Page 100 of Duke with a Deception
“For now, or for forever?” he demanded, frustration rising.
“Kingham,” she protested softly. “I need some time.”
“How much time?”
Emma tugged impatiently at his trouser leg, forcing King to direct his attention back down to her. “Do ye want to come, Yer Grace?”
“I would follow Lady Vitty wherever she asked me to go,” he told the child honestly.
He would follow Verity into the fiery depths of Hades if she but asked it of him. However, she had not asked him to go anywhere with her, including Riverdale Abbey.
“Lady Vitty, Lady Vitty!” the girl exclaimed. “Can ’is Grace come along on our trip?”
Verity’s countenance was torn as she looked down at Emma. “I’m afraid that His Grace is very busy and has matters to attend and that means he must stay in London.”
So that was how this was going to go, then. King knew he needed to take care not to alarm the child or make her aware of any strife between himself and Verity. Heaven knew Emma had endured enough already and had only just begun feeling at home. He would be damned before he was the cause of more upset in her young life.
He smiled down at the girl. “Perhaps I shall join the two of you when my schedule permits it.”
“Yes, my dear,” Verity agreed. “His Grace will join us if he is able.”
She turned to the girl’s nursemaid, who was hovering at a respectful distance, also dressed for travel. King hadn’t taken note of her presence, though he was vaguely aware of various domestics in proximity. His entire attention had been upon Verity and Emma.
“Grace, will you please take Miss Emma to the carriage whilst I say farewell to the duke?” she asked.
“Of course, Your Grace,” the nursemaid said, bobbing a curtsy before she hastened forward, arm extended to the child. “Come along now, Miss Emma. We’ll await Her Grace in the carriage.”
Inhiscarriage.
His carriage, which was being used, against his will, to take his wife and the child he had begun to think of as their daughter away.
King clenched his jaw, holding his tongue as he watched Emma gleefully wave as she was led away by the nursemaid. The child was eager for her adventure and had no notion of the gravity of the situation.
Tears stung his eyes as the door closed on the two. “Be gone at once, all of you,” he snapped at the lingering servants.
It wasn’t like him to take out his frustration on the domestics, and he wasn’t proud of himself as they scattered away, but he needed to have his wife to himself, to have freedom to speak openly and candidly. It was the best chance he had to keep her from going.
King turned back to Verity when they had gone. “Can we please speak before you leave?”
“I’m not sure that is wise.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t trust myself,” she admitted quietly, her gaze shimmering with a haze of unshed tears as well.
His chest tightened. “In what way?”
She blinked, tears gathering on her long lashes, rendering them spiked. “I don’t trust that I won’t allow you to persuade me to stay. And I cannot stay because I need time away from you.”
Her admission hit him like a blow.
“Time away from me,” he repeated, hating the words, the thought. “For how long? How much time do you require, Verity? And why? Why can we not work through this together?”
She compressed her lips, clearly struggling as much as he was, even though her leaving had been her choice and most certainly not King’s. “You are too charming and convincing, and I cannot resist you.”
He reached for her. “Then don’t resist me, my love. Don’t resist us.”
She stepped away, leaving his hand empty, shaking her head. “You see? It would be so easy to try to forget and carry on as if none of this had ever happened. But I cannot do that. I have spent the past ten years upholding my love for one man, only to awaken as if from a sleep and discover that I have given that love to someone else. I have become a stranger to myself.”
