Her Favorite Duke

by Jess Michaels

  He opened the door and Simon squeezed his eyes shut at the sound of a half a dozen footsteps scurrying away. Eavesdroppers, whisperers who would multiply this story, magnify it.

  All of them would suffer for it: Graham, Meg, Emma, James…though only Simon deserved the censure and gossip. He opened his eyes and watched Graham walk away without so much as a backward glance. It killed him to do it, for he knew what that moment meant.

  He had just lost one of his dearest friends. His life would never be the same.

  Emma had turned away the lady’s maid, Fran, and now stood behind Meg, twisting her hair into a simple chignon. She had stayed with Meg since her return to the house, silent as Fran helped her into a hot bath, talking about nothing important as she was dressed.

  Meg knew what her friend was doing. She was giving her a reprieve since they both knew there would not be another for a long time to come.

  She appreciated Emma for it, more than she could express.

  “I will not do as good a job at this as Fran would,” Emma said around the final hairpin pressed between her lips. “But you are beautiful no matter what.”

  She slid the last pin in and handed Meg a mirror to look at her handiwork. Meg barely did so and turned to smile at Emma. “I’m not sure it matters how I look today.”

  “Of course it does,” Emma said. “This is your armor.”

  Meg stood and walked across her chamber to stand at the window. She looked down at the garden below where a dozen or so of the party guests were gathered, whispering behind fans, conducting animated discussions that could be about only one thing. Her cheeks burned and her chest ached with anxiety.

  “Are we going to talk about what happened?” Meg asked.

  Emma stepped forward. “Only if you’d like to.”

  Meg faced her. “We must, mustn’t we? After all, what I’ve done, it will affect you and James. This scandal will be very deep for a long time to come. And you and he are only just married. I’m so sorry to ruin that happiness.”

  Emma’s expression softened. “My dearest, there is nothing anyone on this earth could do to ruin my happiness when it comes to James. As long as he’s here in this world and he is at my side, I am complete. So there is no reason to apologize for that.” She caught Meg’s hands and gently squeezed. “As for the other, yes, you are moving into some muddy waters. I know snippets of what happened from that awful Lord Baxton’s gossip. Do you want to tell me the truth?”

  “There’s so little to tell,” Meg whispered. “I was upset about—” She cut herself off, for saying out loud what she had been upset about felt wrong, especially now that so much damage had been done. “I was upset. I went for a walk, Simon followed, then the storm trapped us. Yes, when we were found we were naked, but that was only to allow our clothes to dry out. Nothing…happened.”

  Emma arched a brow. “The way you say that makes me think a little more than nothing happened.”

  Meg caught her breath as she looked at her friend. Emma had such a kind expression, a gentle one. And the truth of what had happened last night felt like it was festering in Meg’s body. She needed to say it out lout. She needed someone else to understand. “He—he kissed me.”

  Emma nodded, but didn’t look surprised by the admission. “And how was it?”

  Meg drew back. “That is what you have to say? No admonishment? No shock?”

  “James may be surprised to find out that you have carried feelings for Simon for all these years, but I am not,” Emma said with a laughing shake of her head. “I have seen, even just since you and I became good friends a handful of months ago, how close you and Simon are. How much you mean to each other. So, how was the kiss? You have been waiting for it a long time.”

  Meg shifted, for gossiping like schoolgirls over the kiss seemed untoward. “Perhaps I shouldn’t…”

  “There is plenty of opportunity for self-recrimination to come,” Emma whispered. “Tell me about the kiss. You are allowed to have enjoyed it.”

  “Graham never kissed me. Not more than on the cheek ever and rarely even that,” Meg admitted slowly. “So it was not only my first kiss with Simon, but my first kiss ever. And it was…I have never felt anything like it, Emma. It was tender and passionate, not gentle, but I wanted it so much. I wanted more.”

  Emma smiled. “And I think we both know that more is what you are about to get. Is it the best of circumstances? No, of course not. But I hope you won’t let an odd beginning keep you from a happy ending.”

  “Like you and James have,” Meg said.

  Emma looked at the clock on the mantel and gasped. “We are meant to join them momentarily. Come, we’ll walk together.”

  Meg’s stomach clenched. “Oh God, I’m not ready. I’m not ready to face Graham, to face James. To face the future.”

  Emma shook her head. “You think you aren’t, but you are stronger than you know. I think you told me that once.”

  “The difference is that when I told you, it was true.”

  Her friend touched her cheek gently. “I assure you, it is true when I say it to you, too. Now come.”

  Emma linked arms with her and they left the chamber, walking down the stairs and through the halls to James’s office. Meg’s nervousness increased with each step and finally they stopped in front of the closed door. She expected Emma to simply ferry her inside, but she didn’t.

  Instead her friend turned toward her, a renewed earnestness to her expression. “You were right when you said James and I had an odd start. Our pretended courtship, his vow to marry me to protect me from my father’s machinations…all of it could have pushed us far apart as we started our marriage. But I loved him, Meg. And he loved me. Once we admitted that, focused on that…nothing else mattered.”

  Meg nodded slowly. She understood what Emma was trying to say to her. The difference was that she wasn’t entirely certain that Simon loved her. Or that he wanted her, truly wanted her, despite the searing kiss in the cottage.

  All she knew for certain was that what was about to happen behind that big, mahogany door was not going to be happy or joyful or celebratory.

  Because of what she and Simon had done, it was bound to be much, much worse.

  Chapter Eight

  As Meg entered the room, her arm looped through Emma’s, Simon staggered to his feet. He, James and Graham had been waiting for them for only a few moments, but it had felt like an eternity. Now he stared at Meg, her cheeks pale, her dark eyes downcast, and everything he’d ever felt for her swelled to the surface.

  He loved her, as he always had. And he would marry her. She would be his. But this beginning, it would hang over them. Perhaps it would not be something they could ever overcome. The very idea that it wasn’t broke his heart.

  He heard Graham clear his throat and turned to see his friend pace away, not looking at either of them. Meg lifted her gaze at last, looking first at the turned back of Graham, then her brother, and finally she swung her eyes on Simon. She caught her breath.

  “Oh, Simon,” she gasped. “Your nose.”

  Graham turned sharply at that statement and glared at Simon. Simon forced a half-smile for her and barely kept from a grimace at the pain that shot from the very injury that worried her. “It’s fine, Margaret.”

  She stiffened at the formal use of her name and her gaze slid away as she blushed. Emma frowned in his direction, then guided Meg to James’s side and went back to shut and lock the door.

  “This room has such a thick barrier,” Emma said. “At least those interested parties outside will hear nothing in here.”

  Simon bent his head. Oh yes, they had already provided far too much fodder for the gossips.

  “James,” Emma said softly, meeting her husband’s eyes.

  Simon stared at the gentle encouragement that flitted between then. The way that his friend softened when he was with his wife. Their easy connection was deceptive, of course. Simon knew how hard-fought their love had
been.

  But now they were happy. He cast his gaze toward Meg and wondered…hoped…that perhaps one day that could be his own future.

  “Let’s just get it over with,” Graham said, facing the others at last. “Stop dragging it out.” His hard tone and the way he separated himself from the rest of the room made Simon’s heart sink.

  James cleared his throat. “Very well. Obviously the compromising position Simon and Margaret were caught in has changed the circumstances surrounding her engagement to you, Graham. Perhaps if it had only been you and me who found them as they were, we could have smoothed it over. But with Baxton with us and gleefully spreading his tale…well, that complicates things.”

  “Complicates things,” Graham said softly. “That is certainly one way of putting it.”

  “I think we all know what must happen now,” James said, ignoring the angry tone of their friend’s voice. “It is obvious that Graham and Meg must end their engagement. And Simon and Meg must marry.”

  “And quickly,” Emma said with a smile of reassurance for Meg.

  Graham folded his arms. “I have no quarrel with ending the engagement,” he said. “But perhaps you should ask the new couple if they’d like to marry. Arranging a marriage didn’t work out so well for you in the past, Abernathe.”

  James flinched, for none of his closest friends called him by his title. He had always been James to Graham and Simon. Graham was clearly sending a message by saying otherwise.

  “You are correct in that I had a part in this,” James said. “For which I apologize sincerely. I thought I was doing the right thing. Obviously I wasn’t.”

  Meg shook her head. “You cannot take responsibility for me or for Simon, James.”

  Her brother shrugged. “Still, Graham has a point. I don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past just to smooth over gossip. Meg, would you like to marry Simon? And Simon, would you marry Meg?”

  Simon jolted at the question. The answer was so much more complicated than his friend would ever know. He wasn’t even sure he had the words to try to explain how deeply that question touched his heart. A heart he had tried to hide for so long, he wasn’t certain how to draw it into the light. Or if he should draw it out at all.

  When he was silent, Meg said, “I know that this scandal will likely never fully fade. But a marriage would certainly soften it. I would marry Simon, but only if he were not opposed. I will not trap someone into marriage. I’d rather remain a spinster and be sequestered into the country as punishment for what I did.”

  Simon jolted at the idea of Meg, locked away in some countryside manor, paying for his actions forever. Alone. Her passionate nature stifled. She didn’t look at him now as she awaited his response to her statement, but he could see her lower lip trembling ever so slightly and her hands clenched at her sides in fists.

  “I would not allow that,” he said. “Margaret, I would be… privileged to marry you if you would have me after I’ve demonstrated such a breach in character and honor.”

  “So you will each agree,” James said and there was no mistaking the relief in his tone. “Then I say we need to make an announcement of the end of one engagement and the beginning of another. To say nothing and simply let the gossip grow would only make it worse. Graham, would you take part in such a thing?”

  Graham shook his head slowly. “Help soften the blow, you mean. Act as if I’m fine with what was done?”

  Meg took a breath and moved toward her former fiancé. He stiffened as she approached, and Simon tensed as he waited for whatever Meg would do.

  “I would not ask you to do this,” she said. “If you want to call me a whore from the rooftops and leave this house without looking back, I’ll take that censure. I’ve earned it. You were never anything but kind to me and I’ve repaid you with humiliation and the implication of a worse kind of betrayal. Because of that, I don’t deserve anything less than your worst.”

  Her words, spoken in a wavering but strong tone, seemed to assuage Graham. His expression grew easier and he let out his breath slowly.

  “You don’t deserve to be destroyed,” he said, lifting his gaze to Simon. “I wouldn’t do that to you. Yes, Abernathe, I’ll do as you say. I’ll be part of an announcement. But I would like to leave here as soon as I can. A quiet return to London seems the best answer for everyone. That way you can plan your wedding, as it seems it would be best for these two to rush their engagement.”

  “Of course,” Emma said. “We shall make an announcement this afternoon. Just a quick few words from James as you all stand by.”

  As Meg stepped away, James stepped forward and held out a hand to Graham. “Thank you.”

  Graham stared at the offering, then his gaze moved to Meg and to Simon. “A scene won’t do any of us any good,” he said, not taking James’s hand. “Now I’ll go up and have my servants prepare my things for immediate departure. Send me word when you will have me join you. I shall do so.”

  He said nothing else, but left the room in a few long, purposeful strides. He shut the door behind himself, not slamming it, but with a firmness that spoke of endings. Permanent ones.

  James slowly lowered the hand that he still held out and bent his head. Emma rushed to his side, taking his arm as he murmured, “He despises me.”

  “He’s hurt,” Emma said, smoothing her hand along his back to soothe him. “Right now he is hurt and embarrassed. But time will heal him. And time will let him be open to your friendship again.”

  “You didn’t do this to him,” Simon said with a shake of his head. “He will forgive you.”

  What remained unspoken in the room was that Graham would never forgive Simon. And even though they had been more distant in the past few years, the loss of one of his oldest friends cut him. But he deserved to bleed.

  “Are we engaged?” Meg asked, her eyes darting to him.

  Simon cleared his throat and moved toward her. As much as his heart and soul ached for what he’d done, her question also lit a spark of joy in him. One he tamped down out of decorum.

  “Yes,” he said softly, reaching for her hand. She let him take it, looking up into his eyes with questions, with fears…but also with desires. The same ones that had flared between them the night before and brought their lives crashing around them.

  But now she was his and he could play out those desires to his heart’s content.

  “Congratulations,” James said, clearly trying to brighten his tone. “I should get drinks.”

  “No,” Simon said, turning away from Meg with difficulty. “We will toast the marriage when it comes. I think toasting the engagement would be unseemly in this moment, given the circumstances.”

  James nodded. “Very well. Then perhaps we should talk details.”

  Simon released Meg’s hand with difficulty and moved to James’s desk. Yes, details he could manage. Details were unemotional and technical. Not like the rolling feelings that currently gripped his heart.

  Those he would have to get a handle on. They had already caused a great deal of damage.

  As Meg stood at the top of the garden, overlooking the crowd of guests gathered there, what she wanted more than anything was to slip to Simon’s side and take his hand. His presence had always been a comfort to her, but now…

  Well, now he was distant, standing next to James, not looking at her as they prepared to make their announcement to the party at large. His face, handsome though swollen from his broken nose, never turned toward her. And the crowd whispered at far too loud a rate about the bruises beneath his eyes and the way Graham stood away from Meg.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” James said, his booming voice and no-nonsense tone silencing the party in an instant. “Obviously you have all heard things today.” He shot a pointed glance at Lord Baxton, who refused to meet his host’s eyes. “And our family does have an announcement.”

  “I have an announcement,” Graham said, stepping in front of James.

&nbs
p; Meg jerked her face toward him. This was not what they’d agreed to, and judging from Graham’s grim expression, there was no telling what he would now say. She held her breath.

  “Seven years ago my closest friend arranged a marriage between myself and his beloved sister,” Graham began. “I was lucky to have the chance at a future with such a lady. But recent events have made me realize that she would be better suited to another. So we have mutually ended our engagement.”

  The crowd let out a collective gasp and the whispers that had been silenced by James’s words began again at twice the rate.

  Graham turned toward Meg, holding out his hand. She blinked. He was smiling, but it was all a show. She could still see the betrayal, the anger and the deep hurt in his stare. Things he was not expressing out of a goodness and honor that she did not deserve. She reached out to take his hand. He barely held her hand as he drew her toward Simon and offered it to him.

  Simon glanced at the crowd, which was now hanging on this display like it was high theatre. Then he met Graham’s eyes and held his gaze there as his friend placed Meg’s hand in Simon’s.

  Graham immediately jerked away and stepped back, behind the families, away from the presentation that clearly was of no pleasure to him. Meg wasn’t certain it was of any pleasure to Simon either. He did not look happy as he guided her hand to the crook of his arm and they faced the crowd.

  James cleared his throat. “I am happy to announce that Margaret will marry the Duke of Crestwood one week from Saturday in a private ceremony here at Falcon’s Landing. There is little else to say in the matter, so I hope you will all simply enjoy the last few days of our gathering and wish the happy couple nothing less than the best. Good day.”

  He turned and motioned Simon and Meg back toward the house. Graham was already ahead of them, mounting the steps back to the terrace two at a time. Simon guided Meg up, wordless, not looking at her. They entered the parlor with James and Emma at their heels.