Or heal it. He hardly knew which.
He realized he was staring at her.Say something, you lummox!Giving himself a little shake, he turned back to the duke. “Your Grace, what a pleasure it is to welcome you to my humble home. Lady Clarissa, I’m delighted to see you again this morning.” David bowed his head and did his best not to look like a besotted fool. “I’d like to introduce my younger brother, Charles.”
Please be on your best behavior, Charles!
His brother looked back and forth between him and Lady Clarissa with wide eyes and raised an eyebrow at him before turning to the duke. Fortunately, Charles appeared to rein in his roguish side, at least for the moment. “Your Grace, my lady, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He bowed his head. “I know that your business is with my brother, not me, so, if no one minds, I’ll excuse myself.”
Oh, thank God!
When the duke inclined his head in a nod, Charles turned to leave, stopping briefly out of sight of their guests in the hall, where he smirked and waggled his eyebrows.The bounder!Then he disappeared down the hall.
A knot formed in the pit of David’s stomach. If Charles suspected him of tender feelings toward Clarissa, he would never hear the end of it. “Please, have a seat. I apologize for the state of the room. I’ve been meaning to redecorate since my father passed, but something or other has always gotten in the way. Perhaps, Lady Clarissa, you might help me update it when you take up residence.”
Her face lit up like a summer’s day as she took a seat on the chesterfield. “I would be simply delighted to cheer this place up for you.”
The duke gave David a sympathetic smile as he settled beside Clarissa. “You certainly know the way to a lady’s heart, Whitcomb. There is nothing my wife loves better than an improvement project, and I’m afraid Clarissa is much the same. Watch yourself, or you’ll be buried alive in fabric swatches before the month is out.”
“I can think of worse deaths, Your Grace.” Far worse. The battle against Napoleon had been a charnel house at times. He could never bring himself to speak of such things aloud. Not that he would raise such specters with Clarissa present.
“Quite right. Quite right,” the duke said, giving him a knowing glance. “I came here today to discuss happier things. A wedding! What could be happier than that?”
What was the duke up to? There was some scheme afoot. David would bet his life on it. Because the morning had been anything but happy.
“In fact,” the duke continued, “I don’t see why we should stand on ceremony and wait three weeks for the reading of the banns. I’ve pulled some strings to get you a special license.” He pulled folded papers from within his coat. “And the two of you can wed this very day, if you wish.”
There was no mistaking an order from a superior officer, even if His Grace gave it in David’s own drawing room with a gracious smile.
“Papa!” Lady Clarissa’s cheeks had taken on a most striking color. At a moment like this, David shouldn’t have been contemplating her comeliness, but he was, much to his distress. “If we marry now, everyone will think Jeffrey’s lies are true!”
From the look Wellington gave his daughter, it was clear he’d had the same doubts as everyone else who heard Effingham’s poison. Damn that deceitful scoundrel! He’d even managed to seed doubt between a doting father and his beloved daughter. David wanted to rail against the lies, defend her honor, howl against the injustice of it all. But he forced himself to hold back. He had no proof of anything. Not to mention that the duke was not a man with whom to be trifled. David had to tread carefully.
“Your Grace, if you wish to move up the date of our nuptials, I shall oblige, but I agree with Lady Clarissa that it may appear to give proof that Effingham’s slander was correct.”
The duke let out a heavy sigh. “I’m afraid the damage has already been done. Whether there is truth in what he says or not, everyone in the ton believes him. I won’t subject Clarissa to having her name publicly besmirched by that rogue any longer.” He paused, then lowered his voice. “And there is another reason.”
David’s stomach plummeted.What now?
“Effingham was overheard saying he would stop at nothing find a way to prevent this wedding and take her for his bride, and I fear what he might do.”
Clarissa stiffened. “He said something very similar to me this morning as I was leaving church. But what could he possibly do?”
David reached out for her, aching to comfort her, then remembered himself and pulled his hand back. “I wouldn’t put anything past that coxcomb.” There was nothing for it. The duke was correct. He would have to marry her as soon as possible. The thought didn’t fill him with nearly as much dread as it should have. “Very well. We marry this evening.”
The duke nodded, his military demeanor firmly fixed in place. “I want a quiet ceremony at my house, and then the two of you will make haste to the countryside. Tell no one who doesn’t need to know of your plans. I don’t want word getting back to Effingham until you are both safely away from London.”
That meant he had to keep this from Charles. His brother blathered about everything to whoever would listen at White’s, and that included that villainous wretch. “I will prepare for a visit to Rose Hill Manor, and we’ll leave first thing tomorrow. I go there frequently on estate business. No one needs to know the true reason behind my journey except a few trusted household staff. And my son. I have to tell Timothy. It would be wrong to keep this from him.” Even if the mere thought of that conversation filled him with dread.
“Of course.” The duke smiled.
“Is he here? Can I meet him now?” Clarissa’s eyes lit up, and she leaned forward.
This was it. David couldn’t delay any longer. He had to make the introduction he’d been both dreaming of and dreading.
At that moment, Mrs. Pippin trundled in with the tea cart, piled high with David’s favorite jam drop biscuits and one of Cook’s mouthwatering lemon cakes. If only he could stuff his face with biscuits and avoid the delicate introduction to come! But he forced himself to wait patiently as Mrs. Pippin served everyone and didn’t take a single bite before asking her to fetch Timothy.
As soon as Mrs. Pippin was gone, he crammed a biscuit into his mouth, grateful that the arrival of refreshments meant he had a break from conversing. Against his will, he found himself watching Clarissa as she poured cups of tea for them all before she took a bite of lemon cake.
She closed her eyes and let out a little “mmm” that made his breeches suddenly tight. If that was how she reacted to cake, how would she react to…No.He absolutely could not think about that, now or ever. Clarissa would never join him in his bed, those wide eyes gazing up at him with her pink lips forming his name as she clutched him close, begging for…No, no, no, no, no!
