Page 31 of What A Rogue Wants (Lords Of Deception #1)

She reread the letter when she was done.

It was good. Commanding without being harsh, and she’d managed to resist mentioning how much she missed him nor had she reminded him of his promise to come back for her.

She folded the letter to seal it, but her backbone dissolved as she thought of never seeing Grey again.

What good would being stoic do her if he married another?

Carefully, she opened the letter, dipped her quill in ink and penned one last line.

I do miss you terribly, in case you doubt my feelings .

She sealed the letter and took it to be sent before she could reconsider how desperate the last line probably made her seem.

She didn’t expect the letter to make Grey magically appear, though she half hoped it would, so several days later when Elizabeth confided that her eldest brother Edward was coming to collect her and take her home—as it had been decided by the family that Court life might be too stressful on someone recovering from near death—Madelaine had to hurry from the room before Elizabeth saw the tears threatening to spill over.

Once in the safety of her room, Madelaine dashed the tears away as she paced back and forth.

Just because Grey wasn’t coming did not mean he didn’t still want to court her.

Perhaps, something had arisen at home that required his attention or maybe Elizabeth’s eldest brother simply wanted to be the one to collect Elizabeth since he’d not seen her in so long.

There was no point in believing the worst, until the worst was confirmed.

And if it was? She flopped down on her bed with a groan.

If Grey had changed his mind about her, she would simply have to carry on.

Exactly how, escaped her at the moment, since she was quite certain she had fallen in love with him.

Two days later, Madelaine was helping Elizabeth pack her last few things when a knock resounded at the door followed by a gruff, “Elizabeth. Might I enter?”

A broad smile spread across Elizabeth’s face. She dropped the shawl she’d been folding and gripped Madelaine’s arm. “That’s Edward. Perhaps Grey has come as well!”

Despite Madelaine’s best intentions not to get her hopes up, the emotion swelled inside her.

Elizabeth swung open the door, and Madelaine barely managed to gulp back her cry of joy.

Instinctually, she moved toward Grey, but stopped when his gaze locked on her.

She’d seen that frigid look before when he’d sized up Lord Thorton, but this was worse than Grey’s murderous gaze of anger.

He stared at her as if he’d never seen her before, as if she were a stranger.

“What’s happened?” She didn’t care that it wasn’t her place to demand any answers.

Grey blinked, his expression changing from cold to warm, as he seemed to so easily do.

He didn’t fool her. A haggardness of body and spirit clung to him.

It wasn’t just the beard and blood-shot eyes that made her think so.

He was different. There was a hardness to his eyes that he’d not possessed a month ago.

“Let’s all go into the chamber,” Elizabeth’s eldest brother suggested.

Elizabeth pulled Madelaine back inside with her, and they settled on the bed.

The men didn’t sit, but loomed over them, until finally Elizabeth’s eldest brother offered Madelaine a cursory nod.

“I’m the Duke—” Grey’s brother abruptly stopped his introduction, his face whitening. “You must be Lady Madelaine?”

Madelaine nodded, but before she could say anything else, Elizabeth scrambled from the bed and stood toe-to-toe with her eldest brother. “What do you mean introducing yourself as a duke?”

“You bloody clod,” Grey snarled at his brother as he took Elizabeth by the arm. It almost seemed he intended to hold her up. Madelaine furrowed her brow. “Liz,” Grey said in a soft voice. “Mother and Father are dead.”

“What?” Elizabeth whispered. The confusion clouding her face mirrored Madelaine’s feelings.

“Dead,” Grey tried again with such heartbreaking gentleness that Madelaine’s nose and throat burned with the sudden need to cry.

“I don’t believe you.” Elizabeth’s voice was raspy.

When her declaration was met by silence, she repeated herself louder. “I don’t believe you,” she screeched, her eyes turning wild, her fingers clawing at her brother’s arms for release.

Madelaine couldn’t move. The scene transfixed her in horror to the bed. Politeness demanded she quietly exit, but she could not make her legs work nor bring herself to abandon Elizabeth and Grey for the sake of politeness.

“They are dead,” Grey reiterated.

“You’re lying,” Elizabeth accused, even as tears streamed down her face.

“Why are you lying?” Her voice rose to a higher pitch.

Grey gazed at Madelaine. The helplessness in his eyes broke her heart.

She stood, intent on taking Elizabeth from him and holding her friend gently to try to make her hear the truth, but Elizabeth’s brother, The Duke of Ashdon, stepped forward and took Elizabeth from Grey.

Madelaine watched in mute horror while His Grace tried for several minutes to rationalize with Elizabeth, but her protests grew in volume until she was screaming. Finally, he shook her. She could have sworn Elizabeth’s teeth rattled together with each violent shake of her body.

“Stop it.” Madelaine gripped the duke’s arm. “You’ll hurt her. Please.” She tugged at the man’s thick, corded arms until he released his sister.

Elizabeth moaned incoherently as Madelaine struggled to get her to the bed. In an instant, Grey was at Elizabeth’s other side and helped Madelaine to guide her to sit. “What happened?” she asked over Elizabeth’s wracking sobs.

Either her imagination was running wild, or Grey was really assessing her as he appeared to be doing.

But for what purpose? Were his parents’ deaths horrific?

Did he think she too might lose control?

Finally, he spoke, his words coming out as if each had been ripped from his throat.

“A carriage accident. They had a bad wheel. It broke and the carriage tumbled down an embankment and killed them both.”

At his pronouncement, Elizabeth’s head lulled backward and her eyes fluttered closed.

The sudden silence of the room seemed strange after the deafening noise of Elizabeth’s crying.

With Grey’s help, Madelaine laid Elizabeth on the bed.

Once Madelaine had Elizabeth situated, she turned and caught Grey staring at her.

The unveiled pain and anguish in his eyes tore at her.

She reached toward him to soothe him, but he flinched away, as if he could not bear her touch.

She understood the pain of losing a parent, better than most, but he seemed more than pained, seething with an anger that was directed at her.

Maybe, it was simply the shock of everything, yet she felt very out of place, very much an intruder.

She wrung her hands together. She didn’t want to leave Grey or Elizabeth, but she didn’t feel welcome here.

“Maybe I had better go to my own room,” she said, moving to leave.

In a flash, Grey stood between her and the door. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

She would have been relieved that he’d stopped her, but his foreboding tone scared her, and sent shivers of wariness over her skin. “What is it?”