sarah tilted her head.

“What?” Eleanor questioned defensively. “I don’t want love that needs to be paraded around. I don’t want grand gestures that are just for show. I want a love that is there in the quiet times. I want a love that makes me feel safe and protected. I want kind gestures and soft touches to get me through the hard days. I want meaning and understanding everlasting. There should be no timetable with love.”

“There’s a timetable with you and the Viscount,” Sarah said quietly.

Eleanor sighed. “Yes, well, His Grace was right that first night we dined with him. I had my chance to look for that kind of love, and I didn’t take it.”

The girls sat for a moment, melancholy settled over them.

Eleanor stood, forcing a smile on her face. “That’s why it’s so important you do this the right way. If Bryon is truly the one for you, waiting another year until your debut will do nothing but strengthen that bond.”

She helped Sarah under her covers.

“Now, I think we both should get to bed. We’ve both had exhausting nights, you more than me,” she said raising her eyebrow at her sister.

Sarah grimaced. “Sorry for waking you.”

“It’s all right, I was already awake.” Eleanor cringed the moment the words left her mouth.

“Why? Thinking about the Viscount?” Sarah said with a smile.

“Um, yes. I was. Now, no more talking. Go to bed.” Eleanor placed a kiss on her sister’s forehead and left her room, closing the door behind her.

Eleanor leaned against the door and hung her head.

Emotions she held back flooded through her, and tears rolled down her cheeks. What she wouldn’t give to feel the feelings her sister described. To have that energy course through her and leave her breathless with possibilities.

Her head snapped up, and her heart stopped.

She did experience those feelings. Only it wasn’t with Simon… it was with the Duke.