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His voice chilled. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Does it matter how I found out? The point is, you mustn’t go through with it!”
Rathe’s face hardened. “Relax, Father. It’s not going to be with Mary. Thanks to you, I don’t have the right to be with her—-”
Warren cut his son off, saying grimly, “You do.”
“If only that were true, Father. But you see, I can’t be selfish as you are—-” He broke off, the sheer unfairness of the situation suddenly getting to him. Why couldn’t he have the same chance as his father? Why couldn’t he have the right to be with Mary without risking having his mother become a pariah?
“Rest assured, Father, I’m not going to be as selfish as you were.”
“No, dammit, listen to me—-”
“My engagement with Camilla will be pushing through, and I may even marry her for real, just so I can be certain that I will never be tempted to go back to...” He found himself unable to sayhername, feeling he had lost the right to do so.
“Son? Rathe?” But it was too late, Rathe ending the call.
Slowly, he turned to face his wife. “I’m sorry, Aly. I fucked up. I didn’t get to warn our son.”
****
“Ican’t thank you enoughfor this, Cam.” Mary blinked back tears as she gazed down at the invitation Rathe’s friend had handed her.This was really it, she thought. This was her one final chance to make the duke take a chance on them.
“What are friends for?” Camilla asked lightly.
Mary smoothed a hand over her silk gown, another thing she had Camilla to thank for. “You’re like a godmother.”
A tinkling laugh. “I’ll do my best.” She feigned a frown. “I’m just sorry I don’t have a clutch or bag to lend you.” She did, of course, but her plan would work better if Rathe had no way of contacting Mary.
“Oh, it’s okay,” Mary hurriedly assured her companion. “I’m not expecting any important call anyway.”
That’s what you think now,Camille thought,but wait until I have your heart crushed into pieces. No matter how much you want to talk to the duke, you won’t be able to.
Checking her watch, she realized that it was finally time to put all her plans into action. Turning to Mary with a smile, she asked, “Shall we go?”
Leaving the hotel room she had reserved under her name, she and Mary took the lift to reach the ballroom encompassing the hotel’s entire fourth floor. The party was already in full swing by the time they arrived, and after waving to a couple she knew, Camilla whispered to Mary, “I need to find my father. Is it okay if I leave you here for a moment?”
Mary nodded quickly. “Please don’t mind me.”
I’m not,Camilla thought as she left with a swoosh of her skirts. Excitement coursed through her as she made her way to the stage. This was going to be epic. She should make sure someone record the entire event and zoom in on Mary’s face once she heard of Camilla’s engagement to the duke.
Father and daughter met at the wings. “All set?” Wilson asked.
“Naturally.”
Her father nodded in approval. “Then all we have to do is wait.”
****
As Mary nervously scannedthe crowd for any sighting of the duke, she began to hum to a Carpenters song to herself, a way for her to cope with her rising anxiety. Her guts were telling her that this night was all wrong, but she forced herself to ignore it.
It’s just your fear talking, Mary told herself,trying again to stop you from fighting for Rathe.
And then she saw him.
It was as if he suddenly appeared like magic, the crowd fading into obscurity while he remained startlingly vivid and sharply defined in her sight. He was dressed in a black tuxedo, and looking so exquisitely beautiful it had Mary sucking her breath.
This reaction of hers to the Duke of Flanders?
