Her Favorite Duke (The 1797 Club #2)(27)
“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.
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.
Once inside, Graham faced the foursome. “It is done. And I am back to London. My horse is ready and my servants will be taking my things back in the carriage in a few hours.”
James stepped forward, his hands outstretched. “Damn it, Graham, please. Don’t go like this. Please don’t. Not after everything we are to each other, everything we’ve been through. Don’t go like this.”
Graham stared at James, and Meg’s heart broke. As boys, Graham had been the ultimate protector of James and Simon. She remembered him once coming to blows with a boy three years their elder because he’d said something untoward about Simon, who had been the last to grow into a man’s body. She also remembered him rising up in challenge to James and Meg’s father when he had been cruel to them during a visit years ago. He’d gotten his ears boxed and never cared.
Now he looked at James and Simon like he didn’t even know them.
“I have two options in how I leave,” he said softly. “Like this, or in a way that would be far worse. I choose this because someday…someday I may not be so angry. But for now, this is all I can do. Goodbye.”
His voice cracked as he said the last, then he left the room without so much as a nod. His footfalls led away to the foyer and out where Meg imagined his horse was waiting.
James bent his head and turned back. Simon looked sick. “I’m sorry.”
James let out a long sigh. “It doesn’t matter now. Here we are. We should make the best of it.” He moved toward Meg and smiled at her gently. “I think it might be best if you went upstairs.”
“And what about the party?” she asked.
Emma shook her head. “James and I discussed it earlier. We agree that you and Simon should stay away today. Let the worst of the reaction die down while James and I manage it. Tomorrow we will start over. Tomorrow we will plan a small ball to end the party and celebrate the engagement. And James and Simon will take time to arrange the special license and the rest.”
Meg nodded, numb when she should have been happy. She would marry Simon in just one week’s time. And yet she didn’t feel she could celebrate.
With the current mood of the room, this felt more like a time for mourning. All the passion she had felt from Simon in the cottage the night before, all the pleasure and the connection that had pulsed between them and caused this shocking change…it was gone now.
And she worried if she would ever feel such connection from him again.
Chapter Nine
Meg sat at her dressing table, pulling a brush through her hair over and over, wishing she could just be hypnotized by the strokes and turn her restless mind off. It had been an incredibly trying afternoon.
It would have been bad enough with just the announcement of her new engagement and the drama that surrounded that. But that it was such a public, shocking thing made it impossible to be separated from the consequences. Despite the fact that Meg had been sequestered away, women who called themselves friends kept coming to her door. They were digging for information. Digging for fresh gossip.