One Dance with a Duke (Stud Club #1)(109)

“Oh, Spencer.” Her fingers smoothed the hair from his brow. “Lord, you smell of death. And you’re all scratched and bruised. What’s happened to you?”

“It’s nothing,” he said, curling one arm around her legs. “Captain is gone from the barn. When I saw it, I thought perhaps you’d …” He clutched her tighter, feeling that moment of black terror more keenly than before. “God, Amelia. You must promise to never leave me.”

Her fingers stilled in his hair. His heartbeat scudded to a stop, as well.

“I have news,” she said at length. “It will be difficult for you to hear.”

He wanted to keep his face buried in her skirts out of sheer cowardice, but he forced himself to sit back on his heels, rub his bleary eyes clear with one hand, and face this “news” like a man.

She pressed her lips together, hesitating. “There is no easy way to say this.”

“Then say it straight out.” He propped his arms on either side of her skirt, bracing himself for the worst.

“Claudia is with child.”

“Claudia. Claudia, with child?” Emotion struck him in the chest. Several emotions, as a matter of fact, hitting him one after the other in quick succession, like a series of punishing blows: shock, disbelief, sorrow, guilt. Fury. A dozen questions tumbled in his mind, but only one really mattered. “Whose?”

“Not Jack’s,” she said hastily. “It couldn’t have been. It was her music master in York.”

“I’ll kill him,” Spencer bit out.

“What good would that serve? The man doesn’t even know. And from Claudia’s own account, it seems the tutor seduced her, but she was not … unwilling.”

The mere idea of a man touching his ward sent nausea rolling through his gut. “She’s fifteen years old. A child.”

“Not any longer.” Amelia grasped one of his hands and folded it in both of hers. “She’s so frightened, Spencer. She’s known for some time, but she’s terrified of how you’ll react. Just the same, I think she meant to speak with you. Earlier.”

Earlier. When he and Amelia had been … otherwise engaged in this very room and they’d sent her away. And afterward, Spencer never had spoken with her as promised. Truth be told, he’d been avoiding speaking with Claudia for weeks.

“The elopement was her suggestion,” Amelia continued quietly. “But Jack seized the idea eagerly. He’s desperate for funds; she was desperate to conceal her pregnancy. It was a ridiculous plan, and I think they both knew it. They didn’t make it any farther than the castle gatehouse, in the end. That’s where I found them, wet and chilled through.”

“You climbed up there? In the middle of the night?”

“Well, the idea did cross my mind to take Captain, but I realized quickly what a stupid notion that was.”

“Thank God.” He bent his head to her lap again. “I should have known you were too clever to attempt a stunt like that.”

She laughed a little. “If it had been just my safety at stake, I might have been tempted to try, but …” He felt her sigh. “I know you must blame me for this. If only I hadn’t insisted Jack stay, he—”

“Don’t,” he said, lifting his head to capture her gaze. “Don’t blame yourself. Nothing excuses Jack’s actions.”

“I know,” she said in a rush, squeezing his hand. “I know.”

“It’s my right to deal with him, Amelia. He all but kidnapped and ruined an innocent girl, and he must be made to face consequences for it. You can’t keep protecting him any longer.”

“I … I’ve already sent him away.”

He rocked back on his heels, stunned.

“For both his good and yours. This can’t end in violence.” Averting her eyes, she swallowed hard. “I’ve promised to meet with him soon. I let him borrow Captain, but I swear you’ll have the horse returned to you.”

“Blast the horse.” As if he gave a damn about the horse. He’d give every last stallion, mare, and gelding in his stables this instant to undo this night’s events. “Where’s Jack gone?”

She wouldn’t look him in the eye. “Spencer, you know I can’t tell y—”

“You can. And you will, because I’m asking it.” He grabbed her chin and forced her to face him. Devil take it, he couldn’t abide this any longer. “You have to choose, Amelia. I’m damned tired of always coming in second to that brigand, watching you squander all your sympathy and tenderness on him. This time, you cannot be loyal to us both. He abducted my ward. Either you tell me where Jack’s gone and let me deal with him, or …”

“Or?” Red rimmed her eyes.

“Or you leave. You go to him, and you leave me. I can’t keep doing this.”

All throughout his brain, alarms trumpeted, trilled, blared. Recant, you idiot. Take it all back, before she realizes what you’ve said. He knew, rationally, that he’d just made the most impulsive, ill-calculated, goddamned foolish wager of his life, forcing the issue now. Asking her to make such a choice on a morning when lives and futures hung in the balance. But his brain wasn’t making the decisions at the moment. His heart was speaking for him, and his heart was in shreds. He needed her—all of her. And if she couldn’t give him everything, he’d best face it now and start learning to live with the pain.