Historical Hearts Romance Collection

by Sophia Wilson

  And finally, her mother had apologized - for having her own daughter live away from home like a stranger. She promised she would speak to her father and resolve things at once.

  Selina’s eyes welled up with tears as she read the whole of the letter – this had been the most contact she had had with her family ever since she left and the thought of it made her want to sob. She was glad that they were doing fine and that she was still not forgotten in that household, as she often felt so.

  She wiped away her tears steadily with one finger and then looked up to Jemma, who seemed to be staring right back in search of a reaction and worried by the tears.

  “What does it say, m’lady?” Jemma asked her.

  She shook her head and did not even know what to say – it was a strange feeling and she had still not fully recovered.

  “I must write back to her this instant,” she said, her thoughts suddenly scrambling together.

  “Hold on, I will fetch you the parchment and the ink,” Jemma told her and hurried off to get the necessary items.

  Selina ran a hand through her hair – she felt strange, and she wanted to write back to her mother and tell her that she missed her and her father terribly. And that she could help now, with the money she was making, to help pay off her father’s debts.

  But when Jemma finally gave the pen to Selina, she could not bring her fingers to form a sentence as her hands shook violently. She looked back up to Jemma and her eyes were brimming with tears

  “Please do not cry,” Jemma was by her side at once in her usual sugary sweet manner, “I shall pen it down for you, please dictate the words,” she offered, taking the pen from Selina’s hand and holding onto her shoulder to steady her.

  “Yes,” Selina nodded, “That might be best.”

  Selina went through several words over in her mind – all the things she wished to say to her parents but even so, she could not bring herself to say them. A letter seemed so impersonal and she wanted to see them in person. Finally, she decided on what to say.

  “Tell them I am travelling to Berkshire this week and that I will not be available. Tell them if she wishes to see me, they should inform me via a letter. And,” she said with a pause, “Tell them I love them so and miss them every single day,” her voice grew quiet towards the end.

  Jemma just nodded and carefully penned down the words. “Very well, I shall send this out at earliest tomorrow morning,” she said as she dotted the final ‘I’ of the letter.

  Selina nodded and thanked Jemma.

  “I shall pack now for Berkshire,” she said with a solemn expression, “This is going to be a long journey.”

  --

  “Aunt Lavender! You cannot be serious in your demands with me,” the Duke complained to his Aunt as she sat with a satisfied look on her face, having already made her decision.

  “No you must, Joshua, and that is final,” Miss Lavender said with an air of finality ringing through her words.

  “I am the Duke!” Joshua started but he was promptly cut off by Miss Lavender.

  “Yes I understand – we all know that but you must do this because I am your aunt,” she replied calmly.

  “What I meant by that is that I am a busy man who cannot go around doing your tasks for you,” he said broodingly, “I am sure this borders on some form of emotional blackmail.”

  This caused Miss Lavender to chuckle, “I would be most amused if so,” she said, “But no, Joshua, you must accompany Selina to Berkshire. I promised her and it would do no good if I was not true to that promise.”

  The Duke let out an annoyed sound, “Yes! You promised me – I had nothing to do with any of this,” he argued.

  “Come on, my boy – you are my nephew – we are practically the same person so hush now. You will accompany her to Berkshire and that is the last I will hear out of you regarding that,” Miss Lavender said.

  “Please remind me again why you cannot go?” he asked with his mouth twisting into a frown.

  “I have just made arrangements to go out to France with my old friend Katherine – clearly I cannot say no to Katherine and dusty old Berkshire sounds so dull in comparison,” Miss Lavender said fanning herself dramatically as she said the words.

  “Besides - it would break poor Selina’s heart if I told her she is not able to go. Come on, you must do it for her if not for me,” Miss Lavender plead.

  The Duke stared down his Aunt for a whole minute and then sighed. “Fine but I will have you know I am not one bit happy about this,” he said.

  --

  The carriage arrived outside of Selina’s grandmother’s house and Jemma informed her as she saw it from out of the window.

  “They are here,” she announced excitedly, “I see the carriage! Oh, it looks quite glamorous,” she gushed.

  Selina sucked in a large breath and then steadied herself. This was it.

  “Jemma, get my bags, will you please?” she asked and adjusted her dress to walk out towards the front door.

  But when Selina opened the door – expecting to be greeted by Miss Lavender’s usual bubbly personality – she instead saw Duke Joshua standing there in her place.

  Observing the expression that had fallen on Selina’s face, the Duke suddenly spoke up, “Oh do not look so surprised,” he said, “I promise I would not be here if I wasn’t absolutely forced to be.”

  Selina’s eyes darted between him and the carriage, “But I do not understand –where is Miss Lavender? She said she would be the one to accompany me on my trip,” she said, sounding frustrated by the current state of affairs.

  “Aunt Lavender decided to take a little detour to France instead - and I was sent – or more like, threatened to oblige – in her place,” the Duke explained, “Now if you can hurry up, that would be most splendid,” he concluded with an impatient tap of the foot.

  Selina exhaled loudly and ran a hand through her hair – she had not been expecting this at all. Now, she would have to suffer a long carriage ride with him! How insufferable.

  Jemma had now arrived with Selina’s bags and was instead staring at the Duke, looking rather star struck.

  “I take this is Jemma?” the Duke said as he caught her staring.

  At this, Jemma got flustered and let out a clumsy giggle, “Why yes, Duke,” she managed to spurt out, excited by the mere fact that the Duke knew her name.

  He nodded towards her direction and then turned back to Selina. “Shall we?” he said.

  Selina decided that there was nothing she could do now about her travel arrangements – and companion – so it would best if she would just endure it; after all, the place they were going would be far more fruitful than the pain of having to spend time with the Duke for hours.

  So she strode forward to the carriage whilst Duke Joshua followed.

  Chapter 5

  Three hours had now passed and they had been sitting across from each other in blissful silence with no other sound than the steady clop of the horses’ hooves.

  But like all good things, even that had to come to an end. The Duke cleared his throat.

  “You know,” he started, “Uncle Thomas might have liked your music back at the event but I would not be so sure to think so in the future,’ he said vaguely.

  This caught Selina’s attention – which was perhaps the entire purpose of the remark. “What do you mean by that?” she fired back at him, her eyes narrowing a little by the edges.

  The Duke just merely shrugged, “I am only just saying – you seem awfully confident of yourself at all times and I was just only reminding you of the uncertainty of some things in life,” he said.

  But by then Selina had caught wind of what he was trying to do and she straightened up her shoulders, “Try to discourage me as you may but do know such petty tactics do not affect me in the slightest,” she said firmly, “Tell me, Duke, are you intimidated by a strong woman?” she asked accusingly.

  The Duke laughed as he realized she had seen right through his plan to rile her
up. “Quite the contrary, my lady,” he said briefly.

  “Well you sure give the impression of being so,” she replied, “Can you at least not be so horrible to me now that we are essentially stuck together on this long carriage journey?”

  The Duke considered her proposition and then came up with a reply of his own, “Well, we could but I have not known a conversation with you that does not include arguing. What are we to do with ourselves?” he said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

  “At least be civil,” she said, “Friends?”

  The Duke laughed, “Very well. Tell me all your secrets then,” he said jokingly, “I am sure that is what friends are meant to do.”

  She rolled her eyes and then turned serious, “Fine. I shall tell you – anything to get you off my back,” she said.

  “Oh?” The Duke seemed genuinely surprised at her compliance, “Go on, then. There’s no delaying a good deed.”

  “I received a letter from my mother this afternoon,” she admitted followed by a large gulp.

  The Duke raised his eyebrows, “What a secret,” he said sarcastically, “I was hoping for more of a scandalous one.”

  Selina rolled her eyes – she knew it had been futile to tell him anything. “Fine – I know it holds no significance to you but it meant a rather great deal to me,” she said broodingly.

  ‘Now I did not mean it like that,” the Duke backtracked, sounding apologetic now, “What did the letter say?”

  “It was not much,” she admitted, “But you know – this is the first form of contact I have had with her ever since I have left.”

  “Do you miss your family a lot?” he asked her to which she nodded.

  “Always,” her voice shook a little, “and it breaks my heart to think that they might not want anything to do with me anymore. My performances bring me great joy but it is still lacking when I never see their faces in the audience.”

  The Duke felt his heart soften a little for her, “Well, it is a good thing that they have decided to get back in touch then,” he consoled her.

  She let out a small whimper, “Well yes – they have. But it was only a letter from my mother; my father still detests me, I am sure.”

  “If it is any consolation, I also never had a good relationship with my own father,” the Duke opened up to her.

  Selina was a little surprised to hear him share his life with her but she encouraged him to continue.

  “Yes – well he and my mother separated when I was quite young and after that, he would bring home his string of new affairs each week. It was exhausting,” he said with a glint of reminiscence in his eyes.

  “Is that why you are so done with women at all times?” she found herself asking him, “Because your parents’ marriage did not work out?”

  He nodded and then looked back at her, “Well, both yes and no. It affected me initially but then my own experiences with women have not exactly been paramount either so I am just cautious now,” he admitted.

  “Might I guess?” Selina said, “A woman broke your heart?”

  To this, the Duke replied with a hearty chuckle, “You could not be further from the truth!”

  “Then what happened?” Selina was curious and she could not help herself from firing all these inquiries towards his direction.

  “She pretended to love and I fell for it – I was far too young then and not the devilish Casanova you know me as today,” he said with a grin which caused Selina to roll her eyes.

  “But she only wanted me for my money, which of course, once I found out, it was the end of that relationship,” he said.

  “That is horrible,” she said, “I guess that is one benefit of not being born into a noble family – at least people do not befriend you only because they want your money.”

  He laughed, “Well – it does still have its perks,” he admitted, “Selina, even though I am the Duke, I am a very private person. There is little that people know about our family besides our reputation for extravagance and throwing lavish parties.”

  She nodded, “I suppose that is not a bad way to live,” she said.

  “Well – the food is really good,” he admitted with a laugh, “Besides I am quite close to some of my family – well mainly Aunt Lavender. She has a way about her that makes it really difficult not to love her.”

  “I agree,” Selina said with a nod, “I do wish she could have come along. I am a little nervous, even though I may not seem like it,” she admitted slowly.

  “Oh do not be,” the Duke said casually, “Disregard all those things I was saying to you before. That was only a ruse on my part to get you to talk to me.”

  Selina laughed, “I guessed as much.”

  --

  “Our man will intercept their carriage at the fork of the road, here,” Oswald said pointing at a spot on his roughly drawn map, “and take the girl.”

  Lucinda pursed her lips, “Are you absolutely sure it is them?” she said, her brow shooting upwards.

  “Yes,” Oswald replied, “My insider has given me accurate information so far!”

  “Is the girl alone?”

  “We do not know as yet,” Oswald said, “But I suppose there is no going back now.”

  “What if the Duke is with her!” Lucinda replied, “Surely, he will want to protect his sister. I am not sure if your men can handle two people protecting her.”

  Oswald shook his head, “Can you calm down? I have this under control! We will not have to handle 2 men – because the carriage driver is our very own.”

  Lucinda gasped, “What? Oh Oswald, how did you keep this secret to yourself all this time?” she asked, half impressed but mostly shocked.

  Oswald nodded proudly, “I told you, sister. I am thorough.”

  --

  The carriage ride had so far been without any trouble and the conversation was flowing freely between the two of them. But that came to an end when the carriage suddenly stopped on its own accords in the middle of the road.

  “What has happened?” Selina asked the Duke, who in turn looked just as much as puzzled as her.

  “I do not know,” he said and popped open the door a little to see that the driver of the carriage had gotten out as well, “What is the matter?” the Duke asked, now directing his question at the driver.

  “I do not know, Sir,” he replied, “The animal has just stopped moving.”

  “Well, fix the situation at once – we are on quite the time constraint!” the Duke ordered him.

  “Sir, I do not know – this has happened once before and the animal would just not move until he was prodded. If it isn’t too much to ask, can you step outside a moment and come help?” he said to the Duke.

  The Duke inhaled a sharp breath and looked obviously irked about the situation, “You stay here, I shall go see what is going on,” he told Selina and then stepped out of the carriage.

  The next few events happened very fast – the Duke felt a large pressure hit him on the side of his head as soon as he stepped foot out of the carriage and it caused him to be knocked straight out. Meanwhile, Selina saw this and visibly panicked but when she popped her head out of the door, she saw that two other men had also appeared and all eyes were on her.

  She nearly screamed but it was to no avail as she felt two strong arms grab her roughly from the sides.

  “What are you doing to me?” she yelled in protest, “Let go of me this instant!”

  “Not now princess,” one of the burlier men grinned at her with his yellowing teeth, “You are coming with us.”

  Selina screamed but there was no one around to hear her and the Duke was passed out on the ground in front of her. Eventually, they too put a hand against her mouth to prevent her from being too loud and then that was the last thing she remembered before she lost consciousness herself.

  Chapter 6

  When Selina regained consciousness, she found herself in a dark room and still a little disoriented. She had no idea how she had gotten here or even how much tim
e had passed since she was last conscious. Panicking, she felt around the space besides her and found nothing but utter darkness.

  But then suddenly the clasp on the door opened.

  “She’s awake,” a man’s voice said and suddenly she felt herself being dragged out to another room. She tried to struggle but it was no use against the stronghold iron grip the man had on her.

  Lucinda and Oswald sat on the opposite end of the room. Lucinda tapped her long fingernails against the wood of the table as she waited.

  “I told you, sister, we would have her,” Oswald said with a grin.

  “Yes, good work. Well, now the only thing that remains is to notify her family – the Duke will not be happy to hear this,” Lucinda grinned maniacally.

  “Indeed, he will not,” Oswald said in reply, “Oh, I bet he will be willing to pay whatever price we demand!” Oswald’s tone teetered on childish excitement at the utterance of those words.

  Lucinda’s grin also widened but was better composed. “Do not get ahead of yourself just yet,” she warned, “Let us speak to the girl first.”

  Oswald nodded, “Bring her in!” he called out loudly to the men outside their door.

  Two men brought in a blindfolded, restrained but still struggling Selina. They sat her roughly on the chair in front of Lucinda and Oswald.

  “Welcome, dear girl,” Oswald greeted her with a menacing edge to his tone.

  “Who are you and what is it that you want from me?” Selina demanded, even though she felt as though she was speaking to a wall as she could not see anything ahead of her.

  Lucinda smirked, “We want your cooperation, right now,” she said in a voice that sent chills down Selina’s back.

  “Yes, stop struggling girl, you are not getting out of here any time soon,” Oswald reinforced his sister’s point.