Page 72 of The Duke’s Rejected Mate

Joseph steps over me, putting his body in between as a buffer. “It does when it happens in my house to the woman who is marrying one of my good friends, a woman who is like a sister to me and my wife. Miss Campbell is under my protection, and I take such matters seriously.”

“You don’t understand,” Mother sputters. “She is to go into heat. Your friend, the duke, doesn’t love her. He was trapped under her spell.”

Heat. No. Oh no. Not now. Not when my wedding is tomorrow. I’m not ready. How? How is it now, when I never showed any signs of it before? None of it makes sense.

Joseph turns his head toward me, the muscle in his jaw jumping. Now he’s furious with me too, over something that isn’t even my fault. “And were you not to supply her with suppressants then? She came to us with nothing. I believed there was an understanding, especially knowing how her nuptials were fast approaching.”

“You blame me, Your Grace?” my mother squeaks as she takes a step back. “Look to the harlot on the floor. If she didn’t take them, that’s a fault of hers.”

Again, he looks at me, but his eyes are kind. “Miss Campbell, were you given any pills to take? From your mother or otherwise?”

“N- no, Your Grace.”

“And is there a reason for that?”

“I- I have none. To my knowledge, I have never once taken a pill to suppress things. I thought I was defective.”

He frowns and looks back at my parents. “There is something amiss here. How is it that she is over the age of coming out yet has not had a heat nor anything to suppress it?”

I stare at the floor, mulling over his words. Wasn’t my scent barely there? Isn’t that one reason my season started so late? An odd cramping wracks my body as I lie there, doing my best to think.

Nothing changed. Just the location. Mother was furious that the dowager duchess wanted me in her home to prepare for the wedding, but why? Closing my eyes, I think back to the first morning there.

Freedom. Family. Friendship. It was everything I’d dreamt of and more. The delicious warmed chocolate without that odd taste… wait. The warming chocolate.

“The warmed chocolate,” I rasp out. “What was different with the chocolate?”

Mother’s face turns pale as she takes a step back. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Harriet,” Father hedges. “What is our daughter talking about?”

“Our daughter?” she cackles, her face morphing into something I’d only see in a nightmare. “Our daughter? No. She is no spawn of mine.”

Pain lashes my insides at her words. It was a kiss. Just one kiss. “Please,” I croak out. “I didn’t-”

“Do not talk to me. I married your father for love. But you were his first love. Not me. Never me. When that bitch of a woman-”

“Harriet. You will be silent.”

“I will not,” she screams.

Teresa flies in, her face pale as she slides down to the floor next to me to gather me into her arms and rock me back and forth. Such kindness. Such warmth.

I curl my fingers around her forearms, clutching her close as tears burn my eyes. Father and… mother? I cannot tell now. They fight in this grand parlor, so much more vastly opulent than their own.

Not my mother. A stranger. A woman who never wanted me. Never cared for me. And why? Because my father doted upon me? Because he loved me?

Father pushes her away and comes to my side, arms open, but I refuse to move. Teresa never had an agenda. She only ever loved me as a sister. She only ever cared for me and delighted in my company.

The pain on his face is evident, but he doesn't press the issue. Instead, he looks at Harriet, his visage twisted into rage. “Quit this house, madam. I will deal with you at home.”

“Wait,” Joseph barks out. “I will know what you put in her drink. The duke will want an heir. If you’ve damaged that hope in any way…”

The woman cackles as she glares at me, venom shooting from her eyes. “The bitch will be prime for fucking. May they have as many bastards as her body will allow.”

This time, Father looks at her with a mix of fear and horror. What could be so wrong, so twisted as to cause this? He grips her arms and pulls her forward, snarling with an Alpha growl that I’ve never heard from him before.

Teresa, Harriet, and I collapse to the floor under the weight of it. Joseph drops to a knee and holds his body aloft, caging his wife and me in, keeping us both protected in such a vulnerable state.