I've Got My Duke to Keep Me Warm (The Lords of Worth) (17 page)

Chapter 14

I
ain stayed to help Jamie enjoy the food Gisele had brought up earlier. As soon as they were done with the meal, Jamie left, dawdling in the stables and annoying the grooms, allowing Gisele and Iain to say their goodbyes in privacy. When he returned, Iain was gone, and Gisele was tidying, her eyes a little red, but her shoulders straight.

“You’ll miss him,” Jamie said, wanting to go to her, but unsure if it was his comfort she needed right now. She had just said goodbye to a man she had cared about her entire life, and intruding on that seemed wrong.

“Yes.” She smiled sadly. “But it’s the right thing to do—for both of them. Iain is right. The life Helena has been living is no sort of life at all.”

“How did Iain come to marry Helena?”

Her smile lost its sadness. “After the explosion, the duchess sent Helena to a friend’s manor in Bath to work as a governess. She didn’t call herself Helena, of course, but Iain would visit regularly just to check on her.”

“Ah.” Jamie toyed with the crystal cups on the sideboard, thinking about the hold the marquess had on Helena
even now. How Valence’s heinous actions years ago were still creating ripples in the lives of his victims.

It was, he realized with sudden clarity, what had brought Gisele to his bedroom that morning.

He hadn’t fully recognized her motivations at the time, but he had recognized her need.

He had seen her need to prove to herself she had the courage to give her body in trust, without that gift’s exacting a cost to her own identity. It was why he had given her absolute control. So that Gisele might understand that the passion between them was not something to be feared. So she might understand that no man could ever own her, any more than one could own the sea or the moon or the stars.

Before this morning Gisele had denied herself the possibility of happiness and pleasure, not because she was
indifferent
, but because the marquess and her father had taught her that everything came with a price. Jamie would teach her differently if it killed him. He smirked inwardly at the thought.

She’d come damn close to it this morning. And he couldn’t wait to try again.

He set a glass down and turned to face her. Gisele was watching him expectantly. He sighed, knowing they had put this conversation off for as long as possible.

“I might have to kidnap Lady Julia,” he said, aiming at levity.

His comment earned a faint smile before it faded. “So you met her.”

“Yes.”

“And did you sweep her off her feet?”

Jamie schooled his features at the last second. Was that jealousy he detected?

“She doesn’t seem the, er, sweepable type,” he said with regret.

“What does that mean? Did you dance with her?”

“Yes.”

“Did you kiss her?” The question was brusque.

Jamie was almost enjoying this. “I did…”

Her face pinched.

“… not kiss her.”

“You’re a bastard.” She made a face at him, finally recognizing his guile.

“Yes, I am indeed,” he replied cheerfully, his heart lighter than it had been in a very long time. Not only was she not indifferent, Gisele Whitby was
jealous
.

“But I was a dismal failure at provoking anything more than a blush and a ‘Thank you, Mr. Montcrief’ from the girl. Apparently I did not make a very convincing Romeo.”

“Oh.”

“The good news is that Lord Huston has expressed his misgivings about this marriage,” Jamie told her.

“To you?” She looked at him in surprise.

“Yes. His exact words were that he believed Valence to be a little… off.”

Gisele raised a brow. “However did you get the viscount talking about his sister’s fiancé with you?”

“Apparently I am trustworthy. And sympathetic. And affable. Even though I am a bastard,” he added, unable to help himself.

“Mmm-hmm.” She sounded worried now. “But she still plans to marry him?”

“Yes. I am quite sure her sense of duty to both her father and her family name will trump any assaults on her tender heart. Or her brother’s instincts.”

“So we’re back to where we started.” He could hear the frustration bleed into her words. “We might really have to kidnap her.”

“Or not kidnap her and think of something else.”

Gisele didn’t seem to hear him. She had picked up an envelope from a stack of invitations that had been delivered and was tapping it against her hand, frowning fiercely. “Maybe it would be for the best,” she told him. “Even if it does destroy her reputation. At least she’d be alive. I could build her a new life, with every comfort and luxury she has come to expect and enjoy.”

“With what money?” Jamie asked, pointing out the obvious flaw in that plan. “No amount of creative accounting could hide a sum like that missing from the duchess’s accounts.”

Gisele gazed at him, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “You’re right.”

“Thank you,” Jamie said, though he couldn’t see what was amusing about it.

“Have you named your horse yet?” she asked after a moment.

“My what?” How did the woman manage to do this? He had missed a turn somewhere in the conversation. Again.

“I was thinking,” she said, “you might want to call that gelding Diamond.”

It took Jamie a full minute before he understood. “Holy shit,” he breathed.

“Valence had made a collar out of them,” she said distantly, “that he liked me to wear. It was the width and circumference of my entire neck. That night was the first and
only time I was glad to be wearing it. Those diamonds have helped a lot of women.”

Jamie shook his head, unbalanced. Not only by Valence’s depravity, but by the realization that Gisele possessed a king’s ransom in diamonds and had chosen to stay. She could have fled and gone anywhere in the world, and that fortune could have given her the lifestyle of a princess. She could have had anything and everything she ever wanted. But she had stayed and helped others who suffered as she had. Stayed and used her fortune to help take women and families out of impossible situations and give them a chance at happiness. At life.

“The duchess sells the diamonds for you,” he muttered, a piece of the puzzle clicking into place.

“I can’t very well do it, can I?”

“Gisele,” he started, but found he was groping blindly for the right words. “You… I think…” Something warm had wrapped itself around his chest and was squeezing mercilessly.

She was eyeing him warily now.

“You are extraordinary.”

She blinked. “Thank you. But I don’t do it alone. And I don’t do anything anyone else wouldn’t do.”

“No.”

“No?” The wariness was back.

“There are very few people in this world who would do what you have done.”

Gisele shrugged, looking uncomfortable, but he refused to let her look away.

“Why did you wait to tell me?” he asked.

Her eyes dropped. “I didn’t know if I could trust you then.”

“And now?”

She raised her chin again. “You know I trust you.”

Jamie crossed the room in two strides and touched her cheek, unable to help himself. He heard her breath catch and then, because it was inevitable, he leaned over and kissed her softly.

After a moment she pulled away. “Sometimes I think it was shame,” she whispered.

“What was?”

“Why I stayed.”

“I don’t understand.”

She looked down, her fingers twisting the envelope. “I didn’t stop him. I ran away instead. That wasn’t extraordinary.” She was quiet for a moment. “You hear stories of other women, and you never think it could happen to you. You always think you would be stronger. Braver. Better. But in the end you’re not. You’re scared and helpless and you let it happen.”

“Gisele—”

“You were right when you accused me of trying to atone for something. I thought, if I could keep it from happening to others, I could make up for my cowardice.”

Jamie forced her chin up. “Stop. You were in an impossible situation with impossible choices. But don’t ever believe it was cowardice that brought you here.”

She smiled weakly. “I won’t allow it to happen again.”

Jamie drew her back into his arms. “No,” he agreed. “We won’t. We’ll think of something. I’m not going anywhere.”

She was still for a moment before she spoke. “Sebastien said to remind you that you have appointments all afternoon.”

Jamie groaned. What he wanted to do was spend the rest of the afternoon with Gisele. He did not want to leave her here, alone. “What will you do while we’re gone?”

Gisele let her arms drop and looked at him unhappily. “Pretend to dust? Jump on the bed so I can remake it?” She bit her lip. “God, but I hate this feeling of helplessness. I’m stuck in these rooms, and all I can do is wait. Wait for you to leave. Wait for you to come home. Wait for that bastard to do something stupid. I can’t stand not being able to do anything!” She stomped to the bedroom doors. “I can’t just sit by and let this man destroy another woman. I might just turn lunatic in the process—” She froze, her expression intense. “That’s it.”

“What’s it?” Jamie looked at her in confusion.

“I know what we have to do.”

“You do?”

She had an almost feral gleam in her eye. “I know how to destroy him. Destroy Valence,” she clarified unnecessarily.

“How?” He watched her warily.

“There is one thing that would prevent him from being able to marry. From being able to hold his seat in the House of Lords. From being accepted into polite society as a whole.”

“You let me kill him?” Jamie suggested.

“Better.”

“I’m not following.”

“How does one lose a seat in the House of Lords?”

“He dies.”

“Or?”

“Or he is deemed insane,” Jamie said slowly, comprehension dawning. “If a person has lost his reason, he cannot sit.”

“Nor can he get married.”

Jamie considered her. “You wish to make him appear unsound of mind.”

“He’s already mad as a March hare, Jamie. We just need to bring the crazy out for everyone to see.”

“How do you propose we do that?”

“What do you think he would do if he believed I might still be alive?”

“I beg your pardon?” Jamie gaped at her, certain now he didn’t like where this was going at all.

“How would he react if he saw me? In the street? In the park? Random places, random times?”

Jamie was shaking his head, every instinct he possessed clamoring in alarm. “You are not going to expose yourself, Gisele. You are dead, remember? Dead and
safe
. I’d prefer to keep it that way.”

Gisele crossed her arms in impatient annoyance. “Don’t be difficult. No one is ever really safe. I could get run over by a carriage tomorrow.”

“By a
what
?”

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before.”

“I can—it’s a truly terrible idea! What if Valence discovers you are, in fact, very much real?”

“I can’t hide forever!”

“You could try.”

“Would you?”

Jamie opened his mouth to argue, but found he had no words.

“If Valence thought he could have me back, he would never marry Lady Julia.”

The words were like a gunshot, the report sharp in its truth and simplicity. Jamie stared at her, knowing he was
losing ground. Because in the back of his mind, beyond his initial gut reaction, he knew she was right.

In his mind’s eye, Jamie saw Valence’s visceral reaction to the mention of Gisele. Remembered Eleanor’s comments about the marquess’s extreme withdrawal after the explosion. And the unsettling resemblance of Julia Hextall to Gisele Whitby.

She was silent for a long minute. “He killed his first wife so he could marry me,” she said, suddenly subdued.

Jamie had already suspected that. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. He met me when she was still alive and danced an attendance on me that was unnerving. The marchioness was dead within three weeks. At the time I simply thought it was tragic. Now I know it was premeditated.”

“She drowned?”

“Helena’s mother did not like or trust the water, yet somehow ended up drowned along the edges of the estate ponds. She had apparently slipped and banged her head.”

Jamie took a deep breath, making sure his voice was matter-of-fact and even. “Then you’re right.”

“I am?” She looked a little startled.

“If there was even a remote chance you were still alive, I know exactly what he’d do.”

“You do?”

He crossed over to her. “He would move heaven and earth to find you. He would do anything to have you back. He’d make himself look like a raving lunatic trying to convince others to help him, and he wouldn’t care.” He paused. “You said your death was witnessed by a number of people. Would any of those believe you might have survived?”

Gisele was shaking her head. “No. No, the explosion was spectacular. Valence had put Helena and me on the barge that night for a spring solstice costume party at Vauxhall Gardens. He wanted everyone traveling over the bridge to be able to see us—he’d hired the barge and had it tricked out with ribbons and lights and fireworks and—”

“And a waterman named George,” Jamie finished for her.

“That was the easy part to arrange.”