When a Duke Loves a Governess (Unlikely Duchesses #3) - Olivia Drake Page 0,118
the rope, I scrambled onto the pile of coal and managed to wriggle through the chute.” An involuntary shudder ran through her at the memory of slipping and sliding her way up the coal stack only to be very nearly daunted by her escape hatch. “It was quite narrow, and there was a moment when I feared myself to be stuck.”
A muscle clenched in his jaw as he held tightly to her hands. “Damn Banfield to hell! And damn me for never seeing the evil in him. I always sensed a certain coldness in him but put it down to reserve. I never imagined he was my uncle, let alone that he’d been plotting revenge on my family.”
“How could you have guessed? He fooled everyone, even your grandfather.” That reminded Tessa of another horror, something she felt obliged to tell Guy. “While I was tied up, he confessed all of it to me … exactly how he’d murdered your family, one by one. Pray don’t ask me the details just now. But … I could only think he meant to do the same to you, Guy. And that I had to … I had to stop him.”
Hot tears began to slide down her cheeks. She couldn’t control the flow despite her best efforts. He uttered a gruff exclamation and she found herself folded into his arms, clutched securely to his chest. Tessa tucked her face into the curve of his neck while she sobbed out all the residual fear and terror bottled up from that nightmare. Guy had very nearly died at the hands of a murderer, and she rejoiced to be sheltered in his embrace again, absorbing his heat and vitality, feeling the strong beat of his heart against her bosom.
He nuzzled her hair, while his hand rubbed soothingly over her back. “Ah, my darling. I’d have given my life to have spared you that anguish.”
Through hiccupping sniffles, she uttered, “But then you’d be dead, and that would be even worse.”
A chuckle rumbled deep in his chest. He tilted up her chin and dabbed her wet cheeks with a folded handkerchief. Then he kissed the tip of her nose, though it must surely be red and unsightly from her weeping. Yet he was regarding her with a gaze so adoring that she felt like the most beautiful woman in the world.
“What I find so wonderfully admirable about you, Tessa, is that you grew up an illegitimate child under the worst of conditions. Yet you never harbored bitter resentment over the circumstances of your birth as Banfield did.”
She glowed. “In all fairness, I owe the man a debt of gratitude. He’s the one who suggested that Lord Haviland is my brother.”
Guy idly twisted a curl of her hair around his finger. “My powers of observation must be failing me. I never even noticed that you two have the same unusual shade of hair—and he’s my childhood friend. By the way, you’ll be pleased to hear that your brother has become remarkably respectable. Not only has he cleared his debts and abandoned his rakish ways, he also told me tonight that he hopes to marry Miss Knightley.”
Tessa’s eyes widened. “Truly? Oh, how happy Avis will be! She’s never forgotten him, you know.”
The duke’s smile slowly faded into a more serious look. Still holding her close, he said, “You’re now a member of two powerful noble families, Tessa. You’re sister to an earl and granddaughter of a marquess, both of whom are your staunch supporters. Do you still think you don’t belong in society?”
She drew a shaky breath. When Guy gazed at her with such intensity in his dark eyes, it was difficult to remember all the reasons why she had balked at the prospect. “It’s a world I’ve never known. How could I possibly fit in?”
“You’re underestimating yourself, darling. You’re bright and witty and exceedingly charming. You’ll have Marbury and Haviland as your allies, as well as me. It’s time you took your rightful place as a member of the nobility—and as my duchess.”
Though her heart thumped with longing, this second offer was hardly better than the first. He’d slipped it in almost as an afterthought.
She pulled herself free, sprang up from the ottoman, and turned to face him. “Even if I wanted to be a duchess, which I don’t, I would never marry a man who’s … in love with another woman.”
He gaped up at her in flagrant surprise. Then his expression cleared, and he leaped to his feet, the