“I’m not sitting here for any other reason than to help warm you,” the Duke said. “You might think I am here to take advantage of you, but I am not. I gave you space in the water, and I will give you space now, but I know you need support in whatever you are going through.”
“I do,” Bridget admitted.
The Duke had been a gentleman again, even if he was sitting with his arm around her.
“Take some time,” he said. “When you are ready, you can go back in, and I will follow later. It is not my intention to cause you any embarrassment.”
“Is it not?” Bridget asked.
“Not embarrassment, but it is fun to tease you a little.”
Bridget tried not to react—she did not want to show any weakness in front of him. “I am really not in the mood to be teased when I have my entire family to worry about.”
The Duke didn’t respond immediately—he rubbed her shoulder gently for a while before he said, “You carry the weight of your family on your shoulders, even more than your mother. I know your father is an alcoholic, but that is not your problem to deal with.”
Bridget wanted to snap at him and tell him to stay out of her business, but how could she when she knew he was right?
“He’s not only an alcoholic, but a gambler too. I wouldn’t be surprised if he paid women to be with him. He does everything he should not do to harm this family, and I can’t sit back and not worry about that. I can’tnotworry about Mother, whose husband has sabotaged our family, or about Margaret, who would be devastated to find out what her father is really like. It is for the best that he is gone, and I hope he does not return.”
Bridget clamped her mouth shut before she revealed that the only reason her sister was to marry his brother in the first place was to solve their family’s financial problems.
The Duke did not say a word. He kept his arm around her, sharing his warmth.
Bridget felt her face flush, both with the warmth and the horror of what she had just said to a man who irritated her so much. She wanted to tell him that he was just the same—a man who gambled, drank, and womanized—but she bit her tongue.
“Did you speak to my father?” she asked, wanting a reason to lash out at him. “Is that why he left?”
“No,” the Duke replied.
“He must have left because of what I said to him. I don’t know if I talked sense into him or if he didn’t want to listen to me anymore. It doesn’t matter—good riddance.”
Bridget started to cry, and she wanted to run from the Duke, but she found him comforting, especially when he held her tighter.
“It’s all a mess,” she whimpered. “Oh, I am such a fool! What am I doing out here?”
“You don’t have to leave,” the Duke told her.
“I do need to leave,” Bridget countered. “Am I trying my best to be caught up in a scandal just like my father? Just like you?”
The Duke smiled sadly.
“I am out here, wet and shivering with your arm around me, and I will not let you take advantage of me in this state. I thank you for inviting me to go swimming, but I must leave.”
Bridget shrugged his arm off her and gathered her belongings. She wrapped her robe over the towel and made for the house.
She had never been so embarrassed in her life. She was supposed to be on her best behavior so as not to spoil the wedding in any way, and she had gone and told the Duke all about her father.
She had half a mind to lock herself in her room so she would cause no more problems.
CHAPTER15
Like Father, Like Son?
Nicholas had been with numerous women in his life—that was no secret to anyone who knew him. When he met an unattached, attractive young woman, his mind often went to being intimate with her. He had sat on the beach with his arm around an unattached, attractive young woman, and his mind had not gone there once.
Even before Bridget had opened up to him, he had sensed there was pain in her heart, and he wanted to help heal her. She was too guarded to let him or anyone else help her like that, but if he could do a small amount, it was worth the effort.
The Duke ran the towel through his hair as he walked back up the beach to the house. He was hungry for supper, and he wondered if he might see Bridget at the dining table or if she would stay in her room for a while. He would tease her again, but not only to get a rise out of her. She enjoyed their banter, and if he could distract her from her problems for a while, then it was worth every scolding look he got from her.
