Nick put up his hand to silence the man. “My lord I intend no insult or disrespect to you or your family, but I must speak to your niece in private. We are previously acquainted.”
Lady Marsh clasped her hands to her heart as if she were about to have a fit of apoplexy.
Lord Marsh looked to Jem for confirmation.
“We are, uncle.” She smoothed her skirts and shot Nick a hard look.
Lady Marsh pressed a hand against her mouth and grabbed at her husband’s arm. She shook her head furiously in denial. “But, how—”
“Your Grace, perhaps I should stay.” Lord Marsh's features hardened. “It is unheard of for an unwed lady of good family to—”
“Please,” Jem interrupted her uncle. “Please, Uncle John.”
Aunt Maisy gave Nick a pinched look before gathering her skirts and leaving the room, her back stiff with disapproval.
Arabella opened her mouth to speak.
“Not now, Bella. Please.” Nick urged his sister to leave. The truth of who Jem was, indeed who her family was, would send Arabella into a fit of rage.
A look of understanding slowly spread across Malden’s face as he looked at his cousin in Nick's arms. He nodded once at Nick, then he tried to take Arabella's arm, to escort her from the room.
Arabella, contrary as always, refused Malden’s courtesy and marched out after Aunt Maisy.
Petra wrinkled her nose, still pondering the situation but took her mother’s proffered hand and followed obediently out, her face full of questions.
Nick watched them all filter out, his eyes lingering for a moment on Petra. Had he really considered marrying her only an hour ago? Now that Jem was alive, the very idea of the match proposed by Lord Marsh seemed preposterous.
Lord Marsh remained, seemingly determined not to allow Nick to be alone with his niece. Something flickered across the man’s face as he looked at Nick, but the strange emotion was gone in a thrice.
“On my honor, my lord,” Nick inclined his head, pretending not to notice Jem's snort of derision at the word honor, “”he will come to no harm.”
“I wish to hear what His Grace,” she said mockingly making her uncle wince, “has to say.”
The earl finally gave in and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Jem waited calmly until the sound of her uncle’s footsteps receded, the only sign of her emotional distress the slight movement of her feet beneath her skirts. She looked as if she were preparing to flee at any moment.
“You're a bloodyduke?Youare Petra's suitor?” she said calmly. “Not one-eyed. Not Nick Shepherd, poor relation to the Dowager Marchioness of Cambourne. Not a fortune hunter. Do you even know the Dowager Marchioness?”
“Yes. She is a friend of the family.” He reached for her.
Violently, she slapped at his hand. “Don't touch me.”
“You're alive.”
“Yes, I'm alive. How else did you expect to find me?” She crossed her arms and turned from him, her shoulders hunching as if she were in pain. “Although, I would wager you did not expect to find me at all.”
Nick’s voice broke. “I was told you had died.”
She turned around her face deathly white, with no trace of the golden tan of the islands upon her cheeks. “Were you? How inconvenient for you that I amnot. How shocked you must be. Tell me,Your Grace, do you often go about seducing young women under the auspices of another identity? What a delightful game. How unfortunate for me to show up during the very dinner where my uncle would likely discuss a betrothal of his daughter to you.”
What else could she think? “I never meant to leave you.”
He heard the pleading in his voice for understanding. Dear God, how could he tell her the truth? The whole of that truth was now even worse than he could have imagined. Not only was her father a traitor to his country, but he was the brother to the current Earl of Marsh. He wondered if Lord Marsh knew of his brother’s past and realized that he must.
She slapped at him again. “Why wouldyou, a bloody duke, have anything to do with an untitled girl from Bermuda except as a game?” Her breasts heaved with emotion. “I know that some of thetonare so depraved that they find pleasure in toying with others. Are you so despondent over your vast fortune and status that you came to Bermuda for amusement?”
“That is not the truth of it.”
