Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Chloe woke slowly as she attempted to get her bearings. Where was she? Why was she so warm and comfortable?

That’s when the rumble of voices filled her ears, individual words and phrases penetrating the fog of her mind…

“I didn’t know.” The deep rumble of a male voice.

“You know now,” Mildred replied, Chloe recognizing the lilting soprano of the other woman’s voice.

“It was innocent.”

“It’s grounds for her to be ruined,” Mildred said, her words sounding more agitated and clipped. Chloe’s eyes fluttered open, the strong line of a man’s jaw coming into view. Was she in his arms?

She blinked several slow blinks as the room, a lavish dining room, came into focus. It was as unfamiliar as the rest of the situation. Where was she and how had she gotten here? Her mind refused to focus as she attempted to puzzle out the circumstances. She was with Mildred…

She looked back at the man who held her in his arms. A few memories tickled the back of her thoughts. Masks and gaslight…

And a lovely kiss.

Suddenly, the entire situation flooded her memories, last night’s kiss with a stranger, meeting that very stranger this morning, the man who kissed her, a duke—and her guardian.

Was that good or bad? The pounding of her heart told her that whatever came next was going to be bad.

“Ryker Helmsworth. You will do your duty?—”

“Mildred,” He cut off his aunt. “You might think that you can dictate my choices but?—”

“Oh not me,” Mildred’s voice had grown deadly calm in a way Chloe had never heard before. Not even last night. “But my cousin… the king of this country, I think he might have a thing or two to say to you about your future.”

Ryker’s arms about her stiffened, his jaw growing so taut, he looked as though he could chew nails. Chloe didn’t think… she just reached up a hand and touched his jaw, her fingers sliding over the stubble already beginning to roughen his skin.

He looked down at her then, his teeth audibly gnashing together. “You’re awake.”

“I…” She dropped her hand again, realizing the touch was likely not appropriate. “I am.”

“Are you all right?” He searched her face, one hand coming to her neck and settling over her pulse.

“I’m fine, I’m certain. I was just surprised that you were… you.” Did that even make sense? “I’m not normally prone to fainting.” In addition to recognizing the man who’d kissed her last night, the lack of sleep, coupled with the shock and the strain of the last several months, hadn’t helped. “I’m sorry.”

She wasn’t certain what she apologized for. Her weakness or the situation in which he found himself.

Her gaze shifted to Mildred, who stood straight and tall a few feet away, her arms crossed over her chest.

Mildred was a force of good, but the woman was… a force.

“You’re not the first fainting woman I’ve caught.”

“But she is your last,” Mildred replied for her, her chin notching up.

He spun with Chloe in his arms, striding out the door without answering his aunt. Chloe nearly asked where they were going, or what was happening, but his arms were like iron bands and his face was hard and angry. So she kept silent.

He entered a sitting room, crossing over to a settee before setting her down. She half expected him to dump her on the furniture like dead weight, but he was slow and gentle as he lowered her to the ridiculously soft cushions.

The moment he rose, Chloe caught sight of Mildred entering the room. “Mildred,” she started her plea.

She had no interest in forcing the duke to do anything. A small dowry was all she hoped for, and even that felt like a decadent favor. If no one knew who’d kissed her, there was no harm. Was there?

She’d always known when to push and when to leave something be, and in this moment, he did not seem like a man to force.

“Quiet, dear.” Mildred stared at her nephew with hard eyes.

“Mildred,” he rumbled, saying the exact same name but sounding completely different from Chloe.

He sounded irritated. Dangerous. In command.

Mildred didn’t bat an eye. “Ryker.”

“You are not forcing me?—”

“I am. You are one and thirty and show no signs of changing your ways.”

He let out a sound that reminded Chloe of a snarl.

“If I involve the king, everyone will know of the scandal, which is why…”

“Fuck me,” he spit.

Chloe half jumped, sitting up. “It’s all right. We don’t even know anyone saw… there is no need.”

“Chloe,” Mildred bit out. “Do not speak again.”

She snapped her mouth shut, pressing her lips tightly.

Ryker assessed her, his keen eyes staring into hers, before they drifted to her mouth, and then lower, his gaze seeming to take in every detail. There was no passion in his gaze, however; it was an assessment that made Chloe shrink in on herself.

“I need a drink.” Ryker turned away then, crossing to the buffet where a line of crystal decanters sat in a neat row.

“It’s not even ten in the morning,” Mildred huffed. “Have ale.”

“Woman, cease telling me what to do,” he spit back. “You’ve always been meddlesome.”

“Someone has to help you find the right path. As advanced in years as you are, you’re still completely lost.”

“Lost?” He spun back a full glass in hand. “In my own house?”

“You know what I mean.”

“As a matter of fact, I do not know. I am on the exact path I choose to be, for the reasons I choose to be there. I have indulged your mothering because?—”

“You needed it.” Mildred’s chin raised higher.

“Because I care for you.”

Mildred snorted. “If you cared for me, you would have had children already while I’m young enough to love them the way I did you.”

“You should have had children of your own,” Ryker tossed back.

“You think I don’t know that?” Mildred looked down at her then and she reached out a hand, brushing a stray lock of Chloe’s hair back from her forehead. “But life has provided me with two children I didn’t birth, and I intend to take care of them both.”

Ryker let out a long, frustrated breath. “Damn meddling woman.”

Chloe reached for Mildred’s hand, holding it in her own. “Might I ask a question?”

Mildred scowled down at her even as Chloe silently pleaded with her eyes. “Fine,” Mildred answered, squeezing her fingers.

She wasn’t certain this information mattered to Mildred, but it did to Chloe. She looked at Ryker, plucking up the courage to ask her question and hopefully gain some clarity. “Why did you kiss me last night?”

* * *

Why did he kiss her last night?

His aunt’s brows rose, her eyes sharp on Ryker. She was clearly also curious about the question. But he couldn’t very well tell the truth…

You were a bet. The sort of behavior he engaged in regularly because that was what men did. At least the men he spent his time with. He rolled his head, cracking his neck. This was an impossible situation. His charge was the woman he’d compromised. Used and then left. “You’re stunning.”

He didn’t add that he was the sort of man who took what he wished when he wished. Even he had the decency to not utter such words in front of his aunt. His heart shrunk in his chest. Bollocks. He could see the disappointment in Aunt Mildred’s eyes, and he didn’t wish to keep upsetting her. Damn the woman; she meddled, but she cared for him.

Not that it mattered. Mildred clearly intended to press the issue. What were his next plays? Strong-arm his aunt into silence. That was the first choice.

His aunt was as kind as she was energetic, but that did not mean she was easily manipulated. And she had a will of iron when she chose. It ran in the family…

He thought of the unopened letter on his desk. The king was growing increasingly impatient. Apparently, he didn’t like his dukedoms being left to chance. He wanted the title and all its influence to remain close to the throne. And the king could only be held off for so long.

His gaze flitted to Chloe. She was beautiful. Easily coerced into kissing, easily controlled by his aunt. She was a scared little mouse who’d fainted at the very sight of him.

He could make a stand against marriage as he’d been doing for the last fourteen years or…

A plan began to form.

He looked at Chloe again, those large blue eyes begging him for… he wasn’t entirely certain, but he could guess.

She was alone in the world, save for his aunt. She needed a secure position and that was something he could use to his advantage.

The possibility wasn’t ideal. In fact, it was the opposite of what he’d sworn he’d wanted, but even Rome had had to fall eventually. Considering the situation in which he found himself…

“There’s no need to involve the king.”

One of Mildred’s brows rose as she assessed him. Chloe sat with her arms wrapped about herself.

“You’re certain?” Mildred asked, her head cocking to the side.

He didn’t dignify the question with a response. “Aunt Mildred, Chloe and I need to have a word.”

Mildred’s eyes flashed with indecision as she looked down at her new charge. It was Chloe who answered. “It’s all right.”

Mildred paused for a moment longer before she gave a quick nod and then turned toward the door. “I shall be just across the hall in the dining room should you need me.” She turned to go, her skirts swishing about her legs as she made her way to the door. But just before she left, she stopped and gave him a narrow-eyed glare over her shoulder before she finally disappeared.

Silence fell as he crossed to the mantel, staring into the flames of the fire.

“Your Grace?” Chloe finally whispered, breaking the silence.

He looked back at her then. Scared, vulnerable, alone. A little country mouse. Didn’t she know, she’d entered the lair of a predator?

“We are going to wed.”

“Oh,” she gasped, her eyes widening.

He straightened up. His chest broadened as he drew in a deep breath. “But if I’m going to make you my duchess, we need to make a few points clear.”

“Points?”

“I don’t intend to go public with our marriage right away. I’ll need time…” If he played this right, he could pacify his aunt and the King without changing his life.

Chloe struck him as the sort of woman he would be able to control. To dictate the terms. It would be his aunt who might be problematic with the arrangement he had in mind.

“I see?” Her brow furrowed, her teeth nipping at her bottom lip.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be well cared for financially. I’ll see to your every need from here on out.”

Desire coursed through him at the idea of meeting one need in particular, but he tamped down the thought. There was no room for it here. Now.

Her features relaxed, her shoulders slumping. “That is a relief.”

“I won’t require much from you in return. Your cooperation, of course.”

Chloe nodded, her hesitation evident, in the quaver of her chin. “Of course.”

He would quietly tell the King he’d wed. His aunt should be happy with the match. But to the rest of the world, he’d remain as he’d always been for as long as he could.

“Is there anything else you require?” Chloe asked, her trembling hands clasping in front of her.

“Such as?”

She shook her head, the soft strands of her blonde hair catching the morning sun. His eyes followed the movement and then slid down the delicate column of her neck.

Her mouth opened and then closed. “When do you think we would tell others we’d wed?”

Did she want a timeline? That wasn’t likely to happen. “When I see fit.”

Her head cocked to the side as she stared up at him. “But what if I become pregnant? Surely then…”

His jaw clenched as he stared down at her. He didn’t even want a wife. He most certainly didn’t wish for a child. He knew what everyone else in the world expected from a duke, but that was their problem. He’d not create an heir. There would be no exception. “You won’t become pregnant.”

Chloe blinked in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”

“You won’t become pregnant.”

“But how can you know?—”

“I know because we won’t have that sort of relationship.”

Her lips parted in shock, her eyes clouding with confusion.

“That is my other caveat, Chloe. If we wed, there will be no intimacy. I won’t touch you.”

She gasped in a breath, falling back on the settee, her wide blue eyes becoming impossibly large. “You can’t mean it.”

“I do. Every word.”