Lady Newdale spun with an exaggerated sigh, stomping out of the room. Her son silently followed.
The duke’s eyes swung to Lily, still standing by the fireplace. “Lily?”
“But I need to stay,” Lily said, her hands wringing. “Brianna does not know the damage she has done.”
“I am sure Brianna grasps the seriousness of the situation, Lily. And you have too much at stake. Wynne will stay, if it helps your concerns.”
Lily’s eyes dropped from the duke to Brianna. The sheer disappointment in Lily’s eyes cut straight through Brianna’s pounding heart.
Her head bowing, Lily turned, disappearing out of the room.
The door closed, and aside from the shuffle of Wynne moving from the settee to stand next to her husband, the silence thickened in the room. Lord Luhaunt stayed in his place by the window, oddly silent.
Wynne cleared her throat, clasping her hands together. “I am aware that I am the American in the room, so I understand the nuances of this the least, but we have a very dire situation here, do we not?”
“To put it mildly, yes,” the duke said.
“Thank you for handling Lady Newdale, your grace,” Brianna said. “I appreciate your words. And I do appreciate the awkward position this has caused everyone. But truly, you must believe me—what happened by the stream is of no concern. I was hot and I waded into the water, and Lord Luhaunt happened upon me. I had my shift on the entire time. I was extracting myself from the situation when Wynne and the rest of the party happened upon us. There was no misconduct.”
“You can remove the worry from your face, Brianna. I do believe you,” the duke said. “Seb has also assured me of the innocence of the situation.”
Relief flooded Brianna. The last thing she wanted was the duke and duchess to think her wanton. Now they could go about fixing this. “Is there any way out of this that will ensure the mishap does not taint Lily’s marriage options?”
Brianna watched as a deep frown set onto Wynne’s face as she looked from Brianna up to her husband.
“What? What is it?” Brianna asked.
“They have to get married, do they not?” Wynne asked.
The duke heaved a sigh, nodding.
“What? No.” Brianna took several steps backwards, hands up in front of her, waving. “No—no, no, no. I was hoping for suggestions to help clear the situation. Not a marriage. No.”
“Brianna, a marriage is the only thing that will clear you of this.” The duke’s face was gentle empathy. “Scandal is sure to attach itself to you, no matter what. There is nothing we can do about that. The best we can do is to mitigate the scandal with a marriage. There will be chatter, but a full scandal will not haunt you. Will not haunt your sister and her prospects.”
“But…but only we know,” Brianna stuttered. “We cannot control this? There must be something we can do. We are just not thinking hard enough.”
The duke shook his head. “If it were just the four of us in this room—all would be well. But it is not. Both Lord Newdale and his mother saw you—to be blunt—near to naked with Lord Luhaunt. There is no avoiding the scandal. A marriage is the only way we can save your reputation and quiet the scandal before it can harm your sister. If you were thinking…objectively, you would already know this. Seb has already agreed to the marriage.”
“He what? He has?” Mouth agape, Brianna’s head swung to Lord Luhaunt. He gave her a slight nod, the same half smile from earlier on his face. She whipped back to the duke. “Well, I will not. Absolutely not. I will take the scandal fully, then. I will not marry him.”
The door to the drawing room crashed open.
“You will.” Lily stalked into the room, slamming the door closed behind her. “On all that is holy, Bree, you will marry him.”
Brianna’s hands flew up in front of her. “Lily, I know that would be easiest, but I will not—you know I cannot.”
Not slowing, Lily came at her, and Brianna thought for a moment that her sister was going strike her. But then Lily stopped, only a breath away.
“How could you do this to me, Bree? You know I am hoping for a proposal from Lord Newdale—but now his mother—how could you? He will never marry me if you do not do this.”
“Lily, this is my scandal, not yours. This need not affect you.”
“You know that is not true.”
Brianna looked desperately around the room for help.
None came.
Her eyes went back to Lily’s, a mirror of her own. “My reputation has nothing to do with you, Lily. I am sure after a few days, if I just disappear, Lady Newdale will forget everything that happened by the stream. I do not think Lord Newdale cares a whit about what happened—it is just his mother. So if I go away, you can continue on with him. It will be like it never happened.”
“Blast it, Brianna—she will not forget, and you know it.” Lily’s voice turned vicious. “You have ruined my life, Bree. Again. You have done it again.”
Brianna grabbed Lily’s arms, trying to get her to see reason. “I have not. This is an overreaction. All of it is. Your life is not ruined, and there is no need for me to marry.”
“How could you do this to me, Bree?” Lily’s vicious tone spun into desperation. “You promised—you swore you would make it up to me—and now this? I finally have a chance to be happy, and you rip it from me like this?”
“No, Lils, this is just a misunderstanding. It can still be fixed.”
“You owe me this, Bree. You owe me.”
Brianna’s hands dropped heavily from Lily’s arms.
Lily was right. She did owe her sister this.
Numb, she turned from Lily.
Not about to let her escape, Lily jumped in front of Brianna. “You will do it? You will marry Lord Luhaunt? Tell me you will do it, Bree.”
Brianna could not look at her. Could not look at the duke or duchess. Could not look at Lord Luhaunt. Slowly, she nodded, her chin falling to her chest. “Yes.”
“Thank you.” The two words, and her sister flew back out the door.
The door quietly clicked closed.
“I would presume she is off to report the resolution to Lady Newdale?” Wynne asked in a whisper.
“I imagine.” The duke grabbed his wife’s hand, setting it in the crook of his elbow. “We should follow. There will be questions.”
Eyes on the patterned maroon edge of the rug covering the wood floor, Brianna listened as the footsteps of the duke and duchess exited the drawing room.
What had she just done?
What the hell had just happened?
When, in all of that, had she so completely lost control of everything?
A hand wrapping over her shoulder from behind made her jump, and she realized Lord Luhaunt was still in the room.
He had been silent through it all. So silent, she had forgotten he was even present.
For the merest second, there was something so kind, so comforting about his warm hand near her neck. But then Brianna revolted, stumbling out of his grasp.
“What do you think on that, Brianna? We are to be married.”
She turned to him, looking up, meeting his brown eyes.
His smile had widened, still soft, reassuring, but now there was a twinkle behind it.
If she didn’t know better, she would say the devil in his smile had planned this whole thing.
~~~
“You are shaking.”
Sebastian had seen it right in the middle of Brianna’s argument with her sister. Saw the moment Brianna had started to shake. The exact moment when she lost all control of the situation.
And she was still shaking.
She shrugged, twisting to avoid his hand going to her shoulder again. “I am not.”
“Look at your hands, Brianna.”
Her quivering hands came up as her eyes dropped to them. She held them suspended in the air, staring at them trembling for a long second.
“Oh.”
She crossed her arms, tucking h
er hands into her body, hidden. But it didn’t hide the quaking in her shoulders.
Of all that he had seen and done that day, it was this—her body out of control—that cut to his conscience and had Sebastian truly questioning his tactics.
Not able to stop himself, he pounced before she could avoid him, setting both of his hands on her shoulders, hoping to still the trembling. He stared down at the top of her head, searching for words to make this easier for her. “Brianna…what is done is done. It is the right course.”
Her eyes whipped up to him. “Did you plan this, Lord Luhaunt?
“What?”
“Did you plan this? Plan to ruin me?”
“How could I have possibly planned what happened by the stream?”
“Did you invite Wynne to catch us?”
“You question my honor?”
She glared at him, accusation plain in her clear blue eyes.
A soft chuckle escaped from his lips, his hands tightening on her shoulders. “Do you honestly think I somehow knew I would find you near to naked in a stream, and miraculously, I had thought ahead and asked Wynne to meet us in that very spot? You truly must think me magical if I could have possibly done any of those things.”
Her bottom lip disappeared under her teeth as she stared at him. “No. I apologize. It was wrong to question your honor.” Her eyes narrowed at him. “But your actions by the stream—all of this could have been avoided if you had just left. Left instead of sitting there a cad, antagonizing me. And to what end? Look at where we are now.”
“You blame me?”
“Yes.”
His hands dropped from her shoulders. She was angry again. Angry, but the shaking had stopped. He would take the anger well over the shaking shell she had just been.
“I cannot change what happened, Brianna. And I am not going to fight what is to come.”
Her eyes lit up. “But you could. You could leave. Disappear. Sneak off. Jilt me. I would be ever so grateful if you would. And you need not worry—I would only speak kind words of you.”
“I am not about to do that, Brianna.”
“I do not…I do not know what to do.” Her hand went to her forehead, rubbing it. “I do not know how to extract us from this situation. And you—you vex me, Lord Luhaunt. You. This situation. Everything. All I wanted to do was to find a suitable husband for Lily, the only reason we even came to Notlund, and now this…now this.”
She sank onto a side chair, her fingers going back and forth under the brown lace crawling up her neck as if it was choking her. Sebastian could see her start to crumble again.
He moved to sit on the chair next to her, leaning forward so she was forced to look at him. “All of this will be easier, Brianna, if you just accept the inevitable.”
“That easy?” Her head shook, her gaze going to the ceiling. With a deep breath, her blue eyes dropped to him. “What do you want from me, Lord Luhaunt?”
“Foremost, Brianna, I would like you to not look repulsed at the very thought of marrying me.”
Her head jerked to a tilt. “I look repulsed?”
“Slightly.”
“Oh…I fear I have lost all politeness.”
“It is understandable. Second, and most importantly, I wish to marry you. You will recall I did come here for a wife.”
“And it does not matter to you who that wife is?”
“I want you, Brianna. I have made no secret of that.”
Frown deepening on her face, Sebastian could see the suspicion in her eyes only heighten. As many times as he had told her that, not once had she believed him.
Not once.
Sebastian stared at her, attempting to see past her eyes, past her wall.
Not once had she looked at him without suspicion.
And he needed to figure out why.
{ Chapter 5 }
She only had two days left.
Two days before the marriage, and as much as she had tried to convince the duke, Wynne, and her sister that the marriage wasn’t necessary, Brianna had made no progress. True, she had agreed to the marriage, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to escape it until the very moment she said “I do.”
Her sister avoided her at every turn, and Wynne would merely turn the conversation to wedding preparations. The duke had been scarce, Brianna only saw him at dinners. But at least he was still at Notlund—unlike Lord Luhaunt, who had disappeared altogether.
Brianna hadn’t talked to Luhaunt since the day of the scandal. He had left Notlund for a few days, presumably to prepare things for the wedding—arrange the special license—but she wasn’t sure. She had hoped against hope that he maybe just wouldn’t return. That he would disappear, fleeing the need to marry her.
But then Luhaunt had returned. And Brianna had become desperate. So desperate, that she was about to trade one secret in order to keep an even more precious one.
Pacing the wooden boards on the porch of Wynne’s painting studio, situated just up the hill from the expansive stables, Brianna’s eyes scanned the rolling pastures. She had been waiting for two hours for Lord Luhaunt to appear, jittery and watching the workers that were busy constructing the fourth, and grandest, stable at Notlund.
One of the stableboys had reported that Luhaunt had taken out a new young mare to test her stamina. But how long did it really take to test a horse’s stamina?
Brianna stopped, rocking back on her heels as she looked at the horizon above the forest canopy. The sun’s rays were beginning to wane. If Luhaunt did not appear soon, she would miss her chance to talk to him in private today.
Thundering hooves from her right made her jump, and a cloud of dust preceded a lean brown horse coming to a sudden halt in front of her. Brianna looked up.
Lord Luhaunt. Of course. The man was not bashful.
“Brianna. You are waiting for me?”
Brianna’s arms crossed over her belly. Was she that obvious? She nodded.
A quick smile crossed his face. “Had I known the pleasure awaited me, I would have returned much earlier. Let me get this one settled to her stall. You will wait?”
Brianna nodded again, her arms tightening against her belly. She hadn’t realized how twisted her stomach had gotten during the past several days, but there it was, a spiked rock ravaging her belly at the mere sight of Luhaunt.
Within minutes, Brianna was watching Luhaunt walk up from the second stable. In a simple white linen shirt with sleeves rolled back, buckskin breeches, and well-worn, tall black Hessians, Lord Luhaunt looked entirely comfortable, entirely at ease with dirt and sweat covering his tall frame.
He ran a hand through his dark brown hair, mussing even more the tousle of it. She took a deep breath. If she did end up having to marry the man, at least he was easy to look at. Too easy, truth be told.
“Have you been waiting long?” Luhaunt asked halfway up the hill.
Brianna stepped from the porch onto the scrubby grass splotching the dirt. “Yes. But it was fine to wait. I wished to speak to you in private.” She met him a few paces from the studio.
He stopped, eyeing her for a quick second, then looked around. “Walk with me to the castle?”
Brianna nodded, her arms dropping from her stomach. She didn’t trust being alone with him, but she also couldn’t risk having this conversation anywhere near prying ears.
They walked in silence to the start of the path that ran through the forest up to the castle. Her eyes on the trail in front of her, she could feel Luhaunt’s curious glances her way.
Once they were secluded in the quiet of the trees, Luhaunt cleared his throat. “What was it you wanted to discuss, Brianna?”
The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. That he continued to call her by her first name put her on guard—far too intimate. But she wasn’t about to fight that battle. She had much bigger problems—like extracting herself from getting married.
She glanced up at him. “To my dismay, this wedding appears to be moving forth. I had hoped that with a fe
w days’ time, the duke and my sister would see that it is not necessary, but they have not budged in their opinions.”
“Nor have I.”
“Yes, well, you may think differently after I tell you what I need to. And in which case, I will be more than happy to absolve you from any entanglement with me.”
“What is it you need to tell me?”
“The money, the Silverton estate. I am sure you know that it is vast and healthy.”
“I do.”
“I was not lying when I told you days ago that all of it is tied into trusts that are only accessible by me, and limitedly, by my sister. A husband for either of us would have no access to the fortune. I have had three separate solicitors working to make it so, and the trusts are unbreakable. I would be happy to show you the documents.”
He shrugged. “I do not need to see the documents, Brianna. I believe you.”
“Do you understand? You will not gain anything by marrying me, Lord Luhaunt.”
“I disagree.”
“You do?”
“I will gain a wife.”
Brianna gritted her teeth, taking a controlling breath. “In no uncertain terms, Lord Luhaunt, if we are forced to marry—and I emphasize forced—you will not be able to take control of any assets, and you will not be able to make me choose to give you anything.” Her voice went hard. “No matter what you think you can do to me, I will give you nothing. If you think you can break my will, you cannot.”
His eyebrow cocked up at her, curious. “I believe you misinterpret every intention I have, Brianna. I do not want your money—I never did. The earldom eclipses anything I could ever desire, and then some.”
Brianna’s feet stopped. “But you work so hard for this stud farm—all of your travels. Wynne has talked about all you have done to make these stables, this business, successful—you work on it like you need it to be prosperous.”
Earl of Destiny Page 5