Page 76 of How to Capture a Duke

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“I’ve been searching for you.”

Olivia had been waiting for Tristan in the library. She’d chosen a book of Shakespeare’s plays, sat in one of the large armchairs in an attempt to distract herself, when her husband’s sudden appearance in the doorway startled her.

She set down the book and leaped to her feet to look at him expectantly. “How did it go? Did you speak at the House of Lords as practiced?”

“I did. I spoke, and the words came out like warm honey. I only stammered twice, but for the first time, I was able to recover and finish eloquently.”

She gifted him with a brilliant smile and clasped her hands to her chest. “We must celebrate! I’ll pour us a drink.”

She made for the sideboard and reached for a decanter when he stalked forward and pressed a hand on the table. “I’m not interested in joining you for a drink.”

She grew instantly alert. His harsh tone, combined with his physical presence looming over her, set off alarm bells in her head. “What’s wrong? All your hand work with Higgins has resulted in success.”

“Oh, I spoke eloquently, and Higgins would be proud. Everyone was silent, and I believed they were looking at me because I’ve never done so before. But I was wrong. Terribly wrong.”

“Why? What occurred to distress you like this?”

He slapped a paper on the sideboard. She recognized the Scandal Sheet. Every lady in London knew of it. Her eyes widened at the caricature and the bold black print beneath it.

Her heart thrummed in her chest. “How did this happen?”

A sudden thin chill hung on the edge of his words. “That’s what I’d like to know.”

A horrible thought crawled into her head, and she flinched beneath his hard stare. “You cannot think…cannot believe that I—”

“You said yourself that only three people knew. You, Antonia, and your sister. My grandmother has left town, and even if she had not, she would never do this.” He leaned forward another inch. “That leaves you or Lady Vere.”

An oddly primitive warming sounded in her brain. “You are wrong. I did not reveal it. Another must have learned of your association with Mr. Higgins.”

“I don’t think so. If not you, then it must have been Lady Vere. Your sister never liked me, and she let it be known the first time I met her.”

“And for good reason, but Ellie would never do what you suggest. I’m offended you would even think so.”

“Offended? After I was humiliated by that?” He jabbed a finger at the paper.

A cold wave entered the room, and she felt vulnerable in the face of his anger. “It was Ellie who found Mr. Higgins, remember? Why would she leak word of it to the scandal sheets?”

“Exactly. What better way to devise my humiliation?”

Her anxiety veered into righteous anger. Olivia tossed her hair behind a shoulder and glared at him. “Nonsense! First you accuse me then my beloved sister. I take both personally. Blaming her is as good as blaming me!”

Her temper flared. She had planned to tell him about the babe but not now. Not when he was unjustly accusing her family of a dastardly deed. Someone else was behind this treachery. How could he ever believe she or her sister were responsible? She glared at him. “After everything, you still do not trust me.”

His burning gaze didn’t waver. “You give me no reason to.”

She clenched her fists at her sides. “You are incapable of trusting anyone! That is the way you are, the way you shall always be. I thought I could overcome your past and that I could make you believe that not everyone is out to harm you. But it is an impossible task, and I have failed. You will never change, and there is nothing more I can do to earn your trust.” Head held high, she marched past him then sprinted up the stairs to her room.

Her anguish tore into her soul, and she knew she couldn’t stay at Keswick Hall, not one more day. Her marriage had been doomed from the beginning, hadn’t it? She was a fool to think otherwise, to believe anything else. One wondrous night could not change a lifetime of distrust. He’d never be what she’d longed for, a man who loved her above all else. A man who would be a wonderful father. She’d foolishly hoped he would change. She realized now it was an impossible dream.

He’d cruelly crushed her dreams and her heart. Eyes blurred with tears, she threw clothes into one of her trunks, not caring about the delicate silks and satins.

She couldn’t return home. Ian and Grace had Catherine. Could she stay with Ellie? No, Ellie and Hugh had young Alexander. Both siblings would welcome her, but things had changed, and she couldn’t return to her prior life and sulk in her old bedroom. Tristan may never change, but she had. She was no longer an innocent girl with dreams of happiness. Her sorrow was a huge painful knot inside her, and she doubted her broken heart would ever mend.

She needed a place to go to gather her thoughts and decide her future. Somewhere far away from Keswick Hall and the dominant male within. She thought of Antonia and her offer of refuge.

It was time to return to Rosehill.