The couple leaped apart as if they had been stung, Philip’s wide-eyed face rather pale in the moonlight, while Harriet’s hand flew to her mouth, stifling the cry of shock that escaped her lips.
“Now, Dominic, let us talk about this like civilized gentlemen,” Philip said, as he stepped out from the shadows of the stall with his hands up. “There is no need for violence.”
“Papa, stop it!” Harriet wailed, as Dominic continued his single-minded march toward Philip.
Urging her aching legs into something resembling a run, Frances threw herself between the two men, spreading her arms out as if that would be enough to stop a fight.
“Do not do anything foolish, Dominic,” she urged, breathless. “Remember that your daughteriswatching. Protect her, yes, but not like this.”
Dominic halted, his eyes burning like hot coals in the darkness. “Frances, I love you, but stand aside.”
Those three words, spoken so casually, uttered with the razor edge of his anger, were startling enough that she let her hands fall. By the time she realized her mistake, he was already walking past her, his arm drawn back and ready to land a fierce blow.
As Dominic’s fist connected with Philip’s stomach, the latter grunted in pain, his body folding as if it would somehow lessen the impact.
“You are a disgrace,” Dominic spat. “If you cared anything for my daughter at all, you would not have conducted this… fraud in secrecy. If you truly loved her, you would have come to me and you would have asked for her hand in marriage. The fact you did not, and wrote to her fortwo yearsunder my nose, tells me everything I need to know.”
“Papa, I love him!” Harriet cried out, prompting Frances to switch tactics.
She ran to her former student and put her arms around the girl, gently shushing her.
“I knew… you would refuse,” Philip wheezed, as he spat onto the cobbles.
“If you loved her, I would not,” Dominic snarled in reply. “There would have been a proper courtship, as she deserved, instead of this duplicity. You told her to keep it a secret, did you not? You told her to wait until her debut, then you would marry her? Is that right?”
Philip’s lip curled. “I had no choice.”
“She was no more than a child!” Dominic grabbed the man by the front of his shirt. “You tricked her. You no doubt wanted tohear what her dowry might be before you made a commitment. Now that it is public knowledge, you decide to elope. That is not coincidence, Ainsley, that is planning! You had to ensure your investment would pay off, and even if you howl from the rooftops that you love her, I will not believe I word. And I certainly will not let you marry her!”
“Papa, please!” Harriet begged, as Frances held her, feeling so very sorry that the poor girl had caught herself in the middle of this.
Goodness, I hope that we are right,Frances pleaded silently. Otherwise, Harriet would never forgive either of them.
With a grim, wheezing laugh, Philip managed to unfold to his full height, his hand smearing something from his lip. “Well, the plan is ruined now. You have made certain of that.” He shook his head. “I would have made her happy enough, Duke, keeping her occupied with a few children, but now she will not be able to hope for anything more than spinsterhood in that gloomy old manor of yours.”
“And there it is,” Dominic said coldly, shaking his head. “The face you have kept hidden from my daughter. The weasel behind the mask.”
Philip grimaced, his hand clutching his stomach. “Iwassomewhat fond of your daughter, despite the endless pages I had to read from her, so it pains me to have to drag her through the dirt because of you.” He sighed. “Pay me what her dowry is worth if you do not want anyone to discover that shetried to elope tonight. Pay me that, and I stay silent, and she may stand a chance of finding a husband. Although, considering her character and her ill manners, she may yet be destined for spinsterhood.”
You wretched creature.Frances wrapped Harriet in a fierce embrace as the girl sagged, her legs threatening to buckle. Tears streamed down the younger woman’s face in shining rivulets, her eyes ringed with red, her mouth opening and closing with a protest or a plea that simply would not form.
“It is all right,” Frances murmured against the girl’s hair. “You are all right. I promise, dear girl. I promise that everything will be fine.”
Harriet grasped Frances in return, burying her face in her shoulder. “He lied… He does not… love me. He just wanted… the money.” Her breaths hiccupped from her chest. “I love him, Frances. I… love him. Why is he… saying such… cruel things?”
“Because he is a coward,” Frances whispered. “He is a coward and a rat, and he does not deserve you. Any man who loves you as you deserve to be loved would be proud to declare it in public; they would never swear you to secrecy. But you will survive this, sweet girl. You will.”
She hugged Harriet tighter, shielding the side of her face in case she cast a glance toward her father and Philip, as Dominic delivered a tooth-rattling punch to Philip’s jaw. Another followed, with a faint crack of bone, as Philip’s hands flew to his nose and he unleashed an ungodly wail of pain.
“You will not say a word,” Dominic growled, towering over the awful man. “If I hear even a whisper of this, you will wish you were still here in this stable yard, receiving a thousand blows to the face, becausethat, I promise you, will be preferable to what I shall do if you say anything. I will make it so your life is not worth living.”
Philip glared at Dominic through pain-squinted eyes. “What can… a recluse do… to me?”
Slowly, Dominic leaned in and whispered something in Philip’s ear. The longer he spoke, the wider Philip’s watery eyes became, until they were as large as saucers and brimming with terror.
“My horse!” Philip yelled, backing away as Dominic released his shirt. “Someone, fetch my horse!”
A couple of confused stable boys who had been watching the entire altercation suddenly burst into action, retrieving a dun mare from a nearby stall.
