Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

“ T heo! Theo, there you are.”

Theo paused, turning to face his cousin.

Celine was pushing her way through the crowd in a most unladylike fashion, utilizing her height and her long, bony elbows with cheerful nonchalance. She was wearing a pale blue dress, cut in the latest fashion, and still somehow managed to make the item look frumpy and disheveled.

Theo bestowed a rare smile on his cousin. “Celly, what a pleasure. I suppose this means that Uncle John and Aunt Lucy are in the fleet somewhere?”

“Naturally,” Celine responded, giving him a peck on the cheek.

She was so tall that she barely had to stand on her tiptoes to kiss him. Looping her arm comfortably through his, she towed him away from the worst of the crowd, in search of a quiet corner.

As a child, Theo had liked to pretend that Uncle John and Aunt Lucy were his real parents, and Celine his sister. Henry generally featured in these fantasies, when he wasn’t being too annoying. Uncle John—Lord Rackham—was the brother of Theo’s mother and was a kindly, genteel sort of man, handsome in his youth and growing into a sort of comfortable, fatherly-looking figure. Aunt Lucy was short, tubby, cheerful, and the most maternal person Theo had ever met.

How the two of them had conjured Celine, he would never know.

“You’re still in black, I see,” Theo said, once they made their way to somewhere quieter. “You could come out of mourning now, you know.”

Celine’s face tightened. “Did Mama and Papa ask you to talk to me about that?”

“What? No, Celly, I swear it. I just hate seeing you grieving.”

“I lost my husband,” Celine responded a little tartly. “It’s natural for me to grieve.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t. At least, it’s not you,” Celine sighed, rubbing one of her eyes.

Despite her height—which put her above many men—and her boniness, Celine was remarkably pretty. She had a delicate, heart-shaped face, a mass of honey-blonde curls, and large, wide gray eyes that fixed on the world in an unwavering stare. She was also the cleverest person Theo had ever met.

“People keep asking me when I am going to marry again,” Celine continued, a tinge of anger in her voice. “Not if . When . Just the other day, somebody asked me if I don’t think I’m a burden to my parents.”

“What nonsense. Uncle John and Aunt Lucy would never think of you that way. They adore you, Celly.”

“I knew that marrying a ship captain would never make me rich. I was content to be Mrs. Wickham to the end of my days, I just didn’t think… I didn’t think I would be Widow Wickham quite so soon.”

She swallowed hard, her thin throat working, and Theo bit his lip.

“I am sorry, Celly.”

She sniffed. “It’s alright. Besides, you know what it’s like to lose a spouse, don’t you? I know that you and Isabella had your difficulties, but still.”

Theo’s jaw tightened. Celine, of course, did not know the full story. Uncle John and Aunt Lucy knew, as he’d had to tell someone , but they were excellent at keeping secrets, and he had no doubt that they would not share the information with their own daughter.

It felt almost blasphemous, comparing Celine’s genuine grief and misery with his complex emotions surrounding Isabella.

There was no need for him to think up something to say because Celine gave another hearty sniff and plastered on a smile.

“Now, where is that wife of yours? I barely glimpsed her at the wedding breakfast, and the ceremony was so packed that I hardly saw either of you. It’s Anna, isn’t it? Although I suppose it will be Your Grace to me. I’m dying to meet her.”

“She doesn’t insist on formalities, and you can consider yourself her sister-in-law. I would introduce you to her, but I think Lady Tether has whisked her away to play parlor games before the music begins.”

“Goodness, I probably won’t see her for a while, then.”

Theo glanced around and spotted a familiar face in the corner. “Ah, there’s Stephen. We should join him.”

Celine pulled a face. “Ah, your old friend Duke Blackheart. Do excuse me, I shall leave you gentlemen to your rakish ways and seek out my mother. Find me if you can later on, or I shall call on you later. On Anna, to be precise.”

“I shall hold you to that,” Theo said with a smile, kissing his cousin’s gloved hand.

Celine melted into the crowd, a head and shoulders above the other ladies, and Theodore turned to find Stephen.

Before he could walk over to his friend, he saw something else, a familiar face in the crowd.

Anna.

For some reason, he found his gaze drawn to her, powerful as a magnet, and it was easy to pick her out even in the crush of people.

She was standing near the wall, halfway towards the refreshments table. The music began, so there was a general push towards the dance floor, leaving empty patches of space throughout the ballroom. Anna was standing in one of these spaces, talking to a man Theo did not recognize.

He was walking towards them before he even knew what he was doing.

Anna’s face, he saw upon closer inspection, was pale and drawn. She was leaning backwards, just a little, a sure sign that she was not enjoying the conversation.

The man glanced over his shoulder, and Theo did recognize him. It was the Earl of Downton. Not a man he was particularly friendly with, and the fellow had an unpleasant reputation.

He eased closer through the thinning crowd and was able to catch snatches of the conversation.

“… quite the nerve,” Lord Downton was saying, his voice sibilant and unpleasant. “Do you truly think your debt can just melt away to nothing?”

“I believe it has,” Anna shot back, although her voice was shaking.

The Earl was backing her into a corner, utilizing her desire to keep some distance between them. As Theo watched, Anna’s back bumped against the wall.

“It has not,” Lord Downton said, and Theo could hear the smile in his voice. “I know things about you, girl, and I know even more about your hussy of a mother.”

Anna’s shoulders stiffened, and her face paled. “How dare you, Sir? How dare you speak of my mother in such a manner?”

“I’ll speak of her however I like, and if she has any sense at all, she’ll keep her flapping lips shut. I could ruin her with a single word. I could see her excluded forever from Society, penniless, friendless, and humiliated. My life, naturally, would not change, but hers would be ruined in the blink of an eye. Such is the nature of ladies’ reputations in our cruel, unforgiving times.”

Anna sucked in a shaking breath. “If you dare to?—”

“Now, my girl, if I were you, I wouldn’t make any threats. The only one with the power to make threats is me. You may think you’ve been very clever, marrying a wealthy man, but I can assure you that once he knows the truth, things will be very, very different. Here is what we will do, my girl?—”

“I’m sure you mean Your Grace ,” Theo interrupted, striding forward and breaking free of the last few straggling guests.

Both Anna and Lord Downton jumped, spinning around to face him.

“Theo!” Anna burst out, relief crossing her face.

She scurried over to his side, and for a moment, he thought she might actually fling her arms around his middle. She’d certainly never looked so happy to see him before.

Lord Downton looked taken aback, but only for a moment. “Your Grace,” he said smoothly, executing a neat bow. “What a pleasure to see you. Your family is well, I trust? The weather has been?—”

“Let’s skip the informalities, Lord Downton,” Theo interrupted. “Shall we begin with an explanation of why you were threatening my wife, the Duchess ?”

Lord Downton paled just a little. “Why, Your Grace, I believe you may have misunderstood the situation. Her Grace and I were just?—”

“I did not misunderstand. I was here, and I heard enough. No doubt you have wax in your ears, Lord Downton, and you believed you were being quite quiet, but I can assure you otherwise. An explanation, please. Immediately, or else I shall have to take action.”

Theo deliberately did not explain what action he might take, allowing Lord Downton’s imagination to fill in the gaps. Duels were, of course, illegal, but there were plenty of other ways to humiliate an enemy.

Theo was familiar with most of them.

Lord Downton’s eyes darted around, as if searching for a way out. He could, of course, simply stalk off. However, something kept his feet planted to the ground. His gaze landed on Anna, and Theo glanced at her too.

“Come now,” Theo said when nobody broke the silence. “Let’s hear what all of this is about.”

More silence. He glanced at Anna again, who studiously avoided meeting his eyes.

Well, that was not a good sign, but he could always deal with that later.

Lord Downton, however, seemed to gain confidence from Anna’s silence. “With all due respect, Your Grace, I think perhaps the Duchess and I will keep this matter between ourselves. It is… how shall I put this? Delicate .”

Theo regarded the Earl for a long moment until the man flushed and lowered his gaze.

“Is this gentleman bothering you, my dear?” he asked, without taking his eyes off Lord Downton.

“Yes,” Anna said, her voice only shaking a little bit. “Yes, he is. He accosted me, cornered me here in the ballroom, and made such awful, awful accusations about my mother. And he—” she broke off.

Theo longed to ask what she was going to say, but he did not want to distract himself. There would be time for that later.

Instead, he took a few steps forward so that Lord Downton was the one backing away. Theo stood a good head and shoulders above the older man and used his height to his advantage.

When one was tall and broad, it was remarkably easy to loom .

“Let me be clear, Lord Downton,” he said, his voice soft. “You will not approach the Duchess again. There can be no business between you, as she is my wife and therefore her business and her reputation are as precious as my own.”

“Now, look here,” the Earl began, but Theo continued as if the man had not spoken.

“I will not tolerate threats to my family. And, as the Duchess is now my wife, that includes her mother and sisters. If you continue as you are, Lord Downton, you will be sorry. Very sorry, indeed. You see—” He punctuated the sentence with a step forward, forcing Lord Downton to take another step back, bumping against the wall just as Anna had.

Theo did not stop, however, almost chest-to-chest with the man.

“You see, Lord Downton, I am the worst kind of enemy. I have the money, the power, and the spite to make a man’s life a living hell. I hold grudges, and I have no interest in biting my tongue to keep the peace. If I were you, Lord Downton, I would be very, very careful, indeed.”

There was a long, taut silence after that. Lord Downton’s face was white and livid. He glanced between Theo and Anna as if searching for answers.

Theo kept his gaze on Lord Downton. A cold, level stare was what was needed at a time like this. It showed dominance, showed who was making the decisions in that particular altercation.

Theo had plenty of experience with that sort of thing.

As expected, Lord Downton lowered his gaze first. “You have no idea what you are speaking of,” he snarled and made to storm away, not giving either of them a chance to reply.

At least, he tried to storm away. Theo’s hand shot out like a snake as he passed, gripping his shoulder, his fingers digging in a way that he knew would leave small bruises.

“Remember what I said, good sir,” Theo warned, his voice dangerously soft. “The worst sort of enemy. Only a fool deliberately courts enemies, and certainly not men like me. Do you understand?”

He tightened his grip, making it clear that the man would not be escaping until he gave some sort of reply.

“You have made yourself clear,” Lord Downton snarled and then wrenched his shoulder free. He stormed away, disappearing into the thinning crowd.

Theo watched him go, not quite relaxing until the older man turned sharply into a hallway that led to the front door. No doubt he was leaving, humiliated by the exchange.

“It’s not over.”

He flinched at Anna’s words, glancing down at her with raised eyebrows. “I beg your pardon?”

Anna was staring after Lord Downton too, her face pale, her lips pressed together.

She sighed. “He won’t let it go just like that. He’s like a dog with a bone. He’s been… been bothering us since Papa died. He’s one of Papa’s creditors, you see.”

Theo did see. He’d known a hundred men like Lord Downton—a thousand, in fact—and they were all more or less the same. Lustful, entitled, greedy, never quite content with what they had. He imagined that Lord Downton had a genteel wife and a handful of children at home. Not as much money as he would like, not as pretty a wife as he felt he deserved, and so on.

Men like him were never content. Theo had seen the way he looked at Anna, and it was nothing short of covetous. Anna was a beautiful woman, and she was intelligent and firm in her principles.

The allure was, as far as Theo could tell, in breaking the lady in question. Lord Downton seemed to have set his mind on Anna and would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.

It was a tale as old as time, and just as sickening as one would expect. Except…

“What was he talking about when he mentioned your mother?” Theo asked suddenly.

What little color there had been drained from Anna’s face. Her hands clenched by her sides.

“I won’t let him near my mother,” she choked out. “I won’t let her see that man ever again. I won’t let him hurt her. I won’t let him blackmail her… never, never again!”

Her vehemence shocked him a little.

“ We will not let him near her again,” he corrected firmly. “Your business is mine now, remember?”

Anna wasn’t looking at him. She was staring off into the distance, unspoken thoughts dancing around in her head. All of a sudden, he wanted her to look at him— really look at him. If they hadn’t been in a crowded ballroom, he might have reached out and hooked a finger under her chin, turning her face towards him.

He did not, of course, and Anna seemed to snap out of her little reverie.

“I can’t stay here,” she said suddenly. “I need to find somewhere quiet. Excuse me, Your Grace.”

She turned and hurried away without another word, leaving him with a stinging sense of annoyance.

I am Your Grace again.

He stood there for a moment, watching her scurry towards a dark hallway and disappear into it. He only wavered for a moment.

Sighing, he raked a hand through his hair and went after her.