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Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jasper arrived at Kirby Hall the next day without incident. Lady Leah came down to the entranceway.
“I thought we could take a walk through the gardens,” she said. She was stiffly formal. Her lady’s maid trailed along behind them, like an ever-present ghost, always watching.
“Very well, My Lady,” he replied, bowing to her. He offered her his arm, and she perched her hand into the crook of his elbow. They both began to walk through Kirby Hall’s maze-like hedgerows, which were surrounded by lush floral displays. They were silent as they walked.
“My Lady,” he began. “I’m sorry for how things have fallen out. You should never have had to find out about it in the manner in which you did.”
“You’re right,” she said. “You shouldn’t have done it at all.”
“I should have told you what my feelings were,” he said. “I wanted to wait until things were less complicated. But instead, everything’s even more snarled than it was weeks ago.”
“All you have to do is give her up, Your Grace.”
“That’s the thing, Lady Leah—I cannot give her up. I’m in love with her, and I cannot go forward and marry you.”
She stared at him, coldly. “I had a feeling that it would come to this,” she said. “How dare you betray me like this?”
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m so sorry. But I cannot marry without love.”
“Love?” she mused, her lip curling.
“Yes, My Lady.”
“There’s no such thing, Your Grace.” Her stubborn refusal to believe in love baffled him entirely. How could someone be so blind to the reality of something that was, in his experience, so wonderful?
“Yes, there is,” he said. “I know that it exists. I hope that someday, you’ll find it, too. Because you deserve to be loved and cherished.”
“Like you do Selina.”
“Exactly.” He smiled at her. What she said next shocked him to the core.
“I hope that you learn what it feels like to be so cheated,” she replied, turning her face away from him.
“I’m so sorry,” he said because he was. He froze when he heard the metallic crack of a pistol being cocked, from behind them.
* * *
“We meet again, Your Grace,” a masculine voice said. The Duke turned. Leah watched his face as he looked at the three masked men who were now separating both of them from the safety of Kirby Hall.
One of them was holding Maria, one hand over her mouth—the other wrapped around her middle so that she couldn’t escape. Her face was pale with fright.
“Oh, Maria!” Leah gasped, playing her part. She gripped the Duke’s arm, pretending to be in terror.
In an attempt to protect Leah, the Duke stepped in between Leah and the three men. Leah watched. Suddenly, she realized that she was about to watch the Duke die. It was both terrifying and exciting as a prospect.
The Duke was not armed! He had left the grooms who’d accompanied him back at Kirby Hall.
“Please,” the Duke begged, “let the lady and her maid go.”
“I don’t believe that we will,” the one man said. Leah knew that her Gentleman wouldn’t speak. She knew which one he was. He’d given her a little wink.
Leah let go of the Duke’s arm, stepping to the side, so she was out of the way.
That was when the Duke did something that none of them had expected. He rushed the man who had the pistol pointed at him. They struggled, the barrel was pointed skyward when the Duke pulled the trigger.
Leah thought nothing of it as the other two drew their weapons. The Duke and the first shooter were still struggling. They couldn’t get a clear shot—not without injuring their comrade.
