He’s meddling in our ruin.
“Your Grace? I could hardly recognize you!” Lord Montague said, his voice laced with unease. “What business do you have with this wretched family?”
The Duke stepped forward, his long strides deliberate and predatory, and stopped mere inches from him. Camelia could not look away. Raw fear flickered in Lord Montague’s eyes, a sight she had never thought to witness from a man who had terrorised them.
Her pulse quickened with curiosity at whatever silent exchange had just passed between the two men to strip the devil of his mask so completely. “I asked you a question, Lord Montague,” His Grace growled.
Lord Montague gave a thin, nervous laugh. “Might you repeat it, Your Grace?”
“You’ll dowhatto Lady Camelia?” The Duke’s presence seemed to overwhelm Lord Montague. “I am most curious. Do enlighten me,” he continued.
“Oh! That?” Lord Montague waved a trembling hand. “Nothing but a jest, I assure you.”
“A jest?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“It sounded more like a threat.”
Lord Montague’s eyes flicked desperately towards Camelia, then back to the Duke, his face paling. “It was not?—”
The Duke closed the final inch between them, his shadow swallowing Lord Montague whole as his voice dropped to a dark and lethal warning.
“No one dares to threatenmy Duchess… or her family.”
CHAPTER 6
My Duchess?
The words left his lips before he could think about them.
Raph’s gaze swept the room as the weight of his declaration settled over the Lempster household. Lady Camelia’s eyes were wide, her lips parted in shock, while Lord Lempster and her sisters stood frozen, their expressions a mix of disbelief and confusion.
Lord Montague, however, was fuming, his face reddening as he jabbed a quivering finger at him.
“You cannot possibly think that this…announcementwill change my plans, Your Grace?” His tinny voice echoed off the walls.
Raph’s gaze tracked Lady Camelia’s every step as she moved past him, his chest tightening when she reached for her younger sister’s hand with quiet protectiveness.
Her love for her family is fierce.
His slight admiration for her was cut short when Lord Montague feigned a cough to get his attention.
“Your plans mean nothing to me, Your Grace.” He avoided Raph’s eyes as he paced aimlessly in the room. “The arrangement to pay off Lord Lempster’s debt has already been settled, and Lady Margaret is mine by right!”
Raph deliberately placed himself between Lord Montague and Lady Camelia’s family, his broad frame a physical barrier.
He pieced it together that the Earl and his family owed a debt to Lord Montague who was there to reap his payment. The knowledge settled in his gut like a blade sliding home.
Lady Camelia’s confession and what he had overheard from the hall was enough. In that instant, a single, unshakable thought struck him: he would stop Lord Montague’s schemes, no matter the cost.
“You’re mistaken, Lord Montague.” He kept his eyes on him as he spoke. “You will not dictate this family’s fate from now on.”
“There is still a debt, Your Grace! You cannot erase it with grand gestures. Lord Lempster owes me, and I will have what’s mine!”
Raph’s jaw tightened, but his voice remained steady. “The debts of my future Duchess’s family are my responsibility now. I’ll run the bills with my solicitor, and you’ll be paid what you’re owed. Not a penny more, not a penny less.”
He ignored Lady Camelia’s shocked expression.
