“I think I wrote my name on the wrong line, Clara,” Alec said, stepping forward and reaching for my dance card. “Ah, yes.” He put a line through his name and took the second dance of the night. “There we are. I do apologize.” He gave me a slight bow and then walked away without a glance back.
My heart tore in two as I knew what it had cost him to give up that dance. For me. For Aunt Maude. For his uncle’s business.
What did Alec ever get?
The duke was watching me closely, so I mustered my wits and offered him a shaky smile. “I would be honored to dance the first dance with you.”
“And the last, if you please.” His voice was even, unemotional, but his eyes continued to study me as if he was searching for something. Was he trying to ascertain if I would one day murder him? The thought was ludicrous, but then, so were the rumors Gallagher had told me.
“Of course.” I wrote his name on the first and last lines.
Aunt Maude and Lady Mandeville joined us, each curtseying before the duke.
“Your Grace,” Aunt Maude said, “I do hope you’ll join us for the dinner party we’re hosting two nights from now.”
He had already been invited and accepted, but this was the reassurance Aunt Maude needed. We still didn’t know if the prince would come, but if the duke would be there, surely that had to count for something.
He gave Aunt Maude a slight bow. “I will be there.”
Her face filled with relief, but she hid it well. “We will be honored to have you.”
The orchestra began to tune their instruments, so the duke offered me his arm. “Shall we?”
I accepted and allowed him to escort me into the ballroom.
Louise Garfield stood in the same spot where the duke had left her. She lifted her nose, just enough to tell me that she didn’t care if the duke had come to me, but I knew the truth. I could see it in her angry eyes.
The duke did not hesitate but brought me to the dance floor as the strains of the first dance of the evening filled the room. With elegant ease, he began to twirl me around the ballroom.
Somewhere, at some time, someone had taught him to dance, and he was good at it.
There were so many things I wanted to ask him about the rumors I’d heard. Alec said it was true his mother had murdered his father—but what about the other dukes before him?
“What do you want to ask me?” he said.
I lifted my eyebrows, shocked at how astute he was.
“Don’t feign innocence.” His voice was steady. “I’m certain you’ve been asking around about me, and you’ve learned shocking things that are bothering you. Come right out and ask me, and let’s get it over with.”
I took a deep breath. If he was going to be straightforward with me, I would be straightforward with him. “Is it true that your mother murdered your father?”
I got right to the heart of the scandal, and I could see it pierced his soul to hear the question. But he squared his shoulders and nodded. “She did.” He clenched his jaw, and it caused the scar on his face to tighten. “Come out with the rest of it, or would you like me to just tell you all the sordid details?”
“You told me to ask, so I am asking.”
“Then ask.”
“Is it true that the two previous dukes before him, and the duchess before that, were all murdered?”
He looked away from me, storm clouds in his eyes. “Some of them came to questionable ends, but there is no proof they were all murdered.”
My eyebrows rose high. “They all met untimely deaths?”
“Yes.”
I stared at him as my feet faltered.
He continued to dance, overlooking my missteps.
