Page 20 of An Orphan for the Broken Duke

“Well, I am convinced,” Sebastian said. “A beauty or no, the way you described her just now is proof enough. You are in love with this woman.”

Rhys’ eyes widened. “What? That is absurd!”

“What is absurd is how your eyes glazed over just now,” he chuckled.

“I… that is not…” Rhys cleared his throat and his mind as he fixed another glare on Sebastian, a final effort to batter him down. “I am doing this for Lucy, and that is all. She and Miss Beaumont are close, and it will be good for her to have someone in this home whom she trusts.”

“Oh right.” Sebastian shook his head. “The adoption. Good heavens, I can scarcely keep track of all your shenanigans and misadventures. Who is this girl?”

“An orphan. Nobody.” Seeing where the topic was going, he turned and walked back to the liquor cabinet.

“She must be somebody,” Sebastian said. “If you are marrying someone who you claim you do not care about, just to see this adoption go through.” Silence then, and as Rhys poured another drink, he felt his friend’s discerning gaze boring into the back of his skull. “Rhys, what is going on with you? Really?”

“Nothing,” he said with little conviction.

“No jokes,” Sebastian said, voice softening. “No more mockery. This is me. Tell me what is going on. Not even because I wish to help, but because I think you need it. I am worried, Rhys. Please, speak to me.”

It was always going to lead to this. Rhys had avoided the question each time it was asked, refusing to open up and admit his motives. But that was just because Miss Wilks or Miss Beaumont would never truly understand, nor did he want to open old wounds so that he could explain it.

But Sebastian knew him like no other, so all he needed was a single, quick explanation… one name, and it would be done.

“She reminds me of Eleanor, is why.” Rhys’ voice came out as a broken whisper, spoken into his chest, and he could not bring himself to turn and look at his friend. “She is the spitting image, and I… when I look at her…”

“Oh, Rhys,” Sebastian sighed, with pain in his voice.

Eleanor had been Rhys’ baby sister. Fifteen years younger than he, their relationship was almost that of a father and daughter; a paradigm that only strengthened when Rhys inherited the dukedom from his deceased father. He loved his sister as the moon loves the night’s sky, and there was nothing he would not do for her. Naturally, when she fell in love, the man was not considered good enough, and ever the protective older brother, Rhys was not shy in letting her know it.

But Eleanor was always stubborn, and rather than listening to Rhys, she ran away with the man who she claimed to love. She had only been seventeen! Still a child in Rhys’ eyes, and oh how mad he was that she had disobeyed him. Furious, in fact, and the night that she had run off, their argument could be heard across the entire county.

She died several months later. Rhys got the news days after it had happened that she had died in childbirth. By the time he arrived, her great love had absconded, the child was nowhere to be found, and his sister was dead.

For months, Rhys had searched for the child. He went to every orphanage. He spoke to every private investigator he could find. He moved mountains… and nothing.

That was why he started to fund the orphanage. Partly because he wanted to help, and partly because he never stopped believing that one day he might find his nephew.

And then he saw Lucy… a mirror image of Eleanor… and for a brief moment, Rhys was happy like he had not been in years. His sister was dead; his nephew was likely dead too, but in Lucy, maybe he could fix those mistakes that he had made with Eleanor, and maybe he could make things right.

“I know that she is not Eleanor,” he said, still unable to look at his friend. “I know that she will not bring my sister back. But if I am able to help Lucy… If I can…” His voice cracked. “If I can give her the life that I was not able to give her son…” His hands trembled with the glass.

“Stop.” Sebastian’s hand rested on his shoulder. “Say no more, Rhys. Truly, I am sorry I pressed you so.”

“It is fine,” Rhys sighed, and his shoulders dropped.

“I am here for you, Rhys,” Sebastian said. “Whatever you need, say it. You know I will always help.”

“I do not need help,” Rhys said. “Lucy does, and I intend to do everything that I can for her.”

Seven

“Istill cannot believe that you are doing this,” Rose said for the tenth time that morning. “Truly, Violet…” She stepped behind her, a look on her face that felt wrong for a circumstance that in most situations ought to have brought joy. “You do not have to do this.”

“And as I have told you already, I want to do this.” The lack of conviction in his voice did not match her words.

“No, you do not.” Rose took her by the hand and forced her to turn around. “There must be another way.”

“You know there is not.”

“I…” Rose’s expression was hard. “I do not mind that Uncle Harold means to find me a husband. If that is why —”