to slip inside.
He waited several minutes before he went inside, too. He needed to speak with Vivian at once. They were no longer at Brighthurst House where she could wander away without an escort. He didn’t relish the thought of taking her to task, but she must understand she couldn’t run about at will.
His heart softened the moment he spied her among a group of ladies eagerly vying for her attention. Vivian listened with a bright spark in her eyes, and she laughed like only she could, by fully giving over to the act. The ladies responded with beaming smiles of their own.
His resolve faltered. She appeared so happy, and she clearly had been accepted into the fold. She deserved a night to celebrate her victory. Tomorrow would be soon enough for him to gently scold her.
Collier was standing a short distance from Vivian and her newfound friends, watching him with keen eyes. He smirked, and a fresh wave of anger swept over Luke. Warning the man against spreading lies about his intended needn’t wait another minute.
Luke stalked toward him. “Join me in my study, Mr. Collier. We have matters to discuss.”
Collier shrugged. “I can’t imagine what, but as you wish, Your Grace.”
The other man kept Luke at a distance as they wound through the stone corridor then up the curved staircase. Silence reigned over the deserted areas of the castle except for the sharp echo of their footsteps.
A fire burned in the hearth inside his study, and he used the flame to light the candles of a candelabra before carrying it to a side table. Collier hung back at the door.
“Come inside.”
“Perhaps you should tell me what this is about first.”
Luke made his way to the sideboard and poured two glasses of brandy. “Let’s be civilized about this, shall we? Share a drink with me while we discuss our business.”
He rounded the settee, took a seat, and held one of the glasses out for Collier. The man rolled his shoulders then sauntered across the room to accept. He took a swig of his drink then lowered into a chair.
“Miss Truax informs me you are spreading lies about Lady Vivian, and I want it to stop.”
“I confided in Miss Truax only. That hardly warrants an accusation of spreading lies.” Collier studied Luke over the rim of his glass as he downed his brandy. “I didn’t say anything that was untrue.”
Luke’s fingers tightened around his glass. “You insinuated something untoward happened between my betrothed and a former employee. I won’t allow an insult such as that to go unanswered.”
Collier laughed. “Would you call me out? Little good that would do after everyone has heard your wife-to-be is a trollop. There will still be whispers.”
Luke slammed his glass against the side table. “If you so much as utter her name to anyone, I’ll—”
“You’ll what? Beat me bloody and humiliate me in front of my friends?” Collier jumped to his feet and flung his arms wide. “Will you make me a laughingstock again and a whipping boy for every hot-tempered jackass with a gift for violence?”
That day came back to Luke in rapid flashes. It was after his return to Oxford. Often in those first weeks back a blinding anger had possessed him. It was unreasonable and demanded vengeance on anyone unfortunate enough to step into its path. Luke’s blood had boiled and seared his veins as it pulsed through his body, triggered by anything. Or nothing. He most regretted those days when he had lacked command over himself, but he couldn’t change the past.
“I offer you my deepest apology, Collier. Something came over me that day and I was as powerless to stop it as you.”
Collier’s eyes flamed black with hatred. “Do you think an apology will appease me? I want you to pay for what you did.”
“Then make me pay. Not her. If you want to humiliate anyone, it should be me and only me. Vivian is innocent.”
Collier bore his teeth. “I will hit you where it most hurts. You will receive no mercy from me, just as you showed me none.”
Luke rose from the settee and towered over the other man. “Tomorrow at first light, I want you gone. If you dare to speak of Lady Vivian to anyone, I will beat you bloody. And I won’t have any regrets this time.”
He brushed past Collier but turned back at the doorway. “See yourself out.”
Twenty-five
Vivi woke the next morning with her spirits renewed. After a successful evening in the company of