“I willnotagree to that much as a dowry, Mother,” Vincent muttered. “There is no need to be so extravagant anymore. Everything is well now. I cannot remember the last time anyone mentioned the scandal.”
“Yes, but it would nothurt,” Julianna insisted, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, anyone would think you did not want to see your last sister get married. The sum you have agreed upon is barely enough to tempt a baronet!”
Prudence nudged Teresa in the ribs. “Do you see what I have to content with? Both of them like to talk as if I am not here.”
“Yes, I remember that,” Teresa whispered back, her heart lurching into her throat.
Evidently, she could not have picked a worse time to come here and inform them that everything wasnotwell, she and herhusband were now living separate lives, and she would not be returning to the marital home.
“Mother, Vincent, Pru,” she said loudly, commanding their attention, “there is something I have to tell you, and I would ask that you do not interrupt or say a word until I am done.”
As her family stared at her in consternation, holding their tongues for once, Teresa began… and braced herself for the chaos that would undoubtedly ensue.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“Ishall kill him!” Vincent snarled, marching back and forth across the drawing room as if he was already on his way to battle. “Itoldyou he was wretched; Itoldyou he was a beast. Why did you not send for me? I could have drawn my pistol on him there and then, seizing justice for you!”
“You would have had to shoot him in the back to win,” Beatrice remarked from the window seat, rolling her eyes at the display. “Honestly, why must you gentlemen jump immediately to violence?”
Teresa winced, for her brother would not appreciate such a remark. Yet, she would not ask Beatrice to cease, not when the woman’s sharp words might just distract Vincent from taking his pistol to Darnley Castle.
She is right, though. Whymustgentlemen jump immediately to violence?It was not as if Vincent was the one who had been so viciously insulted and rejected.
Vincent rounded on Beatrice, his eyes shooting daggers at her. “Stay out of this, Miss Johnson. Truly, I do not even know why you are here. You are not family; this is no concern of yours.”
“On the contrary,” Beatrice argued. “She is my dearest friend, and sheaskedfor my presence, though I cannot fathom why when you are reacting so reasonably.” She flashed him a sarcastic smile, batting her eyelashes.
Vincent jabbed a finger in the direction of Teresa’s sore ankle. “He dismissed my sister, and he did so while she was terribly injured. Do you expect me to react calmly at such a… despicable slight? This is everything I feared would happen, considering the stories. I should have listened.” He shook his head, glancing at Teresa with guilt in his eyes. “I should have done more to prevent the marriage. I should have borne the brunt of the scandalforyou, Tess.”
“There will surely be one now,” Julianna added in a strange, disembodied voice, her eyes glazed over, staring blankly at the opposite wall. “The papers were filled with glowing articles about the new Duke and Duchess of Darnley. I kept each one. Now, they will feast upon its demise, picking you apart to the bones, Teresa.”
Teresa had feared as much. As if the humiliation of being cast aside by her husband was not bad enough, society would demand their opportunity to drag her through the mud, judging her as they had always done.
“Everyone said he was a wicked man,” Vincent continued to rant. “They said he killed his father and grandfather. They said he tried to burn his castle to the ground. Now, he has hurt you, my dear sister, as I worried he might. I should have paid more attention. I should have dueled him from the beginning, refusing the proposal on your behalf.”
Pulling her shoulders back and tilting her chin up, finding her courage, Teresa shook her head. “The stories are not true, Brother, and it is only my pride that has been wounded. My reputation shall undoubtedly take a beating, but that is nothing new.”
“Are you certain he did not push you from that crag?” Vincent replied, as if he could not hear anything that his sister was saying.
Beatrice groaned loudly. “If he wanted her dead, Vincent, he would not have ridden so far to get her back to the castle, nor would he have summoned a physician. Truly, I do wonder if it is just an empty tunnel between your ears. If I breathe through one and Tess stands on the other side, perhaps we can find out, once and for all.”
A snort erupted from Prudence’s nose, her hand clamping over her mouth in an attempt to hold back a laugh. She gained a sharp scowl from her brother in return, which only seemed to make the impulse worse. Her puffed-out cheeks turned very red, her eyes watering with the strain of keeping her laughter in.
“Well, still, he has killed her position in society,” Vincent snarked, resuming his frustrated pacing. “How can she show her face again, after this? It will not be long before everyone knows that he is residing in Bath and she has back here with us. It will ruin her. Again!”
Teresa shrugged. “I have no desire to be in society, so that is not such a great tragedy.”
“But what of children?” Julianna chimed in once more, tears glimmering in her eyes. She clasped a hand to her chest. “Oh no—what of children, Teresa? What will you do with yourself if you do not have children to occupy you? What purpose could you possibly have now, if you are not at least blessed with being a mother?”
“Does the man not care about legacy, for pity’s sake?” Vincent agreed, throwing his hands up.
Beatrice grinned, inspecting her nails as she replied, “I imagine he cares about legacy as much as you do. You have an awful lot to say for a gentleman who is neither married nor a father—unless, of course, you have some illegitimates running around that we do not know about?”
“Why is this girl here?” Julianna barked, for there was nothing she tolerated less than slights against her one and only son. Her precious boy.
Vincent gestured to the door. “You should leave, Miss Johnson. You are upsetting my family.”
“She stays,” Teresa interjected, with more ferocity than she expected. With a gentler tone, she turned to her friend. “Please, Bea. I adore you, but dotrynot to say everything that leaps to your tongue, just for the sake of keeping the peace.”
