Page 12 of The Devil's Accidental Duchess
“I have given my command!” her father shot back.
“Yes, but I really would like to do it myself,” she insisted. “There are things that I would like to pack, to be sure they arrive. Things that the servants might miss, or?—”
“What do you mean? What could they possibly miss? Is there something else I need to know about?Moreletters, perhaps?”Her father’s eyebrows snapped together sharply. “Do I need to reach for my pistol again?”
Good heavens, must men really solve everything with pistols? Was that the solution to everything, in their foolish minds?
Selina wanted to stomp her foot in frustration, but she caught the warning look in her friend’s eyes. Discreetly, Lizzy shook her head.
“Of course not,” Selina sighed, plastering on a smile. “It is just that it would be highly inappropriate for me to stay under the roof of a gentleman who is neither my family nor my husband. Even society would have something to say about us ‘getting to know one another.’”
“Nothing about what you have done thus far has been appropriate, daughter.”
“But surely, two wrongs do not make a right,” she argued.
She did not want to be left here, under the same roof as this devastating rake who could incinerate her insides with a flash of his smile. Walking out into a busy London road, crammed with charging carriages, would have been less dangerous for her well-being.
“Do not worry, child,” the Dowager Duchess suddenly interjected. “I shall act as chaperone until your mother arrives.”
Oh dear. Now that the Dowager Duchess had volunteered her chaperoning services, how was Selina supposed to extricate herself from this predicament?
The older woman was smiling at her as if she hung the stars and the moon in the night sky.
“In the meantime, you may borrow our dear Lizzy’s clothes,” she added with a fond smile.
Wear dear Lizzy’s clothes?
Selina heard a choking sound that might have come from her friend. No, she wascertainit was Lizzy, who easily towered a head over her.
“That is settled, then.” Her father turned toward Reuben with a terse nod. “We had better be on our way. Lots of things to prepare for the wedding, and the Duchess needs to be informed of what needs to be done.”
The Duchess.
Selina smiled bitterly. It was how he had always referred to her mother. Never “my wife” or a sweeter term of endearment. As if her title and her position encompassed everything she was.
As if that were all she would ever be.
“No need to trouble yourself with wedding plans, Duke. We will await the arrival of the Duchess of Barlow so that we ladies can arrange everything,” the Dowager Duchess replied graciously.
Her father frowned. “The wedding must take place with due haste. Not more than a fortnight from now. I trust that securing a special license should not be too arduous a task?”
Ashbrook smiled. “Of course not.”
“Then there is nothing more to say. We shall leave Selina in your hands.” Her father nodded at the others, his gaze skimming over her entirely, and turned to his carriage.
Selina put a hand to her chest and sought to press down the heaviness that swelled there. If she allowed it to rise, it would reach her eyes, and she would not be able to stop the tears from falling.
Her father did not even bid her goodbye, merely handed her over to people he had considered his enemies a few short moments ago.
She felt someone reach for her hand and give it a slight squeeze.
“Do not fret, Sister. I shall visit you soon,” Reuben whispered. “And Mother shall be with you shortly.”
And then, he was gone, too.
Her heart ached as she watched the carriage turn around and rattle down the driveway toward the gates. She would have waved, at least, but there was no point. No one was looking back to wave in return. They were just leaving her.
Soon enough, they had vanished from sight.
