Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

I t was all that Marina could do to keep her composure beneath Emmanuel's pointed gaze. She felt as though her worst nightmares were about to be confirmed. Had Phillip already stepped out of their marriage less than a full year into it?

"What could you mean?" she asked, steeling her expression and retaining her even, polite tone. Regardless of what his uncle had to say, Marina was Phillip's wife. It was her duty to stand beside him whether his behavior was poor or not. She resolved to listen to what Emmanuel had to say and to decide what to do only after he had taken his leave. Her only hope was that whatever he had to tell her would not leave her beside herself with hysteria.

Emmanuel appeared to hesitate for a moment, sitting back in his chair while he weighed his words carefully. "I loved my brother's son as my own the moment he was born. I am sure that it is no secret that I have supported him in many ways. I must admit, Your Grace, that I have given much thought to whether or not I should tell you the truth."

Marina's breath hitched in her throat. "The truth?"

"Yes." Emmanuel nodded solemnly. "It would appear, my dear girl, that my nephew is, in many ways, the very same man his father was. I cannot sit idly by as Phillip sends you to your own ruination as my brother once tried to do to me."

Marina felt her heart race but remained composed as Lord Glastonbury leaned forward to look sympathetically at her. "You must understand. I now consider you my family and as such, feel quite protective over you."

"What could Phillip have done to warrant such a prelude?" Marina asked, her voice soft but strained. "I am aware of his past, My Lord, if this is what you mean." She hoped, desperately, that this was what he meant.

"I am afraid not, dear girl," he answered her. "My nephew's faults are numerous and difficult to swallow. Perhaps now is not the time. Have you had anything to eat?"

Marina felt panicked. She needed to know now whether Lord Glastonbury would confirm her suspicions or not. She shook her head a tad too enthusiastically and realized immediately that she had already broken her image as the devoted wife. "I want to hear it."

"I think that is wise. You are brave," Emmanuel said kindly. "You may not recall, as this business dealing would have happened while you were still a child, but my brother and your father had a falling out. Before the late duke passed, he and the Linfields were sworn enemies. I will not trouble your fair mind with the details, young lady, but your husband was aware of this. I am sure that you have considered the speed of your engagement?"

Marina was silent, her eyes watching her conversation partner closely. She could hardly believe what she was hearing, nor make sense of it all. But he was right—she had brought Phillip's sudden proposal into question—and Emmanuel took her silence as confirmation.

"I thought as much. It has been talked about in the ton as well. Philip had returned to London no more than one night before asking for your hand, and the two of you nor your families had prior arrangements in place. It is even well-known that your father skipped over another such arrangement in favor of Phillip's. I am sure that you are a smart girl, Duchess. The two of them were eager to make the match because they share a vendetta against the late duke. Phillip first sought this marriage as a way to seek the revenge on his father that he was not able to seek in life."

"With all due respect, My Lord, my father would never agree to a marriage for the sake of vengeance. Perhaps your memory of him is colored poorly due to the past you say he had with your brother, but he is not that little of a man," Marina answered boldly. She was sure of her father, yes, but was she so sure of Phillip? Lord Glastonbury nodded, knowingly, as if he had expected this response from her. He gave her a pitying look as if he felt bad for her for being so fooled.

"No, I am positive that your father was also thinking of you and your family when he agreed to Phillip's proposal. But it is not his intentions which are of import here. There is more, Marina. Do you want to hear it?"

She did not. Marina wanted to go back to the minutes before this conversation took place when her doubts about her husband were all her own and less complex than these, but that was not possible. She had to hear the rest now that it had begun. She gave a quick nod, averting her eyes so she did not have to look at him feeling sorry for her any longer.

"You mentioned his past before."

"I did. What of it?"

"It is apparent that Phillip has…struggled to adjust to married life. There are murmurs about the ton that he has been visiting with other women when he is not here at home."

Marina thought back to the many times her husband had gone on some obscure errand or other outside of the home and of her suspicions that this was going on. Still, she clung to her last thread of loyalty and hope for him—surely a man who had looked at her as he had in his study just a while before could not betray her in such a way? Surely, she had not been mistaken and the glimmer of affection she had noticed was real.

"Murmurs are just that, are they not?" she quipped. "I would know it if my husband had betrayed our marriage so early. There are more friends of mine in the ton than there are of his. Someone would have told me."

"It would be nice to think such, I know, but you are a duchess, now. Your status is elevated. People cannot hold you in the same regard as they once did, and they now fear your power. If you do not believe me, surely you are not a stranger to trusting your own intuition. Have you yourself not wondered where his hat has been while he has not been at home?"

"Well, yes, but?—"

"I can see the work that you have put into the estate, Your Grace. I know that if your husband was home attending to you, there would not be enough hours in the day to make such quick progress. Am I wrong?"

Marina thought for a moment, her hands clutching the edges of her chair so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. "And have you borne witness to this that you accuse Phillip of?"

"I have."

Marina swallowed the lump in her throat, unsure if she could hear any more, but Emmanuel was determined to continue. It was as if there would be no end to Phillip's betrayal.

"There are conflicts with the estate as well. Phillip needed to marry you to secure your sizable dowry which your father boasted of loudly at my ball the night he met my nephew. As you know, he has squandered his years abroad on women and gambling houses, and his father left little to live on during his decade of illness. It was pertinent that Phillip secured the funds to hide his secret."

"Secret?"

Emmanuel hung his head as if in shame. "Of course. I thought…I was mistaken. I would have thought that he at least made you aware of his circumstance as it affects you directly."

"Pray tell, My Lord. The circumstance."

"Phillip is a bastard. He is not the rightful heir to the title of duke."

Marina felt as though she were overwhelmed with emotion following this conversation, and she hardly registered the sound of boots running through the garden toward them before she felt hands on her shoulder, holding her up.

"What is the meaning of this?" Phillip demanded, his eyes narrowed dangerously on his uncle. "What could you have said to her to leave her in this condition?"

Phillip turned his attention to Marina, searching her eyes carefully, but she was unable to look at him. "Marina, I—" He stopped himself as her eyes swiveled toward him and he saw the pain in them. He turned back to Emmanuel. "I demand to know what you've told her this instant," he thundered.

Phillip's uncle kept walking in the garden. "The truth, Phillip. I told her the truth of your parentage. She is your wife, and she deserved to know what she was up against."

Phillip's eyes, still trained on Marina, went wide, and his face drained of all color. His worst nightmare had come to fruition. His wife met his gaze, tears now streaming down her face.

"Tell me that none of it is true, Phillip," she begged of him quietly. Her heart is so full of pain that she cannot even bring herself to think of the scene that she is causing now in front of Phillip's uncle.

"Marina, I…" Phillip's voice trailed off, and he gave her an impassioned look. He had no idea how to tell her that he needed her to trust that he still had her best interests at heart. That he lied to protect her. His look was a desperate attempt to get her to understand while he was unable to speak.

"Is it true , Phillip?" she begged again, her voice growing shrill. "Everything he's said, is it the truth? What of your ‘cousin', Emma? Did you not stop to think that I might one day meet the young woman your uncle is sponsoring and learn the truth of her relation to you? Or lack thereof."

The Duke stood, looking away from her because he could not bear to see her face when he answered. Up until that moment, his decision to keep Marina in the dark about his status had felt the right thing to do. But now his guilt was eating him alive from the inside out—he had been wrong to think that she could not handle the truth.

That they could not handle it together.

Marina, evidently, took Phillip's silence to mean that Emmanuel had told her the truth.

Phillip looked at her and was shocked by the venom in her gaze. She turned and made for their home. He followed after her.

"Marina, no! I beg of you—come back and I will tell you everything. I was mistaken before. I?—"

She stopped, her back still to him, and startled him into silence. He watched helplessly as she clenched her fists. Her voice was still heavy with sadness and shaky from tears he was sure were still streaming down her pretty cheeks. "As was I. I was mistaken. It is unfathomable to me that I ever entertained shallow feelings for such a man as you, Phillip Hayward."