Page 18 of Married to the Duke By Midnight

“Your Grace,” he said in a clipped tone and bowed his head.

“Mr. Hawkins,” Robert answered equally tersely.

“I was just telling my cousin…”

“My wife,” Robert interrupted him coldly.

“Your wife, Your Grace, that I will have to see proof that this marriage is in fact legal. I do not have to explain that two weeks are not enough time for the banns to be read three Sundays in a row in both your home parish and in hers and since I know for a fact that the two of you met last night…”

“I had a special license, Ambrose,” Jo repeated. She was not certain, but it felt like Robert pressed his palm firmer against her back as if offering her more strength.

“A special license? But how? Those are expensive. No one would have given it to a woman.” Ambrose narrowed his eyes as he looked at her.

“Mr. Oakley saw to it,” Jo told him.

“Mr. Oakley?! I cannot believe that you are still acquainted with that man after what he did to Lord Colemore.”

“He is a gentleman who fell in love with Lord Colemore’s daughter, as did Beatrice with him. The two of them are very happy now. He has done nothing wrong and neither has she.”

Ambrose scoffed.

“He stole the man’s daughter from right under his nose,” he said, his voice rising for every word he spoke.

“That is hardly the topic of discussion now, sir,” Robert interrupted. “I will send an invitation to a meeting tomorrow where you will be able to look at the paperwork with your solicitor. Please give your address to my brother’s butler and he will show you out.”

Ambrose’s eyes flared.

“Do you have any idea what she is like, Your Grace?” he asked as he pointed an accusing finger at Jo. “She is deceitful and conniving. She had my father wrapped around her finger and he did everything that she told him to. She wasted his money, diminishing my inheritance, while she sat back comfortably with her 20,000 pounds.”

“Now, sir,” Robert interrupted in a strained voice. Jo could tell he was doing his best to keep his temper in check.

“She has been hoarding her own money and investing it as she saw fit. Completely unwomanly. I will bring proof tomorrow, and I dare say that you will want to be rid of her as soon as you are able. If you have not consummated the marriage, I strongly advise you against it. Any children by her would be just as morally corrupted as she is.”

Jo felt Robert move toward Ambrose but reached for his arm to hold him back. If he intended to strike him, it would serve no purpose, even if some part of her was thrilled that Robert would defend her. He let her stop him, his arm sliding around her and holding on tighter. Jo relished the feeling despite the situation.

“Out, now!” someone growled and strode forward. Xavier stormed into view and pointed ominously at the door. “Leave my house, Mr. Hawkins, and don’t you ever dare show your face here again. You are not to address my sister in such a manner.”

Ambrose looked almost startled at Xavier’s outburst, then visibly gathered himself into the self-righteous air that was always about him.

“I am merely stating the truth, gentlemen. She is entirely unnatural. She will make a poor wife for you, Lord Riddlesmarsh. I guarantee it.” He nodded his head, walked to the door where Evans was already holding his hat out toward him, and then left the house. Evans closed the door behind him with an ominous sound of the lock.

For a moment the entire room was quiet, staring at the door that Ambrose had just exited.

“I…” Jo began but had no words to explain it. “I am sorry,” she said as she turned to face first Helena, then Xavier, only to realize that Maggie, Philomena and Lord Thornston were also in the room along with several members of staff. She felt her face heat with embarrassment and tears pricked her eyes. She swallowed forcibly several times. She did not want to cry. Not in front of these people. And not over something Ambrose had said. She was done with that. She had told herself long ago that he should not hold such power over her.

“It is not like he said,” she told Robert, who felt like the safest person in the room to focus her attention on. His green eyes were filled with kindness. It felt reassuring that she had not misjudged him. “My uncle was very fond of me. We talked a lot about how he could use his money for the greater good and I helped him start several charities.”

She gulped, knowing that Robert might not like what she was about to reveal.

“One of them helps fallen women. Women who have had a child outside of wedlock or… or… or…who have been prostitutes,” she whispered the last word and leaned toward him, chancing a glance in Helena’s direction. But her new mother-in-law had either not heard or did not react to it. “Ambrose was livid that his father used his money in that manner. But those women… their entire lives are ruined and often because they have no choice. It felt so cruel and…”

“Jo,” Robert interrupted her gently. “No one is faulting you or your uncle for setting up a charity to help those women.”

Jo stared into his eyes but saw nothing but a kind confidence in them. When she felt reassured by what she saw, she glanced at first Helena, then Maggie and Philomena, before briefly meeting the eyes of Xavier and Thornston. When she felt assured that they did not have an issue with it, she turned to Robert again.

“Uncle Horace set up the charities as separate entities with their own funding, meaning that Ambrose cannot touch them now that his father is dead.”

She gulped again and looked at Robert with wide eyes, willing him to believe her.