Page 86 of It's All About the Duke
This time he didn’t try to stop her. He watched her. Her long, golden-red hair was a mass of tangled curls swinging over her shoulders and covering her breasts. She was gorgeous and she was his. He wanted her back on the bed beneath him again. Yet he knew she wouldn’t allow that to happen until this issue was settled between them.
Marlena grabbed her chemise from the floor and quickly slipped it over her head. Rath rose and stepped into his trousers.
“You must have known I would find out,” he said. “Or at least thought there was a possibility.”
“Why would you think that?” She found her stays and slipped them on over her shift and turned her back to him. “The column is almost three years old.”
“Griffin, Hawk, and I have been trying to find out who she is since she revived the secret admirer letters. And if I ever find out who the blackguard is that started the rumor at White’s, I’ll see to it he never starts another rumor or anything else.”
Marlena remained quiet with her back to him, struggling to pull the laces on her stays tight enough to tie at her back. It reminded him of the first day at her house when she’d turned away from him and tried in vain to untie the ribbon at her throat. He would never forget how sensual it was to watch her do that.
Rath walked over and took hold of the laces of her stays. She tried to move away from him, but he said, “I took the damned things off you, Marlena, I can put them back on. Hold still.”
Thankfully, she dropped her hands and let him lace her while he continued to talk. “I don’t want you angry with me because I figured out Eugenia is Miss Truth.”
“She’s not,” she said softly.
“You don’t have to worry that I’ll take some revenge against her. I won’t. Though it’s certainly deserving. She’s delicate enough as it is. But you can’t deny it. I saw some of her writings in your drawer that day when you were trying to find a place for the smelling salts. I now know you must have been reading it for Miss Everard before she turned it in, as it wasn’t finished.”
“It’s not Eugenia,” she said again.
“I didn’t realize what it was at first, but then I read it again after Miss Everard fainted outside that day. She had the scandal sheet with her. I thought it sounded familiar, but at the time, I thought it was because Miss Truth keeps writing the same old gossip. But then there were other things as well.”
Rath finished her stays, and picked up her dress. He walked around to face her, and held it out.
Marlena took the dress without meeting his gaze and said, “Thank you, but you’re wrong.”
“Miss Everard had Miss Truth’s books and her scandal sheet.”
“A lot of ladies have them and read them,” she said, slipping her dress over her head and then straightening it over her body. “Even Lady Vera has them.”
Rath buttoned the flap of his trousers. It bothered him that Marlena kept denying what he knew to be true. “Miss Everard is frightened every time she sees me.”
“No.”
“She faints when she sees me,” he said, leaning against the bed and shoving his foot into his boot.
“Not anymore,” Marlena insisted. “She’s fine now. You’ve seen her at her house. She didn’t faint.”
“She and her sister looked as if they were about to bolt out of the house and I’m surprised they didn’t,” he said with irritation at her stubbornness growing. “There is nouse in you defending her anymore, Marlena. I know that her sister was one of the young ladies who received a secret admirer letter from the rakes, and she is doing this to get revenge for her sister.”
“It’s not Eugenia.”
Tears pooled in her eyes again. That surprised him. “Then Miss Truth is her sister, Mrs. Portington, or perhaps they are even doing it together.”
“It’s not Eugenia, or Veronica. It’s me. I’m Miss Honora Truth.”
Standing on one foot, he stuffed his other foot into his boot quickly and rose to his full height. What she was doing—trying to protect the sisters—was admirable, and he loved her all the more for trying. “That is not going to work, Marlena. I won’t let you take the blame for either of them.”
“I’m not.” Her voice was calm. “I won’t lie to you. It’s me. It was my idea from the start.”
He picked up his shirt. “You didn’t receive a secret admirer letter. Mrs. Portington did. You would have no reason to dredge it up and write about it. You are covering up for them because you have always tried to help them and you are doing it now.”
“Not this time.” Marlena stepped into her shoes, lifted her shoulders, and said, “I had just turned seventeen when I moved in with Justine. Eugenia needed a friend, and so did I. It didn’t take long to realize how unhappy she and Veronica were. Eugenia told me the story of the secret admirer letters the Rakes of St. James had sent to the young ladies making their debuts. As you said, Veronica was one of them. All were embarrassed and reprimanded by their parents for going to meet a secret admirer. Some had their virtue questioned and at least one, Veronica, made an unhappy match, but nothing ever happened to the rakes. That seemed unfair to me.”
Rath’s hand tightened around his shirt as what she was saying started to make sense. That scared him. “You want me to believe you heard this story and decided to start a scandal sheet.”
“Yes,” she declared. “It’s true and it’s just that simple. Not everything has to be complicated. I wanted to do something to help. I knew very little about scandal sheets but I knew how to write and compose and knew I could learn fast what I didn’t know. The sheet didn’t sell very well until I wrote about the rumor that was started at White’s, and then the number of sales each week soared. I hadn’t intended to continue with it for as long as I have, but… There’s the truth of it.”
