“A duel? Listen to your wife, Redgrave. I have no need for a duel, andyoucertainly do not,” Constantine said, his tone weary as he wiped the blood from his chin with his thumb. Adrian’s brows furrowed as Elara lifted her head from her mother’s lap. Even Nora herself raised her tear-filled eyes to him.
A year ago, Constantine would not only have laughed at the idea of a duel with a Mason but would have accepted the offer immediately. However, his life had changed, and he was no longer looking out only for himself or his brother. There was a new life, an innocent life, that needed his protection. And now, so did Elara. Even if he was what she had needed protectionfrom in the first place.
“I shall do what honor dictates and take her hand in marriage,” Constantine agreed.
“No!” Elara shouted, rising quickly to her feet.
“Hush, child!” Nora quickly chastised, gripping Elara’s wrist. “This is a good thing! His Grace is willing to protect your reputation.”
“But no one else saw!” Elara insisted, her eyes widening with panic as she looked from Constantine to her family.
“They may not have seen, but they have certainly heard,” Adrian gritted out, still looking furious. “You have both been missing from the ballroom for some time now. Trust me when I say rumors are already swirling. The moment we step out of this room, they will only intensify.”
Constantine scowled at the thought, wishing once again he had never accepted that blasted invitation.
“But it was just a kiss,” Elara insisted, looking from her mother to her brother. “Or we could say that he had an accident! Look at how he bleeds! That is because I bit him!”
“It does not matter whether we kissed,” Constantine sighed in frustration.
He was not going to bring up how she had softened under his touch, how her breath and lips had surrendered to him so quickly after she delivered that stinging bite to his bottom lip.
Elara’s eyes focused on him, hurt shining in them as it was he who had betrayed her.
“You sealed our fate the moment you locked us in this room, Elara,” Constantine said, his gaze and tone devoid of pity as he stared her down. “I told you to let me out. I told you to believe me and move on.”
“Move on?” Nora asked, looking from her daughter to Constantine. “Move on from what?”
“Nothing, Mama.”
“Nothing, Mother.”
Elara and Adrian replied in unison, and suddenly Constantine realized that Nora had no idea that Elara was still looking for Evander. Judging by Adrian’s sharp tone, he was clearly unhappy with Elara’s efforts. This, Constantine decided, was a family matter that he wanted no part in.
“Make whatever arrangements you wish,” Constantine said, shoving his hands into his pockets as he strode to the study door. He needed to leave, to be done with this night, immediately. “Just let me know when I need to stand before the priest.”
Elara grabbed his wrist as he reached for the door handle, and he turned to meet her gaze. Guilt roiled through his veins as he saw the depth of her despair, but he did his best to push it aside.
“This is it, then?” she asked, her voice laced with desperation. “You are just going to let this happen to us? We despise each other! I do not want to marry you any more than you want to marry me!”
Constantine drew in a short breath and shrugged his shoulders.
“You should have thought about that before locking us into the same room together. I tried to tell you the truth. Perhaps if you had listened, none of this would have happened.”
Elara’s lips parted in response, but she said nothing, gazing at him. Taking the opportunity, Constantine opened the study door and let the Mason family return to their ruined evening.
Chapter 8
One Week Later
‘Itried to tell you the truth. Perhaps if you had listened, none of this would have happened.’
The Duke’s words had played over and over in Elara’s head every minute of every day leading up to the present moment. Even now, as she sat next to her husband at their wedding breakfast, Elara felt as if she were in some sort of strange bubble, standing apart from reality.
Even as she had stood before the Duke and the priest in her family’s parlor and taken her wedding vows. Even as Caroline and Bridget had tried to lift her spirits the night before, none of it truly seemed real. Yet it was.
She was now married to a man she despised. To a man who might have hurt Evander. And it was all her fault.
Adrian had tried to take the blame, saying that he should have been a better brother. But Elara could not let him think that. As much as she hated it, her new husband was right. She should never have locked that door.
