Hugh’s face blanked until it resembled stone, cold and hard. She had to resist the urge to touch his features to remind herself that he was still flesh and blood. “Precisely how imprudent is the marriage in question?”
“She is the daughter of a viscount, and she is to marry her father’s groom.”
Awful, terrible silence. Hugh’s expression didn’t change, but she could practicallysensehis anger. She’d heard of his rage but seen very little of it—from what she could tell, it was a slow, unfurling thing.
This had definitely provoked it.
“I know there will be a scandal,” she said quietly. “But I would like to stand by her. After all, she stood by me during my marriage to you.”
His fingers squeezed her wrist almost painfully, and he dropped her as though she had burned him. “I,” he said quietly, the fury in his voice a lash against her skin, “am a duke. The two situations are not comparable. You may not think yourself suited to being a duchess, and my reputation is not savory, but you are now a high-ranking member of society. In London, at least, there will be few doors closed to you. The same cannot be said for Miss Crawford.”
“Are you going to blame her for falling in love?”
“I blame her for acting on it.” He shoved back from the table and paced away, his shoulders tight. “Is that excuse enough in your eyes, Chris? Should one be forgiven for ruining their life merely because they fell in love? More to the point, how did she endeavor to fall in love with a mere groom if her behavior was not already reprehensible?” He strode through the room with prowling grace. She felt as though she had set fire to a fuse and was watching it burn steadily closer to the gunpowder.
She raised her chin. “Does loyalty mean nothing to you?”
“If this were a question of merely you and I, then you may do as you please.” He turned to face her, the light playing across the terrible scars on his face. “I know there is no salvaging my reputation, but I have doneeverythingin my power to protect Amelia from the force of public condemnation, and I did not bring you here so you would ruin that.”
“My reputation?” a voice said from the doorway. Amelia stood there in a pale-white morning dress, looking positively angelic in the sunlight. “Why are you discussing my reputation?”
Hugh’s jaw worked as he fought to keep his temper. Christiana felt her own temper fray, made all the worse by the memory of her father’s note in her pocket.
“Your brother would like to deny my friend access to this house,” Christiana said.
“In light,” Hugh added ominously, “of her disgraceful marriage.”
“Oh, how exciting!” Amelia clapped her hands together. “I had no notion you were such a romantic, Chris.”
“This isn’t a romantic notion in the slightest,” Christiana said. “I can disagree with her choices and still wish to welcome her to my home.”
“Choices have consequences,” Hugh said, arms folded across his massive chest. “And the consequences of Miss Crawford’s choices are that she will not be welcomed by most of theton. Her life will have to be more modest, and she will lose most of her friends. That is the way of things.”
“That does nothaveto be the way of things.” Christiana folded her arms back at him. “She did not have to be my friend at St. Mary’s. We were of the same rank, but where she always had clothes of the latest fashion, I had to stay up late and sew mine. The other girls mocked me for—” Whathadn’tthey mocked her for? “She chose me when the rest of my limited society did not.”
The anger on Hugh’s face didn’t fade. “You ask for too much,” he said shortly. “I will hear no more on the subject.”
Amelia sighed. “Hugh, you don’t have to—”
“Enough, Amelia.” With one last glower at them both, he swept from the room.
Amelia pursed herlips as Christiana sagged a little. Her sister-in-law’s glasses slid down her nose, and she pushed them back up with a sigh.
That was the first time in quite a while that Amelia had seen Hugh lose his temper. In the early days, when he had still been healing from the burns and the house had been still in the process of being repaired, and everything had felt a little out of place, his temper had been terrible. He had raged against the world and his situation; the only person with whom he had learned to be gentle had been her.
And soon, she would be gone forever.
What he needed was for someone to take her place—someone else for whom he needed to be gentle.
Right now, having sparked his rage, Christiana didn’t exactly seem like that person. But just yesterday, Hugh had braved the village in order to bring her back. That alone told Amelia there was something to save. They just, perhaps, needed a little push in the right direction.
Amelia was more than happy to provide that push.
“Don’t worry,” she said cheerfully. “He’ll come around.”
“Perhaps.” Christiana’s tone was dubious. “But I won’t let this lie. Laura is my best friend.”
Amelia had her friends from her school in Bath—they would debut in London next year along with her—and she would do anything for them, too.