by Lydia Dare
“Oh, you’ll see me, right before I put a ball in your chest.”
“That’s enough,” the duke said from behind his son, making everyone look in his direction. “Robert, why don’t you go visit with your sister?”
Rob scowled at Wes. “This isn’t over.”
But it was. It was over between Wes and Madeline. And it was over between Wes and Rob. Wes nodded at his one-time friend. “Until next time, then.” As Rob stalked from the room, Wes turned his complete attention to the Duke of Hythe. “Thank you for seeing me, sir.”
“I told you not to expect Madeline’s dowry, Hadley. I can’t imagine what you’re doing here.”
That damned money Wes had never wanted. How could the duke think that was all he cared about? Wes sighed and his heart clenched as he knew what he had to do. “I haven’t come to see you about money, Your Grace. I’m returning your daughter to you.”
Hythe scoffed. “A little late for that, isn’t it?”
Wes hoped, not for Madeline’s sake. “I have given our last conversation great thought, sir, and I believe you were right on all accounts. Madeline will be better off without me.”
“I suppose you should have thought of that before you married her then.”
“You said the blacksmith could be bought, and I’m certain with your power and connections, you can do whatever you set your mind to, sir.”
Hythe stared at Wes, a muscle twitching in his jaw. “I’m not sure if that is possible at this point, Mr. Hadley. The man must have registered the marriage by now. If we’d done something that evening, perhaps. But now…”
“You must try,” Wes pressed. “Madeline deserves a chance at reclaiming her life. Whatever it costs, I’ll see you reimbursed.”
Hythe shook his head. “I would give my entire fortune to see my daughter free of you. I won’t take one farthing from you to see it done.”
Wes most certainly deserved the duke’s derision. He’d absconded with the man’s daughter, married her without his consent, and taken her innocence. “As you wish.”
***
Once Maddie entered her grandmother’s private parlor, she could no longer keep the tears from spilling down her cheeks.
“Madeline!” the duchess exclaimed, struggling from the settee to her feet.
Maddie nearly toppled her grandmother as she threw her arms around the old matron. “I’ve missed you.” She’d missed her grandmother’s strength and fortitude just as much as her love.
“So I can tell.” Then duchess pulled out of the embrace to look at Maddie, who felt very small under her grandmother’s scrutiny. “What have you done, my dear?”
“I’m not sure.” Maddie swiped at the tears streaming down her face. “But somehow I made a mess of everything and I’m not certain what I did.”
The duchess directed Maddie back to the settee, sat, and patted the spot beside her. “Your father is very hurt, you know?”
She did know. Maddie nodded, then she sat beside her grandmother and brushed away her tears. “And my husband is hurt and I’m hurt and I don’t know what to do, Grandmamma.”
The duchess snorted. “What does your husband have to be hurt about, Madeline? Seems to me the young man has gotten everything he’s ever wanted, or so he professed to your father.”
“H-he’s returning me to Papa.” Sobs wracked Maddie and she couldn’t say anything else. The truth nearly tore her soul in two. That admission was one of the hardest she’d ever had to make.
“Returning you?” Her grandmother puffed out her chest indignantly and handed Maddie a handkerchief. “What nonsense. Men don’t return their wives. That just isn’t done.”
But Weston was returning her. He’d made that very clear. “I-I wanted to come home,” she tried to explain. “A-and I ran off.”
The duchess shook her head as though nothing Maddie said made sense. “You eloped, you mean?”
Maddie dabbed at her eyes. “Well, yes,” she hastened to explain. “We did elope, but after that there was this actress and Weston… and then I wanted to come home. And I thought there was a fellow I could trust to help me, but he wasn’t trustworthy. And I ended up somewhere in the middle of nowhere and I couldn’t escape him. But Wes found me anyway and then… and then he said he was returning me to Papa. And he won’t even look at me, Grandmamma. He hasn’t looked at me for days.” Maddie chanced a glance at her grandmother to find the duchess’ mouth had dropped open.
“I’m not quite certain what to say, Madeline. I’m not even certain I understood half of your ramblings.”
But she couldn’t explain it any better. She didn’t know how. And she couldn’t tell her grandmother about the biting conversation. That was entirely too intimate a topic to discuss. “I’m not certain I understand it all myself, Grandmamma.”
The duchess frowned. “I never would have dreamed you would elope to the border, for heaven’s sakes. For you to have thrown caution to the wind, there must be something redeemable about the young man. But I’m having a very difficult time finding it.”
“It’s not Wes’ fault, Grandmamma. It’s mine. I said or did something that made him angry.”
“Men get angry with their wives,” her grandmother agreed. “And wives get angry with their husbands. And it’s been that way since the beginning of time. But neither men nor women can simply decide to return their spouses. It just isn’t done. I can’t imagine the chaos if such a thing were allowed.”
Tears formed in Maddie’s eyes again. “If he would just look at me…”
“He sounds like an impressive fool,” her grandmother declared. “Not at all the sort I would ever have imagined you would pick.”
And she wouldn’t have. Maddie would never have picked Weston Hadley of her own accord. And she would have never known what she was missing. “I love him.”
“Then he’s not the only fool.”
Maddie gasped at her grandmother’s curtness.
“Close your mouth,” the duchess ordered. “Let me explain something to you, Madeline. If your mother was still here, I’m sure she’d tell you the same thing. You can’t allow men to make decisions for you. We’d be in a sad state of affairs if they did so.”
“But…”
“Oh, I know they think they’re in charge. And it’s to our benefit to let them think that. There are always ways to get what you want. There are always ways to manage even the most difficult man. Your poor mother certainly had her hands full in that regard—”
“Maddie,” Robert said from the threshold.
She glanced up at her brother but couldn’t even manage to feign a smile for his benefit.
“You’re not needed at the moment,” the duchess informed Robert. “We’ll send for you if that time ever comes.”
Robert scowled. “Father sent me up here to visit, Grandmother.”
“And I’m sending you away. See how that works, Robert? This was all your fault to begin with. So be gone while I try to fix it.”
“My fault?” her brother echoed in outrage.
“Of course it’s your fault. If you hadn’t brought that fellow into the castle, Madeline never would have met him. You should choose your associates more wisely, Robert. You’d find that you wouldn’t end up in nearly the number of scrapes that you currently do.” She gestured toward the corridor. “Now, Madeline and I are in the middle of a discussion that does not concern you.”
Robert’s face turned a bit purple. “Well, do excuse my interruption. I suppose I’ll just call the villain out and be done with it then.”
Maddie leapt to her feet. “Don’t you dare touch one hair on his head, Robert Hayburn.”
“Maddie,” he complained.
But she shook her head to stop him from saying more. “He is my husband, even if he doesn’t want me, and I won’t have you speak ill of him.”
“Good-bye, Robert,” the duchess replied crisply.
After another scowl, her brother vanished from the threshold without another word.
Maddie looked back at her grandmother to find the duchess frowning at her. “I can’t imagine why you would want to be with such a man, Madeline, but if you truly want him, I’ll see if I can help.”
Grandmamma was formidable and generally got her way in any situation, but Maddie couldn’t see how she could possibly remedy this problem. “How?” she asked anyway, hoping against hope that her grandmother could do something.
“Well, I’ll just have put my head together with Caitrin Eynsford. I’m sure between the two of us, we can come up with something.”
***
Wes slunk through the doors of Eynsford Park, Gray right behind him. Misery had him so captured in its clutches that he didn’t even notice Price until he had almost bowled the old butler over. “Apologies,” he muttered.
But his voice was loud enough that Dash apparently heard it all the way in his study. “Weston!” his oldest brother bellowed.
“Now you’ve done it,” Gray mumbled under his breath. “Could you have at least waited five minutes before catching his attention?”
Then Wes heard stomping and stalking from the direction of the study, and within mere seconds, the Marquess of Eynsford stood before them, glowering like the pack alpha he was. “What exactly have you to say for yourself?”
“Take it easy on him, Dash,” Gray said softly. “He’s had a rough time of it.”
Dash turned his intimidating golden glare on Gray. “You have explaining to do as well, Grayson. I didn’t hire Lady Sophia so you could run out on your lessons without a moment’s notice.”
“Twins know when the other is in trouble,” Gray replied, though is voice was softer, more subservient. “I knew Wes needed me.”
“Next time,” Dash growled, “tell someone before you bolt. The two of you took ten years off my life making me worry about you.” Then he returned his gaze to Wes. “My study. Now.” He stalked off and didn’t even look back to see if Wes followed him.
Wes did follow, however. He’d been given an order from his pack leader, and he had no choice but to comply. Besides, he needed to tell his brother all that had transpired, and now was as good a time as any.
Dash barreled through his study door, rounded his desk, and sank into his large leather chair. He gestured to one of the high-backed seats before him. “Sit.”
A woman cleared her throat from the threshold, and Wes looked over his shoulder to find his sister-in-law holding Lia in her arms. “Dashiel.” Her Scottish lilt drifted across the room. “We discussed this.”
Dash stared at his wife. “I don’t tell you how to run things with your… friends.”
Cait rolled her eyes. “Because ye wouldna ken the first thing about it. I do ken somethin’ of this.”
Lia squealed and wiggled in her mother’s arms as she reached for Wes. At least someone was happy to see him.
“Caitrin,” Dash growled, which made Wes wince. His brother rarely called his wife Caitrin. Cait or Caitie often, but Caitrin only if he was thoroughly angry. If she was smart, she’d turn tail and never look back.
“Doona ‘Caitrin’ me.” Cait bent down, placing the squirming Lia on the ground at her feet. “And doona pretend that ye werena just as foolish as Weston when ye were younger. I am well aware of yer early exploits, as ye well ken. Do ye no’ remember what it was like ta fall in love with me?”
Lia toddled over to Wes’ seat and tried to climb up his trousers with her pudgy hands. Wes snatched her up and placed her in his lap and couldn’t help but smile at his niece. “I missed you, Lia.”
Dash speared Wes with a withering look. “Don’t think for one moment that just because you have my daughter in your arms I’ll show you any mercy.”
Cait walked farther into the study, a blue fire flashing in her eyes. “Ye are the most stubborn lout in existence, Dashiel Thorpe. How many times do I have ta tell ye that Wes dinna have a choice?”
He hadn’t had a choice, but how on earth did Cait know that? Wes stared at his sister-in-law. Was there something he was missing with her? Something he should have realized years ago? She always did seem to know everything that happened. He’d always assumed she could interpret his expressions, that something in his face gave him away. But Cait hadn’t seen him since the day Dash hired Lady Sophia and he’d escaped to Castle Hythe. And Renshaw said Cait had sent the carriage to him that night. How had she known to do so?
“We don’t go around abducting our neighbors’ daughters and eloping with them in Gretna,” Dash replied calmly, a little too calmly for Wes’ peace of mind. And how did Dash already know the particulars?
“His heart is broken.” Cait swiped at a tear. “Keep that in mind as ye eviscerate him. He’s already been punished more thoroughly than ye can ever do.” She held out a hand in Wes’ direction. “Come along, Lia. Yer father has business ta attend ta.”
Lia clutched Wes’ jacket with her hands. He smiled again at his niece, kissed her forehead, and then placed her back on the floor. “Go with Mama, Lia. I’ll see you soon, sweetheart.”
After Lia toddled over to her mother, Cait settled the child in her arms. She sent one last look at her husband, then she disappeared down the corridor.
Wes glanced at his brother who was now frowning. “Just get on with it. Whatever you intend to do with me.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with you yet.” Dash heaved a sigh. “But while I decide about the proper way to handle this situation, I do know that you will not leave Lady Sophia’s side except to go sleep at night. I don’t know if it’s even possible to salvage your reputation, Weston, but attending lessons with her is at least a start.”
Twenty-Six
Wes stood on the threshold of the nursery, watching Lia stack some blocks and Lucien topple them to the ground with one swipe of his hand. Wes smiled to himself, remembering simpler times.
A dainty hand touched his back, but Wes didn’t need to turn around to know Cait stood behind him. Her honeysuckle scent caught his nose. “Thank you for trying to help me.”
Cait sighed and stepped to his side, peering up at him. “If Dash finds out ye’re no’ at Sophie’s side, there willna be anythin’ I can do ta help ye.”
Wes looked back at the children once again. “I promised Lia I’d come see her.”
“I am sorry ye’re hurtin’, Weston. If there is anythin’ I can do ta help, ye ken I would do it.”
Wes glanced down at his sister-in-law and studied her pretty face, so angelic and sweet. “How did you know I was in trouble that night? How did you know to send Renshaw to me? To tell him to take us to Gretna?”
She smiled softly and shrugged. “Intuition, I suppose.”
In a pig’s eye. No one could have possibly known what had transpired that night. No one could have known the details Dash mentioned in his study. “Can you see the future, Cait?”
Her tinkling laugh reached his ears, but it sounded forced. “What a silly question, Wes.”
But she hadn’t answered it, had she? Wes took her hand in his and squeezed firmly. “Tell me Madeline will be all right, Cait. Can you see that?”
She shook her head. “I wish I could tell ye want ye want ta ken, Wes. But I canna do so.”
“Does that mean she won’t be all right? Does that mean I’ve truly ruined her life?”
“It means,” she squeezed back, “that I canna tell ye what I see or what I doona see. Yer future is in yer hands alone.”
But he was almost certain she could see the future, as a torrent of memories flooded his mind. Every time Cait seemed to know something she couldn’t possibly have discovered on her own. He wasn’t sure how she could see the future, but he knew without a doubt that she could do so. “Please, Cait. Tell me what you see.”
“No one should ken what the future has in store for them, Wes. It would disrupt the natural order of things. My best advice for ye is ta listen ta yer heart and follow it.”
“I did that already. And look where it got me.” He scrubbed a hand down his face in frustrat
ion.
Cait stepped in front of him, capturing his complete attention. Her blue eyes seemed almost intense enough that she could look into his soul. It was a little disconcerting. “Where did it get ye?” she asked softly.
Wes didn’t want to have this conversation. He’d already returned Madeline to her father. Hythe would undo the mess Wes had created with his ridiculously naïve actions.
But Cait pressed on. “Where did it get ye, Wes?”
Wes jumped to his feet and began to pace. “Nowhere,” he groaned. “Alone.” He took a deep breath as he watched his niece and nephew play. He wanted that. He wanted a family of his own. Sure, he was tightly aligned with his brothers. But the way Madeline made him feel, there was nothing like it. And now she was gone.
“I feel badly for forcin’ yer hand in this,” Cait said softly. “I should have left it alone.”
“What do you mean?” He glanced back down at her, and she looked a little more than chagrined by her admission.
“That night, would ye have thought about goin’ ta Gretna if I hadna sent Renshaw ta ye?” She tilted her head as she regarded him, studying him much too closely for comfort.
“It was a very logical conclusion,” he said. “She’d just learned something that only our mates know. So, making her my wife was the only way to keep our secret.”
“And is that the only reason why ye wanted ta marry her? Or does it go a little deeper than that?” She put her hands together as though in prayer. Or as though she wanted to beg him. “Please search deep inside yerself. How long could ye love her from afar?”
“Forever.” And that was the truth. He could have. “But I’m not good enough for her,” he growled. Then he realized that he was raising his voice at one of his only allies. “I’m sorry, Cait,” he said. “It’s better this way.” He nodded his head quickly, as though he could convince himself if he tried hard enough, instead of just her. But that was impossible. “She’s too good for me.”
A voice broke the sudden silence that descended upon the room. “Don’t worry, Mr. Hadley,” Lady Sophia said from behind him in the threshold. “Maddie’s been taught that very thing since the day she could walk. So, please take note of what a leap of faith it must have been for her to get in that carriage with you…”