“Cece! Come here. Get away from that vagabond!” He gestured her towards him as he stormed across the distance that lay between them. “You stay right where you are, sir!”
“Your Grace, what is the meaning of this?” her mother demanded as she came hurrying after the duke.
George did not answer. Instead, he flung himself between Cecelia and Lord Greystone. The way his hand gripped her hip, how he protectively placed her behind him, made her heart jump.
“What is the meaning of this, Your Grace?” Lord Greystone echoed her mother's sentiments, though there was a darkness in his gaze that frightened Cecelia as she peered around George's shoulder.
Instinctively, she placed her hand on the duke's arm, not only to steady herself but somehow, to offer him strength. As if he sensed it, she felt him squeeze her side gently where his hand remained as if he wished to bar her from moving out of his protective embrace.
The heat of his hand on her was almost unbearable with the true knowing of what it meant.
“This man is not who he claims to be!” George announced, the tone of his voice grim, loud, and commanding.
“Please, explain yourself, Your Grace,” Cecelia's mother insisted as she came forward and stood a little way off, her maid close athand. Both were utterly pale, as if the shock of the situation had left them utterly breathless.
Cecelia too felt breathless, light-headed, and confused. Though more than anything, she was relieved at the interruption.
“This is preposterous!” Lord Greystone bellowed, taking a step forward.
“Not one step further, sir!”
“Lord, I am a Lord!” Greystone snapped, sounding like a child who was about to throw a tantrum. “You shall respect me as such.”
“I shall offer no respect to a criminal!”
George's words hit Cecelia like a ton of bricks.
“This man is a criminal and a liar,” George said, looking to Cecelia's mother. “He stole another man's honour on the battlefield and claimed it as his own. He has been running illegal smuggling operations and has been using the title he received for said honour to blackmail and extort hard-working men to do his bidding.”
“You lie, sir!” Greystone snarled, his anger boiling up, his face reddening.
“Perhaps you wish to know all the evidence I have gathered to the contrary,” George threw back at him before he turned once more to Cecelia's mother. “I have it all in writing.”
What came next caused Cecelia's head to spin.
Greystone surged forward so quickly and violently that George was clearly unprepared. He stumbled sideways, leaving Cecelia unprotected for but a moment, but it was long enough for Greystone to grab her wrist. He tugged her towards him, causing pain to lance up her arm as he spun her around and placed her back to him, his arm crossed so strongly across her chest that she could not break his grip.
That's when she felt the cold bite of something sharp against her throat.
George took a half-step forward as her mother cried out in panic, her maid too gasping in shock.
Cecelia's mouth opened on a silent scream, one she bit back as she felt the knife at her throat press in a pinching manner against her flesh.
“Stay where you are,” Greystone warned, and though she could not see him, she sensed the venomous way with which he glowered at George over her shoulder. “It does not have to be this way.”
George lifted his gloved hands, his movements stalled.
“Don't hurt her,” he said, the pleading in his tone making Cecelia's heart ache.
George's gaze met hers for only a second, but there was enough affection and concern there to take her breath away.
“This will not end well for you, Fitzwilliam,” George said, looking at the man over Cecelia's shoulder. “Release the young lady and let us settle this like gentlemen.”
“You would like that, wouldn't you?” Fitzwilliam hissed, and his voice was so loud it made Cecelia's ears ring. “Look at you, the high and mighty duke who thinks he can just come in and destroy everything I've worked so hard to build.”
Cecelia's entire body trembled so violently that she thought if he released her now, she might simply crumble to the floor.
“I won't allow you to harm her,” George insisted. “Release her, and we will come up with a solution that suits us both.”
