Her Favorite Duke (The 1797 Club #2)(26)

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.