AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t!” she warned him, holding her hand up to stop him. If he called out to her in that tone, she would be lost, and she could not afford that—not when she had barely clawed herself out of the miserable hole she had found herself in. “I am already engaged to the Viscount of Caney. You would do well to address me in a more appropriate manner, Your Grace!”
She saw the flash of annoyance in his deep blue eyes and that tick in his jaw that hinted at his temper.
“Not anymore, you are not.”
She frowned and looked at him. “I beg your pardon?”
“You are not,” he enunciated. “As of this morning, you are no longer betrothed to that vile excuse for a human being.”
H-how…?
She looked suspiciously up at him, her gaze settling on the bruise on his cheek. “What did you do?”
“I merely persuaded him that there are far more rewarding pursuits in his life than marriage to you.”
She bristled at his words. Just what did he mean by that?
“Do not look at me like that,” he told her in a coaxing voice. “Are you not pleased to be rid of him?”
“Not,” she glared at him, “if it will mean ruination for me and my whole family!”
“I assure you, he will do no such thing,” the Duke interjected smoothly. “Otherwise, Iwillfinish what I started.”
“Whatdidyou start?”
The Duke had the temerity to look mildly offended. “Rearranging his face.”
Emily gaped up at him in shock. Did he…just say that? He could not possibly mean heattackedLord Caney!
“You are making more trouble for me!” she groaned in despair.
“I would never dream of doing such a thing,” he reassured her. “I put the fear of God in Caney so that he would call off the engagement without breathing a word of scandal about you.”
Emily threw her hands up in frustration. “I cannot fathom how he could dothat.”
If Lord Caney withdrew his offer, then the rest of the Ton might think that there truly was something wrong with her!
“Well, he could tell them that he broke off the engagement because you found that he didn’t suit you,” the Duke smiled mischievously, “and that you received a better offer.”
“There is no better offer! Everyone else withdrew their offers when the engagement was announced!”
“Then what about mine?”
Emily froze and looked up at him, peering closely to see if it was nothing more than a cruel joke on his part.
However, the Duke of Gilleton was looking at her solemnly, tenderly, as he got down on one knee and reached for her soft hand.
“Lady Emily Montgomery,” he said softly, “you have been the light in the darkness of my miserable heart. Will you do me the honor of becoming my lawfully wedded wife?”
She shook her head, her vision blurring with tears. “But…but you said you did not want to!”
“I was a fool,” he told her. “I was wrong.”
Emily narrowed her eyes at him. “Benedict…he was the one who put you up to this, wasn’t he? He’s forcing you to marry me, isn’t he?”
Her voice was rising with her hysteria, but the Duke only shook his head. “Do I look like someone who could be forced to do anything?”
There was unbridled arrogance in his tone, and Emily laughed a little at that. “Youarerather obstinate.”
