“She can’t have simply disappeared.” But even as he said it, he knew she could. The question was why? Why would she not even give him the courtesy of a proper goodbye?
“The carriage is waiting to take you back to Glasford’s,” Brown said.
The royal carriage that had arrived with the Queen’s summons and brought them. He didn’t even bother to hope that Esme would be inside waiting for him. As it carried him back to his brother and sister, he stared out the window knowing that he should feel elated. He was a duke, the Duke of Wolfford. He was where he’d always thought his life would lead him, to holding the titles to a dukedom and an earldom. He would now be responsible for managing estates, would take his place in the House of Lords. His life was back on track; he’dbeen returned to the proper path. Yet everything about it felt wrong. Because of Esme. Because she wasn’t there to celebrate it with him.
When the carriage rumbled to a stop at the Glasford castle, he saw his brother leaning against the wall, one foot crossed in front of the other. Griff approached as Marcus leapt out.
“How did things go with the Queen?” Griff asked. “What did she want?”
“To return the titles and properties to me.”
“Bloody hell!” Griff laughed loudly and boisterously, his grin broad. “That’s an outcome I didn’t expect. Congratulations, brother. Or I suppose I should say, ‘Your Grace.’”
“Brother will suffice.”
You have me at a disadvantage as I don’t know your name.
Esme will suffice.
Would everything always remind him of her?
“You’re affected as well, Lord Griffith,” Marcus said. As was Althea, although he suspected she would prefer to be associated with the forms of address that came with her marriage to an earl who would one day be duke.
Griff’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t considered that. Will come in handy should I have any daughters. Kathryn will be pleased. She is still recognized as a lady because of her father but now it can be because of her husband. I very much like that notion.”
The door opened, and Althea began prancing down the steps. “I heard the commotion. What’s happened?”
“Marcus is the bloody Duke of Wolfford.”
“Oh my God!” Her arms were suddenly around him, and he couldn’t remember her ever hugging him or showing such jubilance. Releasing her hold, she smiled up at him. “I’m so glad. You went on a circuitous route, but being duke was always your destiny.”
But he wanted Esme to be his destiny.
“Did Esme not return with you?” Griff asked.
The question hurt and his chest tightened until he thought it might cave in on itself. “No, she apparently needed to be elsewhere.”
“I’m not surprised,” Althea said. “Before you left to meet with the Queen, she gave this to me and asked me to give it to you when you returned but not before.”
When she unfurled her fingers, Marcus saw the rose gold wedding band.
“She said it belonged to our grandmother,” Althea said, a slight question in her tone.
“Yes, we were using it as a prop since she was pretending to be my wife. You should have it.”
“Perhaps you should take it for the next Duchess of Wolfford.”
He shook his head. “No, you should have it.”
“I’ll treasure it.”
Which was more than he could say for Esme. He’d wanted her to keep it. And now he was left to wonder if he’d ever meant anything at all to her or if their time together had been merely a result of her work for the Home Office. Had it all been a lie?
Chapter 28
Marcus had been in London for two weeks before he finally knocked on Esme’s door. The London residence was nearly put to rights. He’d been hiring servants, going over the books from the estates, familiarizing himself with all the changes that had transpired since his life had taken a detour. And every day he sent her a dozen roses with a card that simply hadMwritten on it.
While he expected nothing of her, he needed her to know how much he appreciated the request she’d made of the Queen, and he wanted her to see the residence returned to its former glory. It was the reason he’d begun with it and not the estates. She could more easily visit the London manor.
