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‘You don’t have to.’
Warrington huffed. ‘It is as if I have my children standing in front of me. You both need to listen.’ He righted the chair, thumping the legs on the rug. ‘I have known for a few days, but I hoped it would disappear. It hasn’t. Lord Hawkins has been drinking. The man appears to be losing his mind—perhaps he is succumbing to some sort of illness. Unfortunately, it is also loosening his tongue. He claims Bellona has been trying to get money from him. Claiming she will say she is his daughter to discredit him unless he pays her.’
She jumped to her feet. ‘He is my father. The funds have been organised by his wife and she gives them freely.’
‘I know that,’ Warrington said. ‘But he is splattering every handful of mud he can in your direction.’
Chapter Eighteen
Warrington snorted. ‘Don’t look so...gutted, Rolleston.’ Warrington’s eyes narrowed. ‘Neither my wife nor Bellona can help their birth. None of us can, Your Grace.’
Your Grace. He heard the sneer in Warrington’s voice, but it reminded him of who he was. And he realised who Bellona was. He’d never cared about the on dits that Hawkins had a mistress he visited when he left England. When he found out Hawkins was Bellona’s father he’d not really cared. But the truth had been secret for so long and now Hawkins was spouting it everywhere.
Warrington closed his mouth and paused before speaking to Bellona. ‘Perhaps you should consider the special licence. Even Rhys can’t change a marriage after the deed is done. His property joins mine. You would be close to Melina. And when Thessa returns from sea with Ben, you will be near to her as well. If you go away now to Scotland, it will be assumed there is a child. If you stay here and wed the duke—perhaps you can geld him.’ He shrugged and gave a pointed look to Rhys’s hand. ‘Just a thought. I’m sure she’d eventually think of it on her own.’
‘His Grace and I would not get on well.’ She reached up, pushing an errant lock behind her ear. ‘He doesn’t even like the way I dress my hair.’ She shrugged. ‘He does not know how to live for himself, only for others. I do not know how to live that life. I have seen what happens to a woman who falls in love and marries a man when he does not love her back—or think her above his tracks in the dirt.’
‘I would not treat you ill.’ The duke’s words bit into the air.
‘But in your heart you would. Now you can promise—anything. Everything. That is easily done.’ She looked across at him and slipped a pin from her hair, and tossed it to the table beside her. ‘My father promised to return to my mother. He would hurry, he said.’ She stared at Rhys. ‘He promised most sincere agape, love, when he meant it the least. And do you know what my mother’s last words were?’
Rhys blinked, forceful. Jaw firm. Solid, unmoving.
‘She asked if my father was on the ship in the harbour. But he was not. He was never returning. I knew it.’
‘You cannot judge other men by your father.’
‘You judge other men by yours.’
He shook his head, causing a strand of hair to fall across his eyes. He put his hand to his temple and thrust the lock back into place. ‘I know he was a stickler for convention. But that does not mean—’ He used his flat palm to indicate himself. ‘He was a good man and I can follow his example. All men make mistakes. Even him.’
‘You made a mistake and now you must correct it?’ She tilted her head.
‘We must be married. You cannot hide away in Scotland.’
‘I find it nobler to be a spinster than to throw myself under your feet. I do not care who you wed, Your Grace. As long as it isn’t me.’
‘You should tell him everything, Bellona. Rhys isn’t worth much, but he can keep his counsel,’ Warrington advised.
Bellona stared forward. Rhys thought she’d looked much gentler when she’d held the arrow to his stomach.
* * *
Warrington left the room, his grumbles mixed with curses at her father.
Rhys stood, his face with so little expression she could not read it. Behind his eyes he was secured alone with his thoughts and she suspected they were not charitable ones.
She refused to discuss any more of her life with him. Warrington said Rhys could keep silent, but the earl didn’t realise Rhys was the one person she most did not wish to tell.
‘We are finished here,’ she said. ‘You’ve done as much as you can to help me. You’ve tried to correct what you see as an error. You should go about your duties and remove this from your thoughts.’
