Page 8 of The Haunted Duke

“It would only be for a week or so,” Damien went on hesitantly. “We will all be there to join you for the actual wedding festivities soon enough.”

Evander bit the inside of his cheek, gnashing his teeth until the taste of copper filled his mouth.

Jeremy was a friend, and while he was prone to wild behavior and parties, he was also a good man. He would be able to see the type of woman Helena was and honor her for it. He hoped.

“Very well, then. But if you do not arrive after a week, I will leave,” he grumbled, then slid his tongue over the fresh wound in his cheek, using the taste of copper to distract him from his emotional pain. “When do I need to leave?”

Damien and Adrian both looked relieved and quickly filled him in on the details. When they were done, they stayed for a few more moments, graciously changing the subject and letting him in on the recent success of one of their shared investments. Once they took their leave, Evander stayed rooted to his chair for a long moment, staring off intensely into space as he struggled with the idea of what he was about to do.

It was only when the sun had sunk over the line of trees, and the darkening sky shifted to shades of gray and purple, that he finally got up and went inside. In his quarters, he went to his wardrobe and began pulling out the wooden boxes of his old belongings, searching through them all until he finally came upon what he was looking for.

With his heart wailing its silent pain, Evander brought the small jewelry box engraved with Helena’s name to his bed. For a moment, he simply held the box, gazing at it as the ghosts of his past feelings surfaced, whispering tales of fleeting hope and love. Then he opened it and looked down at the emerald-and-diamond necklace. Its jewel-sized stones sat in a half-circle, intertwined and connected by delicate strands of pure silver.

He had spent ages trying to decide between silver and gold. Gold reminded him of Helena’s hair, which had always captured the sunlight at garden parties. Yet gold hinted at a more pompous personality, and Helena was anything but pompous. So he had settled on silver, even if the gold would have looked better on her, because like silver, she was understated yet full of class and generosity. She remained cool when others grew too hot. She was… everything. Everything but his.

Evander slowly closed the engraved jewelry box, then traced the grooves of the elegant script of her name with his fingertips.

No, she would never belong to him. Even if she were not marrying Jeremy. The man Evander used to be, the man who had written those letters and tapped into a part of himself he had never shared with anyone, that man was gone now. In his place stood a scarred beast who had removed his own heart to survive the torture.

It was good that Helena was marrying someone else. Someone safer. He just wished he did not have to watch it happen.

Chapter 2

“You should pretend better, Helena dearest. Grandmama is watching.”

Helena glanced sideways at Jeremy, who had just whispered such encouragement in her ear. Realizing her discomfort was showing, she curled her lips up into a smile, and she batted her lashes as she turned her gaze back to her ball and whacked it with her mallet. Despite her anxiety, Helena let out a feigned squeal of joy as she scored another point.

She felt horrible for fooling the generous old matriarch, the great Dowager Duchess of Ravenshaw, but she knew she had no choice. She thought of her mother, of the way Lord Ingram’s eyes had crawled over her, of what her mother gave him behind closed doors so that her children might eat. Once Helena was wed, that vile man would never come close to her family again.

“Pretend what, my darling?” she asked sweetly, looking back at him.

Jeremy smirked as he gave her a knowing look.

“You and I are in this play together, remember? We both have a part to play, and she cannot know this is not a love match,” he whispered as he walked past her to take his shot.

Helena drew in a steadying breath as she forced her smile to remain in place. Jeremy was right. She needed to focus, to act the part of the excited bride-to-be. She owed the old lady that much. After all, she had not only opened her vast country estate to Helena, her mother, and little brother, but had insisted on paying for everything. Patricia had not even batted an eye when Jeremy confessed that, sadly, Helena did not have a dowry. Instead, she had waved her hand dismissively through the air and insisted they move on to much more important matters of wedding planning.

After getting to know Patricia over the past few days at her country estate, Helena had begun to understand Jeremy’s need to please her. Despite her age and declining health, Patricia was a plucky spitfire who always got her way. She wanted to please the older woman just as much as Jeremy did now, so she accepted his advice and pushed aside her troubling thoughts.

“You are surprisingly good at this,” Helena pointed out, shifting her focus entirely to her betrothed.

Jeremy scoffed as she lined up her next shot, aware she was not talking about croquet.

“Oh, this? This is nothing. I have been pretending my whole life,” he remarked wittily.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked as she hit her ball. She raised her arms in the air, ready to celebrate another point and show Patricia that she was having a marvelous time. Then little Alex ran into the field, kicking the ball out of its path and shooting into the nearby line of trees.

“Alexander Nathaniel Robinson!” Helena scolded, forgetting entirely about her question or the fact that Jeremy had not given her an answer.

“Oh, you had better run, boy,” Jeremy warned, grinning as he tossed his mallet to the ground. “You will not like the punishment if I catch you!”

Alex shrieked as Jeremy chased after him, both of them erupting in laughter as Jeremy easily caught him and tossed him up into the air. Helena grinned, genuinely this time, as Jeremy’s careful hands easily caught her little brother well before he could ever hit the ground, then placed him on his feet and ruffled his hair.

“Scoundrel,” Jeremy playfully scolded him.

Alex grinned mischievously, and from behind her, Helena heard her mother and Patricia laugh gaily from their shaded table. How long had it been since she had seen Alex smile like that? Or heard her mother laugh so genuinely? Too long, and with that fact, Helena assured herself once more that this marriage was the right decision.

“All right, ducklings!” Patricia called for them. “Leisure time is over. Come, come!”