When a Duchess Says I Do - Grace Burrowes Page 0,119
sorry, Matilda. I am very, very sorry. I never meant for this to involve you, other than requiring you to endure long evenings listening to Parker’s opinions on military affairs while he made up excuses to absent himself from our guest parlor. I never foresaw that you could be so clever and determined. I never realized Parker would be so desperate.”
Matilda had expected a great drama, not this sad, quiet conversation, surrounded by pretty art, tea, and toast.
Duncan’s hand rested between her shoulder blades, a slight warmth radiating from his touch.
“Your mistake, Wakefield, is not that you left a trap for Parker where Her Grace could stumble into it, it’s that you and your generals did not call the game off once you knew she was in danger. You failed her and left her to the elements. How do you propose to make reparation?”
Matilda hadn’t thought this far, but Duncan was right: She wanted more than an apology. Words were easy, too easy for a man of Papa’s glib charm.
“I could not call the game off,” Papa retorted. “A marquess has significant consequence, and then a general became involved, and who was I—?”
Duncan leaned over the table. “You were Her Grace’s only source of protection, though I hesitate to refer to you as a father of any kind. The two brigands threatening me in my own woods were criminals, in the process of committing hanging felonies, and both armed. The duchess, though exhausted and nigh starving, bested them both, or I’d likely be dead. There is nothing I would not do for this woman, including see you ruined or worse.”
Duncan made a very convincing knight. Very convincing.
Papa stared at his vase. “Matilda, what can I do to show my remorse?”
“All I ever wanted was a home,” she said. “A place to call my own, to raise a family or simply grow old tatting lace and petting my cat. I never asked to be the bait you dangled before an ambitious younger son for your generals and lords. Even Parker offered to provide me a home of my own.”
But what did she want now? She’d been a duchess in a huge stone castle by the North Sea, and even that formidable edifice had not felt like a home to her.
Duncan paced to the mantel. “Perhaps you’d like this home or some of its contents? The place is certainly well situated, and I’m sure if your dear father is sincere in his guilt, he won’t begrudge you the one thing you’ve always wanted and never really had.”
Papa watched Duncan with a brooding curiosity, as if Duncan were familiar but Papa could not recall where they’d met.
“You remind me of somebody,” Papa said.
“Duncan Wentworth, at your service.” He did not bow but instead studied the dragon.
The house was more of a showplace than a home. Matilda did not particularly care for its appointments, though the location was enviably refined, and the building itself well constructed. Papa, though, treasured this place.
More than he’d treasured his only daughter?
“I’ll take the house,” Matilda said, “and all of its contents. You may have a week, Papa, and then you will depart on an extended tour of the Continent. Take a few items of sentimental value, but don’t think to loot the whole inventory. I want none of the current staff underfoot, and I expect you to pension them all generously. Bide with friends, if any you have, or set up a household in Paris. I care what becomes of you, but for now, having a substantial body of water between us would be well advised.”
Papa looked like he wanted to argue.
Duncan held the dragon vase up to the morning sunlight, held it high enough that if he dropped it, the dragon would shatter.
“You want the house,” Papa said slowly, “and its contents.”
“Little enough compensation for putting a woman at risk of death, bodily harm, and worse,” Duncan said, returning the dragon to its perch. “Did you know you’re an accessory to kidnapping? I’m sure your generals will flock to your defense when those charges are laid, though, of course, they were complicit in the crime too. Matilda might have gone with Parker willingly at first to spare harm to the innocent, but she did not agree to be locked in her chamber and forced to wed him.”
Matilda liked that Duncan had thought three moves ahead of Papa’s strategy. She liked the utter lack of a facile retort from Papa as well.