was visiting Felicity, and Mother had been ill.”
Stone kept silent, sensing where this might be going.
“I didn’t want to stay at home to keep my mother company. I told my father that I needed to stay at Lady Agatha’s school. I insisted that I couldn’t miss the term if I was going to become a duchess.”
Stone frowned. “And…?” There had to be more to it than that.
“And then my father died. He died, Stone!”
Good God. These Westerleys took the notion of guilt to unsurmountable heights.
“His death had nothing to do with you.” In fact, Stone had been present at the duel when her father was killed. “You must know it was because of Westerley, that it was because he’d, er, associated with the wrong married woman.”
She was shaking her head vehemently. “He wouldn’t have done that if my father had not stayed home with my mother.” She turned and pinned her caramel-colored gaze on him. “So that I could stay at school. And that left Westerley without my father’s guiding hand. ‘You won’t regret it, Papa,’ I told him. ‘Because your daughter is going to be a duchess.’ Those were my last words to him.” She covered her hands with her face. “My Last words, Stone! And now I’ve broken my promise.”
She bent forward.
He pulled Poppy to a halt, dropping his arm around her back. He’d half expected this but…
Stone shook his head. “You do realize Westerley blames himself?”
“It doesn’t matter.” She dropped her hands. “It never would have happened if I hadn’t been so selfish.”
“I suppose your sister blames herself in some way as well.”
“She didn’t do anything wrong.”
Stone stared at her. “You’re as bad as your brother.”
“It just got out of hand… all of it. Becoming a duchess began as a promise but then I could think of nothing else. And…it doesn’t make sense… The way I treated you—anyone who didn’t meet my standards—it was unforgivable.”
It was hard to stay angry with her when she was like this. But he did not expect to hear the next words that came out of her mouth.
“I’ll tell him I’m untouched, if you want an annulment.” She stared ahead lifelessly.
“Is that what you want?” He felt numb.
“I know you never wanted any of this,” she answered just as the village came into sight.
A wave of unrecognizable emotion swept over him, and he clenched his fists around the leather strap.
Because this emotion wasn’t unrecognizable. It was fear.
And damned if he knew what to do about it.
Chapter 24
It’s Complicated…
“First whisky.” Chase slid a tumbler across the smooth wooden table in Stone’s direction and another toward Westerley. “Then ale.”
Stone doubted he was going to benefit from drinking that evening, sitting around a tavern table with two men who’d been some of his closest friends: Tabetha’s brother and Chaswick, who’d married the other Fitzwilliam sister earlier in the season. But he might as well give it his best try anyhow.
Creighton, whose ankle was only half-healed, sat at the opposite end nursing a cup of tea.
Stone downed the contents of his glass in a single swallow.
What was she doing now? The moment they’d crossed the threshold of the Pig and Hen, Westerley’s countess and Lady Chaswick had swept her upstairs, safe from his clutches.
Chase poured a second tumbler and sent it shooting across the table almost before Stone could reach down and stop it from landing in his lap.
“So,” Chase smirked. “Are congratulations in order then?”
“What the hell?” Stone swung his gaze over to Tabetha’s brother.
Westerley shrugged. “I couldn’t be sure, but Culpepper accepted a quarter of what Tabetha’s dowry would have been. I figured it was the only way he’d give up on that so easily. Westerley met his gaze. “Are they in order, then? Did you marry my sister?”
Stone tossed down the contents of his glass a second time. “Yes.” But divulging that was only the tip of the iceberg.
“I’m surprised Tabby went along with it.” Westerley watched him closely. “Culpepper was fit to be tied when he told me you kidnapped her. I can hardly believe my sister is even talking to you.”
“Bethany had hoped Tabetha would come to her senses after spending a few days alone with that bounder—duke or not.” Chase ignored his own drink to roll a cigar back and forth between his fingers.
She knew exactly who I was last night, and she made love with me anyway.
How many times had she told him she loved him? And earlier today, he’d asked her where she would prefer to live. I