Page 36 of Deviant Duchess
“What happened to it?” He asked.
She closed her eyes, and a tear escaped down her cheek, making Cedric want to lean over and hold her close. Pleasure was something he was used to giving women. But comfort? That was foreign to him. The realization of such kept him still, and instead of reaching for her, he waited.
“It is gone,” she whispered. “And so is she. I have no idea where she is now after what…what happened to her.”
Something clicked in Cedric’s mind.
“You are speaking of your older sister. Hester,” he ventured.
Deborah nodded, then reached up to flick away the lone tear on her cheek as she opened her eyes.
“Tell me what happened,” he implored, shifting closer to her.
She huffed out a humorless laugh and shook her head.
“You told me yourself you heard the rumors,” she muttered.
“Rumors are not facts,” Cedric replied, his tone serious. “And I also told you that I listen to them for amusement. I do not take them seriously.”
When she did not reply at first, Cedric felt the urge to press her. Instead, he went against his own desires and waited, feeling as if he was about to receive something of grave importance.
“My uncle blundered the fortune our father left us,” Deborah finally started to explain. “Everyone knew it, too. We became so poor so fast, that when Hester debuted no one wanted to marry her. So, she decided to try the auction. Our uncle explained that it was not as horrible as the others. That most of the women atsuch an auction became well-treated mistresses. Some of them even became wives for nobles who did not wish to deal with courtship.”
Although he knew she was not trying to prick at him, he felt the sharpness of her words all the same. That was precisely what he had done. He had not felt guilty about it in the moment. His needs were far too important at the time. Now, though, he was beginning to understand how little choice the women at those auctions had. Even if they had entered into it willingly.
“As you know, my sister was purchased by Sylvester Fairborne, the Earl of Whitford,” Deborah went on, “Shortly after Hester went to live with him, I started receiving letters from her. She said she was no longer allowed to visit us, but that all was well. That the Earl was treating her with kindness and love, and that she had, through the auction, met her true match.
“He seduced her,” she explained, her tone growing cold and bitter, “Promised her marriage. Love. Care. Then he threw her away as if she were some object he was bored with. It ruined her. Not just her reputation.Her.Her heart, her soul, he had crushed them both.”
Deborah sniffled, and this time Cedric could not help but reach out and smooth away her tears with his thumb. If Deborah minded, she did not show it, and her allowing him to do so seemed suddenly so momentous to him that it felt like a gift to be able to comfort her.
“I was able to smuggle her out of London,” Deborah continued, finally looking over to him.
The heartache in her eyes took him aback, and he had to look away.
“But after a year, she stopped writing. Then I found out she had left her original hiding place. I have no idea where she is now. If she is safe, or hurt…or worse.”
Her voice trembled on the last word, but Deborah shook her head and cleared her throat, clearly used to dealing with such heartache alone.
“And Sylvester? All he got was a few months’ worth of tarnished reputation before thetonforgave him. He destroyed her,” she said, tilting her chin up as she spoke with pure determination, “So I am going to destroy him. My original plan failed, but I will find another way, and I will not stop until he is as miserable as my sister or worse.”
Foreign and unbidden rage swelled in Cedric’s chest. He was not a man to meddle in other people’s affairs, but hearing how Hester was destroyed and seeing how it nearly destroyed Deborah, he began to have a change of heart.
“One of your conditions to marrying me was receiving my help for your plan. I did not know what it was at the time, but I do now,” Cedric said, his tone gravely serious. “I have ways of finding out information in a very private way. Let me use that tofind out some of Sylvester’s weak points. Let me help you bring him down.”
The hard glint in Deborah’s eyes softened as he spoke.
“You would go that far to help me?” She asked, and Cedric let out a devilish laugh.
“My dear, you have no idea how far my reach extends,” he replied. “Something like this requires little effort on my part. Trust me when I say that with my help, you can make Fairborne wish he’d never discovered that auction in the first place.”
A deviant look that Cedric immediately adored took over the earnestness in Deborah’s eyes, and her answering smile was a breathtaking mixture of beautiful and wicked. Deborah was born for the light, but in that moment, Cedric understood that she could playverywell in the dark.
“God, you are beautiful when you look so devious,” he breathed, daring to caress her cheek.
He expected her to slap his hand away, but instead Deborah batted her lashes bashfully and leaned into his caress, as if he’d given her the most wonderful praise. If he had not already yearned for her, he certainly did now. Only now, it was for reasons far beyond her beauty.
Cedric cleared his throat, realizing that he was growing distracted. Deborah, in turn, blinked and pulled away from his touch, as if the spell had broken for her as well.
