Page 72 of The Haunted Duke

“Is it because one of them is always locked?” Letty asked, her voice dropping into a suspicious tone as she stepped toward Helena. “Is there a room that not even you, his wife, his Duchess, are allowed to enter?”

Helena gave her an exhausted look, knowing that once more, Letty was implying something.

“There is no locked, secret room that I cannot enter,” she stated. “I simply chose not to show you my husband’s study. He allows me to enter at any time, but I do not find it respectful to let others in. A man is allowed his privacy just as a woman is allowed hers, Letty.”

“Yes, but what does he do with such privacy?” Letty nudged.

Helena shook her head, baffled and annoyed.

“Speak plainly, Letty, I have no desire to unravel your implications,” Helena commanded, her veneer of politeness fading by the second.

Letty raised her chin haughtily as she shrugged a dainty shoulder.

“I know you believe you are so much better off now that you are married to a duke and not just a simple second son like Jeremy, but as your friend, I want you to be aware that not all that glitters is gold. Men’s secrets rarely lead to something good.”

“What secrets?” Helena sighed. “Evander keeps no secrets from me!”

Letty let out another high-pitched hmmph as she crossed her arms.

“That is what Lady Brooks thought of her husband as well,” Letty retorted. “She, too, respected her husband’s ‘privacy’ because he showered her in finery. Until she received a warning one day and chose to explore her husband’s study. As it turns out, he has several mistresses. Two of whom bear his illegitimate children!”

“Evander would never do such a thing!” Helena said at once, though she heard the slight waver in her own voice even as she said it. “He is not that kind of man.”

Letty tilted her head, studying her with something almost like pity. “Even beasts have secrets, Helena. Are you so very confident that he keeps none from you? None at all?”

At first, fury over Letty’s insinuation consumed Helena’s mind. Yet after its initial explosion, it slithered away, and in its place a seedling of doubt bloomed. Evander had confessed his deep love for her. He could not do such a thing… could he? Yet even as she told herself so, she thought of how she felt the distance he was putting between them. He was keeping something from her. She had known that for weeks. She had simply never let herself wonder whether it might be something worse than his scars.

Shame washed through her as she even entertained the thought.

“That is quite enough. I think you should leave, Letty,” Helena stated with authority as she clasped her hands in front of her. “In fact, I believe that we should not only say farewell to this visit, but to this… this friendship.”

Letty’s jaw dropped so fast that Helena had to stifle a laugh. Satisfaction rolled through her as she severed the friendship, and she knew in that moment she had made the right decision. Letty had always had a way of putting Helena down, as if her previously lower circumstances were a way to bring Letty’s status up higher. Even now, even as Helena stood in a higher rank, Letty was trying to sink her spirits.

“You would do something so cruel?” Letty asked. “After all of our years of friendship?”

“My husband taught me something,” Helena replied, feeling her confidence grow. “And it is that I do not need to suffer the company of those who would wish me harm. So yes, to protect my happiness, I would do something so cruel.”

She then called for Aggie, who quickly appeared, and Helena requested her to show Letty out. As Letty was escorted to the front door, she continued to berate Helena for her decision, but Helena was too satisfied with her decision to pay her any mind.

However, after the silence settled in and the pleasure of her choice faded, that seed of doubt Letty had planted grew a little bigger. She wondered, as she was left alone with her thoughts, whether, despite Letty’s obvious attempts to dismiss her, the young woman also might have a valid point.

Evander says he loves me. So why does it still feel as though I only have half of him?

Chapter 26

“My sweet wife.”

Helena’s heart throbbed in her chest as Evander greeted her, his handsome face shifting into a serene smile as he raked his eyes down her body.

“My dear husband,” she softly replied, closing his study door behind her. “Am I interrupting anything?”

Evander’s smile became seductive as he leaned back into his chair and laced his fingers behind his head.

“Nothing so important as to turn you away,” he replied. “Do you bring news? Have your mother and Alex returned for another skirmish of honor?”

Helena laughed softly as she traced her fingers along the shelf of books lining one of his study walls.

“You handled him so well,” she praised. “Even though he has done nothing but call you names from the start.”