AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There were too many holes in the situation, holes he intended to fill with naught but the truth before taking any actions. He was no longer that man that ran from his troubles, and he no longer had need for the distraction they had afforded him then. His eyes were open and he could see clearly.
"Are you calling us liars?" Lady Digby immediately got defensive. "It appears as though we are liars now, Vanessa." She turned to her daughter who seemed distracted as her eyes continuously glanced in the direction of the door.
"Are you expecting someone, Miss Whittaker?" Nicholas asked.
She started, then turned. "What?” She caught herself and cleared her throat before asking more properly, “I beg your pardon?”
"You seem to be expecting someone, Miss Whittaker," he repeated. “Your attention is more on the door than on what we are discussing.”
Lady Digby gave her daughter a warning look, to which Vanessa responded by straightening in her chair and regarding Nicholas as though her attention could not be anywhere else. This was yet another thing he added to his growing list of their odd behavior.
Vanessa smiled ever so slightly and said, "The only person I was expecting is already here. My husband who now seems adamant on calling me,MissWhittaker."
"Do you not find it odd that everyone appears to have a clear memory of this marriage but the groom,MissWhittaker?" Until he was certain she was married to him, Nicholas shall continue to address her as such.
She shot him a glare that could freeze winter but before she could say anything in response, Lady Digby cut in with, "Need I remind you, Your Grace, thatyouinitiated this marriage with neither my blessing nor my presence?"
He could remember none of this. Not his asking Vanessa to marry him nor the marriage itself happening. He did remember waking up with one of the worst after-effects of drinking in the morning.
Nicholas rose from his chair to form an intimidating figure. "Pray, tell me why I woke up to an empty house. If your claims are true, then should I not have been asked for myownblessing before my bride is taken away on what turned out to be a half a decade-long vacation?"
Lady Digby was unmoved by his question. "I retired for the night, thinking you would, too, shortly but when I came back down to retrieve my spectacles no more than an hour later, I found a wedding ceremony being concluded. Having the sotted groom lose consciousness soon after did not help matters."
"I mentioned we should get you, mama, but Nicholas said it was late and you needn’t be disturbed," Vanessa chimed in, her tone defensive.
Lady Digby nodded in her daughter’s direction, saying, “Quite so.” She returned her attention to Nicholas. "Would you trust your daughter with a man who would bring a parson into your house to marry you without the slightest of regards for you?" She did not wait for him to respond before continuing, "After you did that, I realized you were more than capable of taking her away from me for good. Besides, I did not like the sort of man you were back then.”
“And you like the man I am now?” Nicholas asked, amused. The woman was eager to make her daughter a duchess.
“We left that night and I took the marriage document to try to get the marriage annulled.”
“Why did you not get the marriage annulled?”
“I may have taken Vanessa away from you, but her heart, I soon realized, had stayed back and wouldn't yield to my pleas and attempts at turning a new chapter. I couldn't bear to see her in any more pain, you see."
"Your timing is rather convenient, I must say." Nicholas stroked his chin as he mused. "I get married drunk and my bride runs away only to return to take on her role as my wife now that I am a duke."
He looked at Vanessa to confirm her mother’s words but her eyes were downcast. Lady Digby’s talking drew his eyes away from her.
"The state in which you'd signed this document," she gestured at the certificate lying on the table between them, "does not make it any less valid. Take it to any court and they will tell you how real it is. What is done is done. Now it is time to embrace your real duchess."
The woman's words were like needles to his heart but he set aside the pain. He would allow himself tofeelonly when all this was over. Now was not the time to dwell. A hand snaked up his back and came to rest on his shoulder. He tensed, unwelcoming such intrusion, as he turned to meet Vanessa’s eyes. Consumed and perturbed by his thoughts, he hadn't noticed her come to his side.
"I wish things were different, Nicholas, I really do," she murmured and he could not believe the element of genuineness he caught in her eyes.
In that instant, he felt almost as though he could believe her, believe everything. Yet he did not want to believe any of it because the truth would take Jenny away from him. He would be damned before he let her go.
Clearing his throat, he shrugged off her touch. "Your Grace. It is Your Grace to you now, Miss Whittaker." He would not allow her to call him anything else even if she were legally his wife, which he hoped to the heavens she was not.
"Your Grace," she drew the title out, "I remember when you despised the title. Said you won’t be called by it when you are duke. And I was neverMiss Whittakerto you in Versailles. I was Vanessa.YourNessa. Just as you were my Nicholas. Still are."
"Versailles is in the past and you would do well to keep it there."
Vanessa blanched and stepped away from him. He was about to ask her if she was well when she clapped a hand over her mouth and ran out of the room.
