CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“Your Grace, where are you going?” the butler’s startled voice pursued Adrian across the icy stable yard, the troughs frozen over.
The stablemaster had already been instructed to saddle Adrian’s horse, while he had gone back inside to fetch a few things that he hoped might help his cause. Indeed, the stablemaster had been struck dumb for several minutes at the request, before he had hastened to obey.
“I am headed south,” Adrian replied, as his horse was brought out.
Jarvis barely stifled a yelp, his hand clamped across his mouth. “And why, pray tell, are you doing that? Are we not expecting the Duke of Delamere soon?”
“Send a messenger to Roseby’s,” Adrian instructed. “Tell Richard that I am unlikely to be back in time, but I can welcome him at Twelfth Night instead.”
In truth, he had forgotten all about his promise to host Richard for New Year’s Eve. Still, he could explain everything to his friend when they next saw each other. For once, Adrian might actually have a story of his own to tell.
“As for where I am going, that is none of your business,” Adrian continued, pausing before he added, “But I am going to see Valerie. I have no doubt that you and Mrs. Mullens conspired to whisper outside the rose garden door yesterday, but what you said… I have listened. I thank you for bringing me to my senses.”
Jarvis’ eyes widened. “You heard that?”
“Do not pretend, Jarvis. It does not become you.” Adrian climbed up into the saddle. “Take my thanks and be grateful that I have not cast the pair of you out of your employment for such a brazen maneuver. Fortunately for the two of you, I am a former military man; I appreciate a brazen maneuver.”
With a smile that seemed to shock Jarvis, Adrian turned his horse and squeezed his thighs, urging the fine beast into a lope that would hopefully get him to Valerie before he lost her for good.
“You will do as you are told,” Gregory snapped as he paced back and forth across the drawing room floor. “How many times must I repeat myself?”
Seated awkwardly on the settee, Valerie could not prevent her eyes from rolling. “Am I to say nothing? Am I to be mute now?” she replied, though it would get her into trouble. “I was merely asking why I need to meet this gentleman when I shall meet him in six days’ time anyway.”
Since her return, she had learned that her father had stretched the truth of when the wedding would take place. Or, perhaps, the groom had altered the date. It was unclear but, either way, the additional time had not been the relief it should have been. Instead, it felt like torture, worsening the nerves, the dread, the utter devastation of it all.
“Because he has asked,” her father retorted sharply.
“What if he takes one look at me and changes his mind?” Valerie taunted, half-wishing it would happen.
Gregory halted so abruptly that his shoe squeaked on the parquet. “Why would you say such a thing?”
“Oh, I do not know, perhaps because you have told me all my life that I am worth nothing and will amount to nothing; I amgraceless, devoid of elegance, and have nothing about me that could tempt any man into marriage,” she replied, all the insults tripping off her tongue with ease. “Indeed, I remember you once saying that Icouldbe pretty in a poorly lit ballroom.”
But there is a man in the north who once called me ‘perfection.’Although she had agreed to follow through with this repugnant wedding, she would never forget Adrian’s compliment, when his gaze had wandered over the contours of her naked body. She would never forget a single thing about her time there, though it already felt like a dream.
“Thisis why I have been forced to arrange a match,” her father muttered, resuming his endless back and forth. “If you were more pleasant, you could have found a husband for yourself and saved me the trouble.”
“I am but two-and-twenty,” she reminded him. “Break this engagement, and I shall see what I can do.”
He shot her a dark look. “You will be on your best behavior when the duke arrives.” He gestured to the drawing room door. “If you embarrass me in the slightest, your siblings shall go to bed without any dinner or supper, and there shall be no breakfast for them in the morning either.”
Valerie glared back at him, filled with such loathing for the man that she seriously contemplated taking her teacup and launching it at his head. She detested him with every fiber of her being, and then some.
“Tell me, Father, were you born cruel or did something happen in your youth that twisted you?” she said casually. “Were you ignored as a child? Is that it?”
“Enough!” Gregory snarled, eyes blazing with the same fury as when he had slapped her. “I should have ignoredyouas a child. Indeed, there is rarely a day that goes by where I do not wish that I had sent you to the orphanage instead of your sister. Why, I should have sentbothof you!”
Valerie’s hand flew to her chest, as if he had physically struck her. To have kept such a despicable secret was one thing, but to speak so mockingly of an event that had separated two sisters—twins, no less—was quite another.
“You would not have had to send either of us away if you had not squandered every penny you had, only able to ‘afford’ one of us,” she seethed, unconsciously reaching for the teacup on the table before her. “Is it not the measure of a man, that he should be able to provide for his family? What have you provided, other than misery, empty coffers, and children that cannot stand you?”
Gregory whipped around, bristling with rage. The feeling was entirely mutual.
“If your future husband was not arriving at any moment, I would—” The threat was interrupted by the gardener, who was also the butler, the footman, the stablemaster, and anything else that Gregory needed to be.
He could only afford two servants, though Valerie suspected that the housekeeper remained more for the children than her measly income.
