Page 40 of Unraveled by the Duke (Scandalous Duchesses #1)

A lvey Hall was a mansion set into its own private grounds, walled off from the rest of the city. Its park had once been part of royal woods, parceled up and given away by past monarchs to loyal subjects. The Viscounts Alvey had been such.

The gates were opened by a servant tasked with nothing else and given a tiny wooden booth to stand in while waiting to admit visitors.

The drive wound through the park, trees from the old woods were kept in positions that screened the house or gave tantalizing glimpses of it that vanished in the blink of an eye.

When they finally emerged, it was to the sight of a structure of gleaming London stucco and bright red brick. Pediments decorated false columns that framed windows and doorways. Stone vases along the roofline suggested a crass classicism. Statuary filled the grounds.

“A wealthy family,” Alexander commented.

“And not afraid to show it. Lady Alvey has added to the grandeur of this place since her husband died,” Celia said. “I once sneaked in dressed as a stablehand. I saw her whipping a maid who had displeased her. I threw a stone at her, which left a muddy stain on her dress, then ran.”

“Good for you,” Alexander muttered. “I may have been in the house at the time. Lavinia took pleasure in showing me off. She and her mother seemed to regard a duke as a grand ornament.”

They disembarked in front of the house and approached the door, which were two dark oak panels with black wrought iron knockers in the middle. Alexander lifted one and let it fall with a boom.

Immediately, the door was opened, and a footman with a bowed head ushered them inside and through a hall bedecked with tapestries, sculptures, and vases on plinths and in alcoves.

The house felt too crowded to move through comfortably, while the antique paneling and furniture contrived to render the hall dark, an enemy of natural light.

They were escorted to a sitting room with a grand, glittering chandelier and chairs inlaid with gold and ivory, which was surrounded by a blood-red carpet.

“A fine contrast of styles. English Tudor to French Sun King. Too much money,” Alexander observed.

“And too little taste,” Celia added.

Both whispered as the footman announced them in a loud voice.

Celia saw Aurelia sitting meekly in a corner of the room. Next to her was Captain Greenwood. He stood casually, leaning against her chair, one arm draped across the back. It seemed that he was engaged in casual conversation with her, except for the fact that she was shying away from him.

Her eyes flicked to Celia and then down to the floor, her cheeks flushing. Greenwood put a hand on her shoulder.

“Ah, my former suitor, the Duke of Cheverton. Welcome to Alvey Hall. My mother is in Bath for the week. I hope you were not hoping to visit with her when you honored my house with your presence?”

Celia gave Lavinia a withering look and went to her sister’s side. Greenwood straightened as though to stop her, but Alexander shifted his feet and turned his head, and Greenwood stopped. He took a step back, suddenly wary, before a smug grin spread across his face.

Aurelia looked from him to Lavinia and then to Celia, before lowering her eyes. “I am sorry, Celia. I’m sorry I did not believe you. I wanted to speak to Lavinia about the picture. I could not believe it. She has been my friend!”

Celia sat on the arm of the chair, put a hand on her sister’s shoulder, and clasped her hand. “Where is the picture, Aurelia?” she asked quietly.

“Do you mean this?” Lavinia crowed.

She rose to her feet, holding aloft the picture and walking to the fireplace.

Alexander casually crossed to Celia. His easy gait had the relaxed attitude of a stalking lion, prompting Greenwood to grin harder and move further away.

“Aurelia came to me with this libelous image purporting to be me and the Viscount Darnleigh. Which we all know is a lie. I think there can only be one place for this kind of thing.”

Lavinia flicked her wrist, and the paper fell into the flames.

Aurelia hid her face, weeping. Celia comforted her while glaring at Lavinia.

“I have been asking Aurelia for that picture for some time, and she finally delivered. Now, there is no evidence of your story. Didn’t I tell you, Alexander, that if any evidence existed, it would not for long. Do you remember when I told you that? When I gave you my gift?”

Her eyes were sparkling, and her smile was positively vulpine.

Alexander leaned against Aurelia’s chair as Greenwood had, but managed to look poised and dangerous. All eyes in the room were on him.

“You gave me a note for your dowry. To be cashed in exchange for betraying my wife and marrying you.”

Celia gasped and shot to her feet, incensed at Lavinia’s brazenness. Alexander’s hand landed on her arm, halting her.

Lavinia was laughing at her reaction, but it looked a bit forced.

Celia realized that Lavinia had not expected Alexander to openly admit to the offer she had made him.

“It is in a thousand pieces, scattered all over London by now,” Alexander continued calmly. “A pigeon has probably snatched some to make its nest.”

Lavinia returned to her seat with a shrug and a smile, laughing gaily. “It is of no consequence. I think you have an ultimatum before you. Does your wife know about it?”

Greenwood laughed. “I doubt it.”

“Be silent!” Alexander snapped.

Greenwood’s mouth snapped shut, his smile fading to a grimace.

“I will not hear from you, an adulterer and a bully. Speak again, and you will regret it.” Alexander barely raised his voice, but the command in his tone reverberated through the air.

Greenwood looked away.

Lavinia swallowed and shifted in her seat.

“I know about the ultimatum from Sir Nathaniel Grimaire,” Celia said calmly. “You needn’t think to hold that over Alexander’s head.”

“Oh, needn’t I? Would His Grace care to see details of the deal spread all over the gossip sheets?”

“Steady on, Lavinia. Father—” Greenwood began.

“Be silent!” Lavinia snapped, her face suddenly scarlet and her eyes blazing.

Celia frowned. Her reaction to her lover speaking was out of proportion. Why would she become so angry just because he muttered a remonstrance to her under his breath?

She found herself looking at Greenwood and hearing his words. Father . What about Father ? Whose father?

Then, she saw it. The reason he had looked so familiar in the picture. So like someone she had come across.

“You are a Grimaire, aren’t you?” she asked.

Greenwood shrank away, folding his arms and hiding his face under the pretense of stroking his chin with one hand. Lavinia tsked and straightened her skirts with vigorous tugs, her mouth a straight line.

“I see it now,” Alexander drawled, advancing. “A by-blow, I would say. Born on the wrong side of the sheets??”

“I do not see how my parentage is important,” Greenwood muttered, retreating further like a beaten dog with its tail low.

“What was the objective?” Alexander asked, turning to Lavinia, who stiffened slightly before shifting and smiling once more. “To force me into accepting your money and your hand in marriage, or to increase my indebtedness to Grimaire. For what purpose?”

“I am not a Grimaire. I don’t know how I am supposed to know what is in the man’s mind,” Lavinia declared loftily.

“Liar! When you introduced me to Phillip, his father was present. In this room!” Aurelia blurted, fury breaking through her tears.

Lavinia slapped her hand down on the arm of the chaise, her facade cracking. “Child, if you speak again, I promise that your name will be effluent by tomorrow. I will ensure that there is no gossip that does not include the Frid family for the next twelve months!”

Aurelia shrank back into Celia’s arms.

Celia wanted to strike Lavinia.

Can a woman call out another? Challenge her to a duel? I fancy I could wield a rapier well enough to run her through.

“Do not try it, Lavinia. I have an excellent man for that kind of skullduggery,” Alexander warned.

Lavinia laughed. “Oh, you mean the excellent American? The two-time traitor. Betrayed England for George Washington, then Washington for England. Do you think he will have suddenly decided to live honorably, given his choice of profession? You are naive, Alexander.”

Alexander and Celia exchanged looks.

“At least we know why the rumors have persisted despite my best efforts,” he said.

“What do you want, Lavinia?” Celia spoke at last, cutting through Lavinia’s smug chuckles.

“Nothing you can give, Celia. Only what I have wanted for a long time. Revenge.”

“For what?” Celia was astonished.

“For depriving me of my lover and my suitor in the same three-month span! My God, woman, are you so obtuse? You made public what you saw when you were dressed in that ridiculous get-up and then snared my intended. What woman would not want revenge?”

Lavinia was breathing heavily, her self-control fracturing.

Alexander suddenly began to laugh. The sound boomed out of him. He threw his head back and roared. Celia found herself smiling in response.

This was not forced laughter, not an attempt to belittle or use sarcasm. Alexander was genuinely laughing from the depths of his being. It was a glorious and genuine sound.

Lavinia was on her feet in an instant, rounding on him, practically spitting in her rage. Greenwood—or Grimaire—had quietly slipped out of the room, whatever nerve he had been clinging to lost at the sound of the giant among them laughing.

“You drove me to her!” Alexander exclaimed.

“It was you who wished to isolate her and spilled wine on her and me. You forced us together in the same room. She was hiding from your dog, and I was looking for a dry coat. And then to have your patron give me that ultimatum—end my marriage, or he will call in my debts? Did you really think I would dishonor myself in such a way?”

Lavinia was sputtering and stuttering, but Alexander continued remorselessly.

“You then compounded your mistake by trying to buy me. For a brief moment, you might have had me. I was ready to condemn the love I felt as weakness. Ready to accept the loveless marriage to you as the easy path, one that would not test me. A wife I would despise and hold in contempt. But, ultimately, I will not be bought.”

He crossed the room to Celia and offered his arm. She took it. He offered his other arm to Aurelia.

“We will take our leave of you now. My wife and our family will not be bothered by you again.”

He led them out of the room.

As they crossed the threshold and walked through the hall towards the door, Lavinia appeared behind them and stamped her foot.

“I will not be denied by you, Cheverton. Who do you think you are? I will see your name burn, and I will visit you in debtor’s prison!”

Alexander stopped, looking back. “I don’t think Nathaniel Grimaire will want to call in my father’s debts. Not when I reveal how that money was used. For what good causes he put it to at the cost of his own fortune.”

“That is very noble, but it will not be seen that way. I can make people think whatever I wish. I control the ton.”

“No,” Celia said, firmly and calmly. “You don’t. What was it you said, Alexander? She could have taught lessons to Machiavelli?”

Alexander’s face brightened, but Lavinia did not understand.

“Yes, he understands,” she crowed. “I have manipulated your reputations to suit my purposes. I have?—”

“I wasn’t talking about you, dear,” Celia cut in with a sympathetic smile, “or your mother. The Dowager Countess of Cleland. She is a friend of yours, Alexander?”

“She is.”

Lavinia swallowed, licking her lips. “Cleland?” she whispered.

“You know the name?” Celia asked.

It was clear that Lavinia did.

“Let us say that if the scandal sheets lose interest in us, they will never take an interest in you, or Phillip Grimaire and his half-brother, Greenwood. Or how their father tried to use his considerable wealth to destroy the legacy of a public benefactor,” Alexander said. “Live and let live.”

Lavinia was shaking her head, unwilling to accept defeat.

Celia rolled her eyes. “Alexander, let us leave this gaudy place? Please?”

Alexander led his wife and sister-in-law out of Alvey Hall, followed by Lavinia’s screams of frustration.