His Temporary Mistress

by Bethany Sefchick

  Miri, Will, and Rayne had bought Dory some time to adjust to the idea of leaving London for good, however. Well, actually, Rayne had. In the end, after speaking at length with Miri, Rayne had overruled his wife and insisted that Frost be the one who would make the final decision regarding Dory’s future. Which meant that a messenger had to be sent to Hallowby and then would return with the viscount’s decision. Until then? Dory stayed right where she was.

  Sarah had been furious for, despite everything, she still wished to pack her sister off for the country at first light. However, in the end, cooler heads – specifically Rayne’s – had prevailed and Dory had been given a week’s reprieve.

  Oh, Dory had known that, in the end, she would still be sent off to the country to care for her mother. There had never been any doubt in her mind as to Frost’s final decision on the matter. Though she had hoped that a few more days in London might mean that she could see Jeremy one last time. She couldn’t be with him, of course, but she had hoped that she might be able to catch a glimpse of him somewhere. Dory had even convinced Miri to take her to Mr. Okey’s shop in the hopes of encountering Jeremy just one last time.

  He hadn’t been there. In fact, he hadn’t been anywhere in London recently. Nor had the little gifts he used to send via servants appeared by her breakfast plate each morning. Though Dory had learned that Jeremy had paid a footman to place those things there and encouraged the rest of the staff to look the other way.

  How he had accomplished such a thing Dory still didn’t know. What Dory did know was that Rayne had forbidden Sarah from firing all of the Chilton House staff when the truth was discovered.

  Even in her biggest of snits, that was not at all like Sarah. Actually, none of Sarah’s actions as of late was anything like those of the sister Dory remembered, and Dory didn’t think that even married life could change her so drastically. Something was very wrong, and unless Dory got to the bottom of it, she would go to the country still at odds with her sister. That was the last thing she wanted so, while Sarah sat there and poked at her needlepoint, Dory decided that now was as good of a time as any to make one last attempt to make amends with her sister.

  “What is it exactly that you have against Jeremy? What has he done that is so terrible?” Dory thumped her book down on a nearby table to ensure she snared her sister’s attention, though there was no doubt in Dory’s mind that Sarah was only waiting for a response to even one of her earlier nasty comments.

  “What has he done that is terrible?” Sarah cried, obviously thrilled that Dory was giving her this opening. “What has he done that was good?”

  Dory crossed her arms over her chest. “Where would you like me to begin?”

  “Very well.” Sarah crossed her arms as well, mimicking her sister. “Tell me one selfless thing that he has done.”

  “That is easy. He took over the dukedom when his brother was injured without actually receiving the title or access to the ducal funds. All work and no glory just so that the tenants would not starve and the dukedom could continue.”

  Sarah waved a hand in the air. “Pift! That is duty. Nothing more. Name another.”

  “He took care of his mother and his ward, Maggie.”

  “Again, that is duty,” Sarah sneered, picking up the needlepoint she had been working on all morning.

  “It is more than many gentlemen would do,” Dory countered as she rubbed her eyes. This was not going well at all. “He had a club to run. He could have walked away and allowed Wyncliffe to flounder under his cousin Arthur, who doesn’t have the brain in his head that God gave a mouse.”

  Sarah cocked her head to the side. “And how do you know all of this? How close were you to that…that…that lecher?”

  So much for attempting to mend fences. Dory had endured quite enough and she leaped to her feet to quit the room, ready to deliver one last parting shot at her sister before she left. “Jeremy is not a lecher! He is a fine man and more than that, he is the man I love! The only man I will likely ever love!”

  Once more, Sarah made a dismissive noise, this time putting her needlepoint away for good. “You might think you are in love, Dory, but I can assure you that love? It takes time to grow and is not born in a single week or two. You’ve never lived the experiences I have and you have no idea what the real world is like. How cruel most men are, save for those like Rayne. I have the impression that Lord Wyncliffe is no different than Father. He runs a gaming hell, after all!”

  “What do you know about Jeremy other than how he made his fortune?” Dory shouted as tears began to stream down her face, refusing to back away from Sarah’s awful accusations this time. “Nothing! You know nothing about anything! And he is nothing like our father! Of that I can assure you!” She drew in a shaky breath. “Did you know Father beat me, too? Then, to make up for it, once he came to his senses, he taught me things like bookkeeping and accounting. He taught me things that he would have taught a son because he felt so guilty for laying his hand on me.”

  At that, Sarah’s face took on an ashen color. “No. That can’t be. He swore to me that…”

  “That what, Sarah?” Dory shot back. “That he wouldn’t hurt me if you married some old man? Or whatever it is he threatened you with? Well, it didn’t work! Trust me!”

  “Dory, I…I didn’t…that is to say, I didn’t know.” Sarah’s hand rested at the base of her throat, and Dory could see that her sister was truly horrified by everything that had just been revealed. “I mean you were always a bit different than Aurelia or me, but I didn’t know why.”

  Dory snorted in disgust. “Because you never asked. And you never really cared, either. All you cared about was Rayne and your own misery. Because you assumed that you were the only person bad things ever happened to and that your so-called ‘sacrifices’ that made you so bloody miserable were penance for keeping everyone else safe or some other nonsense. But they never were and if you had looked up and away from your misery for a moment, you might have seen that.”

  “Dory, I’m sorry.” Sarah rose and tried to approach her, but Dory backed up. “I didn’t know.”

  “I know you didn’t. Because you didn’t ask. No one did. Except Jeremy.” Dory shook her head, the remains of her shattered heart aching in her chest. “And he asked because he cared about me. He saw me for who and what I was. He treated me as if I mattered. Nor did he ever tell me I was different.”

  Sarah bit her lip. “But you are different Dory. You don’t care about the same things Aurelia and I do. The gowns and shoes and whatnot.”

  Dory snorted and banged her fist against a wall to keep from lashing out. “You assume I don’t care. You assume because I’m not as pretty as you that I don’t desire someone to love me. That I don’t want to look my best for him and have him find me attractive.”

  “I never thought that. At least not exactly!” Sarah shook her head. “What I was afraid of was you falling prey to a man like Randall Witherson, as I did. A man who would use you and hurt you because you had no experience with men. Because you were more used to things like picking locks than attempting to pick open a gentleman’s heart. It wasn’t that I didn’t think you couldn’t do it. It was that I guess I just thought you didn’t know how and didn’t care to learn.”

  “Because I wasn’t pretty. Not the way you and Aurelia are.”

  Dory noted that Sarah had nothing to say to that repeated comment.

  “I am not stupid, Sarah. Yes, I have a wild streak and you can thank our father for that. But it doesn’t make me stupid. Reckless sometimes yes, but not stupid.”

  “After Father, how could you become involved with a man like Jeremy Dunn? Answer me that much, at least.” There was true confusion in Sarah’s voice. “He runs a gaming hell. He has bedded God-knows how many women! He is a wicked, wicked man!”

  “Or perhaps he isn’t really any of those things and Society only assumes he is. Because people like you allow that gossip to spread.” Dory felt weary to the bone just then and she was tir
ed of defending Jeremy to a woman who would not listen. “Perhaps you don’t know him and you don’t trust me or my judgment when I say that I do.”

  “You sneaked into his club,” Sarah countered. “I would hardly consider that good judgment.”

  “Again, I was reckless,” Dory corrected her sister. “I was not foolish or stupid. I knew what I was getting into the moment I walked into Dionysus and I was prepared to face the consequences. What I was not prepared to do was fall in love.”

  Sarah shook her head. “No one is. Even when you think that you are.”

  Just then, the door to the drawing room flew open with a bang and both Sarah and Dory jumped back in time to see Rayne burst through the door.

  “What in the devil is going on in here?” he bellowed, looking directly at Sarah. “Have I not been explicit enough with you regarding Dory and how she is to be left alone? For God’s sake, Sarah, she has been nursing a broken heart and all I can hear, all day long is you badgering her and it needs to stop!”

  “I know.” Sarah’s response was soft, and yet Dory heard it loud and clear.

  “Furthermore, I will not have you…wait. What did you say?” Apparently, Rayne had heard his wife too, though it had taken longer for the words to sink into his brainbox.

  “I said that I know.” Sarah looked at Dory, her expression now one of sadness. “Or rather, I know now. I didn’t before.”

  Rayne looked at Dory in confusion. “Do you understand anything that she is saying.”

  “I do.” Right now, Dory understood more than she had in a very long time. “Sarah was only trying to protect me. She might have gone about it wrong, but she meant well. I think?”

  Sarah nodded. “I, well, I made a mistake. I am not saying that I approve of Lord Wyncliffe.” She blew out a breath and Dory knew how difficult this must be for her proud, always-needs-to-be-right sister. “What I am saying is that I don’t know him well enough to make that judgement as to whether he is a good man or not. But Dory does. And I? Well, I trust her to make the right decision for herself, even if it is not the same one I would make.”

  Something about that statement touched Dory deeply. “Thank you, Sarah. That you can even admit that much means a great deal to me. I never wanted to hurt you. Any of you. But could not live painted into this box everyone has put me into any longer.”

  “I’m still not sure I will ever understand,” Sarah confessed. Then she looked at Rayne sheepishly. “But as someone I love reminded me just last night, it is also not my life and the damage has been corrected. Well, most of it, anyway.”

  A displeased look crossed Rayne’s face. “What do you mean, most of it? I thought we agreed that you would not interfere with any of Nick’s plans, Sarah.”

  “I didn’t. Not exactly.” Which was not really a “no” Dory noted. “I only…”

  “Only what?” They had come so far today in mending their relationship, but Dory wasn’t at all certain she wanted to hear whatever her sister had to say next.

  Staring to pace, Sarah flipped her hands in the air. “It is a minor thing, really. I mean, I didn’t think…”

  “Out with it, Sarah!” Rayne was obviously beginning to lose his patience with his wife. “What did you do?”

  Stopping her pacing, she grasped Rayne’s hands in hers. “Every day when Lord Wyncliffe has come calling, I have sent him away. I, er, might have hinted that Dory had made the decision to leave for the country to care for our mother. That she felt she made a mistake in ever becoming involved with him.” She blew out a breath. “Today, I also might have told him that Dory had no wish to see him ever again.”

  “Sarah, no! How could you?” Her knees now weak, Dory sank to the settee. “He thinks I don’t want to see him again? That’s just not right.”

  “Well, you are leaving for the country tomorrow.” In trying to defend herself, Sarah was only digging her hole deeper. “And I thought it for the best. Send him away before he hurt you.”

  “You though. You thought.” Pain unlike Dory had ever known pierced her heart. “That is so very bloody typical of you, Sarah! Trying to control everyone and everything, even after you received your fairy tale. Never once considering what I might have wanted for my own life. Never once did you think of who I wanted in my future. Nor did you care!”

  Doing her best not to cry, Dory sniffled a few times, but the way her heart was breaking inside of her chest was too much to take. Her world was crumbling before her and now? There was no chance to repair the damage. Assuming Jeremy even wanted to see her again. He probably didn’t. There were far less troublesome women out there who would eagerly fill his bed. And become his bride.

  He needed a wife now. A woman to be his duchess. But he didn’t need Dory. Or the complications she brought into his life. More than that, thanks to Sarah, Jeremy now believed Dory thought she didn’t need him. And that realization made her cry all the harder.

  Her one chance at love, real love, and the chance to be something more than a mere accessory in someone else’s life was gone. Sarah might have had her heart in the right place – and Dory had no doubt her sister truly believed that she did – but she had, in her foolish desire to manage Dory’s life, also destroyed any chance Dory had of knowing real happiness.

  Of knowing love and family. Of having a husband. Or a family.

  Now? There was a lonely future laid out before her. The only unwed daughter, obligated to care for her ailing mother.

  It wasn’t that Dory begrudged her mother this care. She wanted her mother to be safe and protected and loved and cared for, especially now. But Dory also wanted her own life and that? That had been snatched away. Yet another decision made for her.

  This time, as the truth of everything slowly sank in, Dory didn’t stop herself from crying. Instead, she wept with all of the anguish she felt inside and wondered if this cutting, slicing pain would ever stop.

  Immediately, Rayne dropped to his knees beside Dory and took her in his arms, pulling her close as Frost would have. “Shh. Dory, love. It will be well. You will see.” He glared up at his now-sheepish-looking wife. “We will fix this. I promise.”

  Except that Dory didn’t see how it could be fixed. Sarah had essentially told Jeremy to go away. That Dory no longer wanted anything to do with him.

  However, Dory was not, in general, a watering pot. She was stronger than this because her father had made her stronger. So instead of continuing to weep, she drew in a breath and pulled back, looking at her brother-in-law through tear-filled eyes. But she wasn’t crying. Not any longer.

  “How? How can we possibly fix this?” Because if there was a way to win Jeremy back and convince him that Sarah had been speaking out of turn? Dory would take it. She wanted the man who held her heart back and she was strong enough to fight for him. Just as she had been strong enough to walk through the front door of Dionysus.

  “I, ah, don’t actually know,” Rayne confessed. “But I believe there are some people who can help us figure that out. Ones who will need to be notified anyway, as their, er, previous plans might need to be amended after this morning. I’ll send out messages to them straight away.” Once more he glanced up at Sarah. “And while we wait? My wife and I will have a little chat about appropriateness that I think is long overdue.”

  It wasn’t a solution. It wasn’t an answer. But it was a promise from Rayne that he would try to help her win back Jeremy. In the end, that was all Dory could ask for.

  Chapter Twenty

  I am sorry, Lord Wyncliffe, but my sister has no desire to see you again. Now, please, do not call upon us again. You are not welcome here.

  Perhaps Jeremy might have had an easier time accepting Dory’s decision if he had heard the words from her lips. But he hadn’t. Instead, he had heard them second-hand through her sister Sarah, a woman who despised him anyway.

  Still, given the way Sarah had delivered that pronouncement, with great relish and what might have been a tiny bit of glee, left Jeremy with no doubt in his m
ind that Sarah was simply passing on a message from Dory herself. She didn’t want to see him again or associate with him or even speak with him.

  Not that he could blame her, really.

  He was the fool who had been so wrapped up in fantasies about what could be that he hadn’t realized that a traitor, employed by his own mother, had wormed his way into the club. A traitor who had immediately run right to the press the moment Jeremy had tossed his sorry arse to the curb. A traitor who had exposed Dory as Lady Peacock.

  Oh, some of the gossip rags had recanted their stories, of course, but only because Nick – as Jeremy now called the Blood Duke in private – had all but forced them to do so. On the other hand, Lady A. of The Town Tattler had taken great joy in pronouncing that not only had every other paper gotten it wrong, but that there was no possible way Dory could be Lady Peacock – though she had yet to provide the promised proof.

  However, in the end, the damage was done and now? Dory’s reputation was in tatters and she was about to leave London – and him – forever.

  The Tattler and a few other papers were, of course, doing their best to paint a rosy picture of the situation, saying that the dowager Viscountess of Chilton was ill – which was true. They also said that the dowager was retiring to the country to “recover her health” and that Dory, as the only unwed daughter was doing her duty by accompanying her mother on the journey – which was partially true. Those same gossip rags assured their breathless readers that the esteemed Lady Dory would, of course, return in time, likely after her mother’s health improved – which was not true in the least.