It was almost impossible to retain her calm when he was dancing on the dangerous edge of the truth.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, forcing her shaking hands behind her back once more. “But all this excitement has given me a headache. Perhaps you could call another time, Ambrose. With some advance warning.”
He glared at her, then shrugged. “Fine. But we’re not done,Your Grace. Not by far. I’m going to sniff out all of those lies you’ve been telling. So you’d best ready yourself. Everything that was his is mine now.Everything.”
He turned and left the room and Elise sank into a chair, gasping for breath. God, how Ambrose reminded her of her husband. Toby had often given her that same look. One of disgust and distain. Living with him, being his prize in a cruel game, his decoration and his toy, had been hell.
She would not put herself in the same position ever again. A mistress had more freedom. If matched correctly, a mistress had power and autonomy. That was why she’d made these choices. And she couldn’t stop now.
In fact, she had to work harder. She had to escape this house. And she couldn’t allow Lucien’s reappearance in her life to steer her from that course. No matter what feelings he stirred in her.
Stenfax paced Gray’s parlor, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. He’d been meant to meet his brother today at this very hour and hadn’t been able to escape the duty. But after what he’d just experienced at Elise’s home, he wished he could.
Gray was going to see. He was going to know the truth. And that was going to open a Pandora’s Box of trouble.
As if on cue, Gray entered the room and Stenfax stopped pacing a moment to greet him. Before he could, Gray leaned back and shut the door. “What is it?”
Stenfax squeezed his eyes shut. Damn Gray for knowing him so well. When he looked at his brother again, he fought for some level of control over his emotions.
“Nothing. We were supposed to meet and here I am. Where is Rosalinde?”
Gray pressed his lips together. “Out with Felicity, andyouare changing the subject. What is it that makes you look so…so…angry?”
“What’s wrong with being angry?” Stenfax ground out. “Can’t a man be frustrated by his horse throwing a shoe or it raining when he wanted it to be fair or the state of the damn roads?”
Gray leaned back. “But you aren’t angry about a horse and it’s not raining and the roads between your home and mine are perfectly fine. But if you don’t want to talk to me, by all means, stew in your own rage. Just don’t do anything that you can’t take back.”
Stenfax flinched. The night he had perched himself on a terrace over Elise and nearly taken his own life had changed him. But he knew for a fact it had also changed Gray. His brother was sometimes desperate to protect him. Desperate to help.
He let out his breath in a long sigh. Maybe he needed help. Maybe he needed the harsh counsel Gray would provide if the truth came to the surface. A cold splash of reality.
“What do you know about the new Duke of Kirkford?”
As he had expected, all the color slowly drained from Gray’s face and he stared at Stenfax in wordless horror for a few long beats.
“You didn’t.”
The disapproval and horror in his brother’s tone made Stenfax turn away.Thiswas what he’d sworn to Gray and Felicity that he wouldn’t do again. This was what he’d promised himself he wouldn’t do ever since the day he heard Elise’s husband was dead.
And yet here he was.
“Don’t judge me,” he said softly.
“I bloody well will judge you,” Gray barked, stalking over to the sideboard and splashing scotch into a glass. He downed it in one slug and poured another that he handed over to Stenfax. “It seems you have no judgment of your own, so I must have it for both of us. You went to Elise?”
Stenfax shook his head. Gray was not just his brother, he was his best friend. And right now, he needed that, even if Gray would snort and condemn his way through any explanation.
“I didn’t go to her. Not at first,” he said slowly. “In fact, I did what you suggested and went to Vivien’s. She was…there.”
Gray’s mouth dropped open. “I’m sorry. Elise…as in the Duchess of Kirkford Elise…was at Vivien Manning’s?”
Stenfax nodded. “It seems she was settled poorly and is considering finding a protector to get her out of her financial state.”
“And she went to you,” Gray said, folding his arms. “After what she did.”
“No, we were placed in a room together. Elise didn’t orchestrate it. I am almost certain she didn’t.” He caught his breath as he heard how ridiculous that sounded. “It doesn’t matter. We ended up in the same room and I…I couldn’t help myself, Gray. Have you seen her in the time since we parted?”
Gray drew in a long breath, obviously trying to calm himself down. “No. I avoided it just as you did. I think we all did.”
