Page 103 of Duke with a Deception
“Why did you not tell me? Why didshenot tell me?”
“What concern is it of yours?”
“She is my sister, damn you. Everything about her is my concern.”
“And she is my wife,” he snapped. “My wife, whom I love quite desperately and who has left me. Do you knowwhyshe left me, Riverdale? I shall tell you. It is because when she took that blow to the head, it somehow confused her memories so that I had taken the place of the sainted Lord Leopold. She believed herself in love with me instead, and she thought we were engaged. But when she remembered, she realized she wasn’t in love with me at all. And worse, that I had gone along with her confusion instead of correcting it. She realized that I am a selfish bastard who doesn’t deserve her or her love, and she deserted me. I cannot even blame her. I earned it for keeping the truth from her instead of telling her when I had the chance.”
Riverdale stared at him, bemused. “Christ, Kingham. I had suspected as much, but I never thought to hear you admit it.”
“Both are true,” he acknowledged. “I am a selfish bastard, and I also love her more than life itself. I would do anything for her, including giving her the distance from me and the time she needs to decide what she wants.”
Even if each day without her killed him a little bit more.
“So,” he concluded, “that is what I have done to your sister, Riverdale. I took advantage of her weakness to marry her because I wanted her for myself. Because I couldn’t bear for her to waste her life mourning for a dead man when I could love her instead. But I’ve gone about it all wrong, and now she may never forgive me. There. Are you happy?”
Riverdale stared at him, unspeaking.
King stood as he was on the opposite side of the desk, unflinching. The truth was best told, and he was finished hiding from his own actions. He had done that enough, and now he was paying the price.
“I’m not happy,” Riverdale said at length. “Not at all. What you’ve done is not just selfish but unconscionable. I cannot blame Verity for leaving you.”
“On that, we are in agreement, because neither can I.”
“Verity deserves better.”
“Again, I concur.”
“Damn you, you were my friend. I considered you a brother. Why?” Riverdale shook his head. “Why would you do this?”
“I am persuaded that the annals of history are filled with men who have done foolish and regrettable things for love.”
“At least you are suffering,” his friend said uncharitably. “You look like hell, you have dark circles under your eyes, your hair isn’t combed, and you’ve ink stains on your shirt.”
King glanced down, bemused to find that Riverdale was right.
He shrugged, not caring. “Then I look as I feel.”
“You should know that I will fully support my sister in whatever she decides. If she doesn’t want to return to you, she will always have a home with me.”
“I thank you for that, although I hope it won’t be necessary.”
Riverdale’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not certain what I hope, other than that Verity does whatever feels right to her and makes her happy.”
“Why do you think I let her go?”
Riverdale studied him silently for a few moments before he finally nodded. “I don’t know what to make of you, Kingham.”
He smiled. “That makes two of us, old chum. Because I don’t know what to make of myself either.”
All he knew was that he was miserable without Verity.
“I should take my leave,” Riverdale said, some of his ire having apparently been quelled by the pathetic sight King no doubt presented.
“Thank you for paying me a call,” he said. “I do so appreciate your brotherly concern.”
Riverdale’s eyes narrowed again, but he said nothing else. Without a word, he turned and quit the room.
King waited until the door had closed once more to release the sigh he’d been holding, and then he returned to his letters.
