The Unexpected Duchess (Playful Brides #1)(38)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE


Lucy’s mouth fell straight open. She stared at the duke aghast. They stopped dancing and he quickly maneuvered them both to the sidelines of the room, his hand on Lucy’s back.

“How do you know about Julian?” Lucy asked as soon as they were standing near the wall.

The duke glanced around the ballroom. “I believe this conversation is best had in private.”

Woodenly, Lucy allowed him to escort her from the ballroom, through the long corridor, and out onto the stone-paved street. A few attendees were coming and going, but for the most part they were alone in the moonlight.

As soon as they reached a private spot, Lucy tugged her arm from his grasp and turned to face him. “I’ll repeat my question, how do you know about Julian?”

The duke paced away. “Captain Julian Swift is my closest friend.”

Lucy stood entirely still. She was frozen, couldn’t believe it. She supposed it stood to reason that Julian and the duke could know each other. They’d both been in the army and were in Brussels, but closest friends? Truly? And if that was the case, then …

“Did Julian tell you about…?” Oh, now all the pieces were falling into place. “You said Cass had been recommended to you as a potential wife. Julian recommended her?”

“The very same. And it’s a bit more complicated than that. I promised Julian I’d marry her. When he was dying.”

Lucy pressed both hands to her cheeks. “I don’t know what to say.” But she understood now. She finally understood. The duke had been chasing Cass around for days, unsuccessfully trying to court her, refusing to take no for an answer, putting up with all of Lucy’s ill-tempered attempts to dissuade him—and he’d done it all for his friend, Julian. Julian who was dying. Julian who’d recommended Cass to him. No, made him promise to marry her. Made him promise a dead man he would marry her. Lucy shook her head. She wrapped her hands around her middle and paced back and forth, too.

“I had no idea she’s in love with him,” the duke continued. “From what he told me, he was all but engaged to her cousin, Penelope something.”

Lucy paced away, feeling vaguely nauseated. “He is,” she whispered. “They’ve had an understanding since they were quite young.”

The duke braced a hand against the side of the building. “But you’re telling me that Lady Cassandra loves Julian?”

“Yes. She’s loved him since she was a girl.”

“Does Julian know?”

“He might by now. She wrote to him as soon as she learned he was dying. But no, before that she never told him. What was the point?”

The duke snatched his palm away from the wall and ran his fingers through his hair while his other hand rested on his hip. “Blast it. I had no idea she was in love with him. Though I must say it explains quite a lot.”

Lucy couldn’t help her snort. “What? You cannot imagine a lady not being interested in you unless her heart is already taken?”

His shrug gave her his answer.

“You are unbelievably arrogant,” she said. But for some reason she couldn’t help her smile. It was all just too much. Here she’d been trying to chase him away like an angry bird protecting her chick and he’d sworn an oath to a dying man to succeed in his courtship. The same courtship she’d been desperately trying to thwart. If it wasn’t all so sad, she would laugh.

When he spoke, his voice was soft. “Truly, Lucy, I didn’t know she was in love with Julian.”

He’d called her Lucy. It made her catch her breath a little. Oh, she could insist he not be so forward with her but at the moment she didn’t want to argue any longer. They’d just had a breakthrough, the two of them. He finally understood that Cass loved another man. Not just any man, Julian. And she finally understood why he hadn’t given up. Besides, he’d given her a kiss to nearly singe off her eyelashes the other night; allowing him to call her by her Christian name didn’t seem half so scandalous. She might as well begin calling him Derek, too.

When he smiled at her, her heart forgot a beat.

“So you can understand now why you should leave Cass alone?” she said softly, but the words made her inexplicably sad. If he did go away and leave Cass alone, Lucy would never see him again, either. It’s what she’d been telling herself she wanted. But did she?

“I can’t do that,” he said.

Lucy’s head snapped up. “What do you mean? Why not?”

He turned to her and looked her in the eye. “I made a promise to my friend.”

“But Cass doesn’t love you.”

He groaned. “Believe me, I understand. It’s been no great fun chasing her around. But it sounds as if Cassandra won’t love anyone but Julian. He holds her in the highest regard, I can tell you that. But even if Julian were to live, he’d come back here and marry her cousin. He planned to do that. I know he did. He told me as much. I promised Swift I’d marry Lady Cassandra and I intend to keep that promise. I’ll be a good husband. She’ll receive a generous allowance after she provides me with an heir, she can go anywhere, do anything. I won’t stand in her way.”

Lucy clenched her fist. She couldn’t believe it. Even after what they’d just discussed, he didn’t intend to stop his pursuit of Cass. This man was refusing to listen to reason. And he was being so cold … so calculating about the prospect of marriage. It shouldn’t surprise her. Many ton marriages were based on much less but for some reason, coming from him, it made her angry. He wasn’t from the ton, damn it. It wasn’t his world. Or hadn’t been, at least. Why did he have to be so matter-of-fact about a proposal?