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“Your, Grace,” he greeted.
“Captain Morgan, or should I say, Gale?” The Duke said frostily. “Esther has told me all that occurred last night, and I am here to give you a warning, stay away from her, or we will be meeting at dawn.”
“Funny you should say that,” Felton snapped. “I should have called you out after the disgrace you levied to my sister. Do you have any care or compassion for a woman who had set her eyes on you? Do you give a third of a damn for others, or are you just like your Mother, spreading libellous statements about innocent women? How is it that Catherine was interested in another man while you were courting her?”
Duke Ayles lips thinned, “And was that just cause for you to try to seduce my sister? In the spectrum of things, who is the more evil one here.”
Felton found his temper spiking. For this Duke to enter his home and act as if he had not done anything wrong, Felton’s already sour mood worsened. He had lost Esther with little hope of getting her back and now, for all the blame to be put on him for everything that happened, was beyond the pale.
“Answer my question before I reply to yours,” Felton said coldly. The respect he would have had for the man was utterly gone. “Why did you break the courtship?”
“Because a particular source told me that she was having an affair with another Lord, and I did not feel it right for her to be unfaithful to either of us,” Duke Ayles said shortly.
“Utter tripe,” Felton bit back. “Catherine did not have any other Lord as a paramour. Admit it; you broke the engagement because she was just one in a line of women that you deign to give your attention to.”
“She was a charming woman, but, in truth, I felt little for her,” Duke Ayes admitted.
“Finally, the truth comes out; you threw her away because a better version was on somewhere else,” Felton said. “And to answer your question, I admit, the scheme was not fully thought out. I had thought that the easiest way to teach you a lesson was to hit you close to home—” he sank into his seat. “I just never thought I would have fallen in love with Esther.”
“From now on, you will address her as Lady Harewood,” Duke Ayles said. “And if you come near her, you’ll be locked away at Northgate faster than you could believe. Stay out of our way, and we will stay clear of yours. There were worst penalties for your unconscionable act, and I will wield them, if pushed.”
A hollow laugh left Felton, “The foot is on the other foot now. Fine, I’ll stay away.”
Turning away, Felton swallowed over a churning stomach. The pain and reality of his situation with Esther only sank that much deeper. Now—he could not gain Esther’s affections at all. The only woman he loved was never going to be his—and it stung. But he was not going to give up; he had faced the worst daunting situations in his life, and he had overcome all of them—this was just another.
And, somehow, some way, I am going to overcome this too.
