An Unlikely Duchess (31 page)

She turned and exited the carriage.

Caroline grabbed Rebecca’s hand.

“Oh, my darling,” she cried, “please do not listen to that poisonous woman’s lies. It cannot be true. I’ve seen how Edward looks at you, it is with the purest of love I am sure of it!”

Rebecca listened to Caroline’s words but did not really take them in. Her mind was whirling. Had he said the same things to Lady Sarah as he had to her? Would he use her then drop her? Would he ruin her reputation to save his own?

She thought back on their conversations, their meetings. He’d been so studiously careful not to allow anyone to see them together. He had spoken words of admiration but not love.

Oh God, it could not be true. Surely he would have told her about a relationship with Lady Sarah. He would not have risked her finding out this way, would he? She needed to speak with him at once.

“Do not worry, Caroline. I am well. Let us join the duke and Mr. Crawdon. I believe I have some questions for our esteemed protector.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Edward checked his watch again and bit back a sigh of frustration. They were late.

“You can keep staring, cousin, it will not make them arrive any quicker.” Tom slapped Edward on the back and grinned ruefully at his downfall. “You really have fallen desperately hard, have you not?”

Edward thought about arguing but what was the point? He meant to make his feelings known to Rebecca tonight and ask for her hand in marriage.

He knew that he should speak to her father first but he thought perhaps she would like for them to travel together to Ireland and inform her parents then. He could not imagine that they would object.

A niggle of worry gnawed at him at the thoughts of Lady Sarah and Rebecca being together. But he swiftly pushed it aside. Sarah was eccentric but not dangerous. She might fill Rebecca’s ears with tales of his past escapades but they were not too bad.

He wondered if he should have told Rebecca about Lady Sarah and his past with her but a kiss or two during Sarah’s debut Season was hardly worth mentioning, was it?

Finally, he spotted them through the crowd and had to stop himself from running to her. She looked breath taking as ever. He would never, ever be able to believe his luck if she were to consent to be his wife.

He loved her so much he thought it must be stamped on his head. And he did not care a jot! He smiled as he thought of how much he had changed, in so short a time.

Sensible and practical he may have been, but a sensible duke would not be considering grabbing a lady in front of the entire crowd and shouting his love for her from the rooftops!

The gardens were heaving with people tonight as usual. It was a unique place where classes mixed more than any other and working class folk gained entrance just as easily as the peerage.

Lady Sarah, Rebecca had informed them, had secured them a box right by the Promenade where they could easily see the dancing and musicians playing. Edward hoped that while the others danced and mingled, he could slip away alone with Rebecca and tell her his hopes and plans.

The ladies eventually made their way to Edward’s and Tom’s sides. Tom was quick to bow gallantly over their hands and use the most flowery of terms to describe their beauty. Edward stayed still and watched Rebecca. Something was wrong. She looked pale and drawn and would not meet his eyes.

He stepped forward to take her hand but she stepped immediately back and shied away from his touch.
What the devil?

He looked at the other ladies present and noticed that while Sarah looked as flamboyant and happy as ever, Lady Caroline also looked pale and shot worried looks at her younger sister.

What the hell had Sarah done?

“Rebecca,” he made to reach for her again but she jumped away and spoke brightly to the group.

“Shall we find our booth? I am so very anxious to see what the gardens have to offer. I believe they have a quite potent punch that one simply must try?”

Tom laughed and answered cheerfully, “They do indeed, my lady. Though I would caution you against more than a mere taste. It is not for the faint hearted.”

“Ah but I am far from faint hearted, my dear Mr. Crawdon. It takes more than a mere drink or a pretty word to touch my heart.”

Tom wondered a little at the cryptic remark but the meaning was clear to Edward. A pretty word? She meant, clearly, the things he had told her last night.

His temper began to rise. She did not know how difficult it had been to open his heart to her, to be even slightly vulnerable. So long had he remained emotionless and cut off from those around him, the worries and responsibilities of his title leaving no room for the softer things in life. He had begun to think that Rebecca was the one person he
could
be soft and loving with, someone with whom he could be himself and not have to worry about appearances.

Someone he could laugh with and enjoy life with. Someone he could even climb statues with, he thought with a smile.

But her behaviour now? It was so very different to yesterday’s that he was sure something had happened. This morning they had not been able to talk alone but she had seemed as happy to see him as he was her.

They had at this point reached their booth and Edward was momentarily distracted from his dark thoughts by the expression of wonder on Rebecca’s face. She looked mesmerised by the sights and sounds around her.

The Vauxhall Gardens were certainly a sight to behold for the first time; he remembered witnessing the spectacle himself, albeit in a bit of a drunken haze.

She and her sister clasped hands as they scanned the crowds walking by, watched the dancers and musicians mere feet from where they stood.

He wanted to speak to her. To straighten this matter out. He had envisioned taking her on a stroll through one of the secluded pathways, stopping to watch the fireworks, which he knew she would love.

Suddenly, he could not wait a moment longer. He strode over to her and grasped her arm, turning her to face him.

“Rebecca.”

“Your grace?” she answered coldly.

They were back to
your
grace? For God’s sake what the hell had happened with Sarah?

“We need to talk.”

“We are talking,” she bit back.

Edward clenched his jaw as his temper rose. He should stay calm and reasonable, be gentle and polite.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Or not.

“Me? Not a thing, your grace. I am merely trying to enjoy the festivities. Be a dear and get some of this famous punch, would you? I believe I would like to dance.”

She turned to Tom and gave him her biggest and most endearing smile.

He looked completely dazzled.
The traitor.

“You will dance with me, will you not Mr. Crawdon?” she purred.

When had she learned to purr?

Tom coughed a couple of times, glancing nervously at Edward then back to Rebecca.

“I would be delighted to, my dear.”

They left the box with an apologetic shrug from Tom to Edward. Rebecca ignored him and swept by with her nose in the air.

Edward ground his teeth.

“Well,” started Lady Sarah, “there seems to—”

“Lady Caroline,” Edward spoke over whatever quip Lady Sarah had been about to make, “will you do me the honour of dancing with me?”

Caroline looked a little taken aback at his harsh tone but conceded and took his arm.

“Do not mind me,” called Lady Sarah sarcastically, “I shall be fine left unattended.”

Caroline threw a nervous glance at Edward’s stony profile.

“We really should not leave Lady Sarah alone, your grace.”

Edward turned to address her.

“Since I can only imagine that she is responsible for the change in your sister, I cannot bring myself to behave very gentlemanlike towards her at present.”

Caroline chewed her lip as if unsure whether to answer or not. Funny that she did the same thing as her sister. Of course, when her sister did it Edward felt as if his heart were being squeezed.

“The lady regaled us with stories of your past, your grace,” she finally muttered.

“That does not sound so bad,” said Edward carefully. He was no saint but he had never done anything too horrid.

Caroline looked up and he was surprised to see a blue fire dance in her eyes. Usually they were icy and calm, cold almost. Yet now they were spitting. So like her sister’s in a lot of ways.

“Does it not, your grace?” She packed quite a punch into one little sentence. He felt like a naughty child being reprimanded.

“Er — no?” He said it like a question as he was unsure of where this was leading.

“I had thought that you knew Rebecca quite well, your grace.”

“I do,” he argued.

Caroline sighed and said, “I know my sister acts like nothing bothers her. I know she seems strong as iron. But she is a romantic at heart and she does not and cannot hide her feelings, though she thinks she does. Rebecca hurts deeply, your grace. Especially when let down by those she cares most about.”

Edward frowned in confusion. He felt an icy dread begin to form in the pit of his stomach.

“Lady Caroline, what exactly did Lady Sarah tell your sister?”

Caroline blushed and glanced away before facing him again.

“It would not be proper for me to repeat it, least of all to you. Besides, it is for Rebecca to tell you, not I.”

“Fine,” was all the answer she got before Edward turned and dragged her over to where Rebecca and Tom were dancing. Without a word, he deposited Caroline in front of Tom and took Rebecca away, marching her straight off the floor and down the steps toward the makeshift forest past the booths.

Caroline and Tom both stared in amazement at their retreating forms.

Finally, Tom turned to Caroline with a grin and bowed.

“Shall we, my lady?” he asked and though he sounded as jovial as ever, there was a tightness to his voice.

Caroline stared at his outstretched hand for a moment until, finally, she placed her smaller one in his.

She looked up into his clear blue eyes and smiled.

“I’d be delighted.”

****

Rebecca did not take kindly to being manhandled.

“Just what do you think you are doing?” she muttered angrily as Edward frogmarched her down the path and away from the crowds.

Once they’d reached the relative privacy of the overhanging trees he stopped and turned her to face him.

“Alright. Tell me what has happened,” he demanded.

“I am sure I have no idea what you are talking about,” came the stiff reply.

“The devil you don’t,” his voice was very close to shouting. He did his best to moderate it.

“Last night, we seemed to have been on the verge of— well of moving forward.” He could not bring himself to say what he desperately wanted to. Not while she was so hostile. “And now, now you are acting like a perfect stranger.”

Rebecca knew there was truth in his words but she could not allow herself to act any differently. The only thing keeping her from sobbing was pretending that she was as uncaring and unfeeling possible.

She stared at him for a moment, willing herself not to soften until he told her the truth.

“Let me ask you something,” Rebecca spoke sedately now, calmly. It made him even more worried.

“When you first met me,” she continued in the same flat tone, “did you think I would make a good duchess?”

The question caught him off guard. He knew the answer would hurt her feelings but he would not lie to her. He would never lie to her.

“Rebecca” he spoke gently, wanting to touch her but knowing it would be the wrong thing to do. “When I first met you you’d fallen into a lake because you were chasing a kite,” he said by way of explanation.

He hadn’t directly answered her question but his answer was enough.

She nodded her head quickly, as though in a hurry to get through the conversation.

“What about when you first kissed me?” she asked boldly. “Did you think I would make a good duchess then?”

He did not like where this was going.

“No,” he answered honestly, though it killed him, “but I kissed you because I–”

“And all those other times,” she continued speaking over him, “what about then?”

Well, this was easier.

“Last night I—”

“Before last night.”

He swallowed hard.

“No,” he answered miserably.

“I have only one more question,” her voice was bleaker than he’d ever heard it and it hurt to know he’d made it that way.

“Did you have a relationship with Lady Sarah?”

He stared at Rebecca and could see from her expression that she wanted him to say no. And he hadn’t, not really. But suddenly the few stolen kisses he and Sarah had shared as youths seemed a much bigger deal than they had mere minutes before.

“No,” he answered though honesty compelled him to admit, “we kissed. A few times but it meant nothing. It was not even worth mentioning to you.”

Rebecca closed her eyes and lowered her head but not before he saw the flash of pain.

“So you tossed her aside because she was not good enough for your precious title, is that it?”

“What? No! Of course not. Rebecca she meant nothing to me. Nothing. You are—”

“What?” Rebecca demanded, “I am what? I am not duchess material, you have admitted so yourself. And yet, you have kissed me. You kissed me when you
knew
that you would not want to pursue me. So it is true then. This is what you do? You— you seduce women, destroy their reputations and then move on to somebody more worthy?”

What the hell was she talking about?

“No, of course not. Why would you even think such a thing?”

“Lady Sarah told me about your sordid little past with her. She told me that you would not think me good enough, and she was right. You do not. And to think I wanted to change. To change everything about myself to just be more worthy of you. Worthy of your damned title.” There were tears streaming down her face now but she did not care.

“Rebecca, Sarah is lying to you if she told you that we had anything more than a mere kiss or two. What I feel for you is—”