Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

Secrets And Lies

L eah lay in her bed and could not sleep. She had been troubled for a week about being trapped in a marriage with the Duke, but now, she was troubled by the fact that the Duke had lied to her father.

She got out of bed and looked out the window. The sky was dark and covered with dark gray clouds, the stars peeking out in parts. Toward the horizon, there was an area of deep purple where the sun had set not long ago. She had not been lying in bed for long, but it felt like an eternity.

Leah sighed and left her room. She thought about the times she had wandered the Duke's estate at night and how careful she had been. Leah had wandered the halls of her residence many times at night, and she instinctually knew where to step without making a noise. She quickly made her way down to the library.

Leah walked in without a second thought to the lamps that were lit. She had gone to the library many times and read late into the night when she could not sleep.

She gasped when she saw the Duke sitting in one of the large armchairs with a book. Her second instinct was to feel a trembling in her core at what it meant to be alone with the Duke so late at night. Finally, she wrapped her arms around her body when she realized she was only in her nightgown.

"Good evening, Leah," the Duke said with a sly smile.

She could only see his forehead and eyes over the book he was reading.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed.

"What does it look like I am doing?" Solomon asked. "And I am sure you meant to wish me a good evening, too. Or should that be a good night? I never can tell when it is this late. Saying good night makes it sound like a farewell, but it is not evening anymore."

Leah felt the color come to her cheeks. She moved to the chair opposite the Duke so she could at least his her lower half and used her arms to cover her top half.

"You need not worry about me seeing anything," the Duke told her. "I have seen it all before, and your nightgown is not sheer. Although, it does a wonderful job at clinging to your figure and highlighting your silhouette."

"Oh, you are awful," Leah replied.

"You are the one who is wandering the halls in only her nightgown. Nothing about this is my doing."

"Yes, well, I didn't expect you to be here. And I might have forgotten in the moment that we have guests."

"Hmm, forgotten in the moment," the Duke replied. "Is that what happened, or did you know full well that I would be down here and wanted to show yourself off to me."

"Ah!" Leah exclaimed. She quickly lowered her voice when she realized how late it was and how loud she was being. "I did not come down here to show myself off to you."

"This is the first time we have been together alone without planning to be together alone," the Duke told her. "Perhaps it was meant to be."

"It was not meant to be. I only came down here because I could not sleep," Leah told him.

The Duke closed the book and put it down on the table to his left. He looked her in the eye, not once gazing at her body.

"Why could you not sleep?" the Duke asked.

"It doesn't matter," Leah replied.

"Of course, it matters. Come, sit down, and perhaps I can help you."

Leah regarded him for a moment. He could have approached her or tried to kiss her again, and she would have kissed him back, but he looked genuinely concerned for her. She trusted him and rounded the chair to sit down on it. Leah took a look down her body to make sure the Duke was being truthful, but he could not see through the fabric to her body below. It did cling to her, but nothing more. However, the thought of him looking at her not and seeing her silhouette did enough to stiffen her nipples, and they poked through the fabric.

Leah sat down and faced the Duke.

"What is troubling you, Leah?" the Duke began.

Where do I begin?

"I… I know you lied to my father," she said.

Solomon sat back a little in his chair, and his eyebrows lifted. "I lied to you, father? What are you talking about?"

"At supper." Leah clarified. "He asked you why you were visiting London, and you told him you were here to see a friend and you could not deal with us being apart, so you came to visit me, too."

"That is what is troubling you?" the Duke scoffed. "We agreed to pretend in front of our families. It was the perfect opportunity for that."

"No, I'm not talking about that part. I don't care about that part. I'm talking about your main reason for coming to London. You are not here to visit a friend. Why are you really here? Did you come to be with a woman? To be with multiple women?"

"What?" Solomon looked more taken aback. "No, I have not come to be with other women."

Leah was still annoyed, but the reply brought some relief. "Then why are you here, and why did you lie to my father?"

Solomon smiled. "I need to be careful around you. I forget how perceptive you are, though no one else can see through me as you can. That is quite a skill."

Leah folded her arms over her chest. "Will you stop trying to talk your way out of this? I want to know if my future is in jeopardy."

"I am not trying to talk my way out of it," the Duke claimed. "I am impressed that you caught the lie. I didn't mean to come into your home and lie to anyone. It was to protect your father more than anything else."

Leah shrugged. "Protect my father? How does it protect my father?"

"Well, you wish for the wedding to go ahead, don't you?" Solomon asked.

Leah's arms loosened across her chest a little. "Yes, of course I do. Don't you?"

"I do," the Duke replied. "And I know your father, mother, and sister want it too, as does my family."

Have you spoken to your sister about your reasons for marrying? She does not know about the debt, does she?

"Yes, everyone wants the wedding to happen," Leah agreed, disliking that she was talking herself into going ahead with the wedding when she had feelings otherwise.

"I don't like to rely on one person," the Duke told Leah. "I know you had reservations from the start, and I don't blame you for that. I know you still have reservations."

And you can see through me just as I can see through you.

"I will go ahead with the wedding," Leah said defiantly.

"As will I," Solomon replied. "And when I have concluded my business in London, my family—our family will be in a better place. I shall have the dowry, and I shall have an investment in a new trade route, and my household will be taken care of. A great many people depend on me."

"So, that is why you came to London? To conclude business deals?"

The Duke smiled. "Yes."

"And you worried that my father would catch wind of this, and he would fear you were making other plans and would not need the dowry, and he would be tempted to look elsewhere."

"Yes," the Duke said with an impressed smile.

"And you were worried that the wedding would be called off at short notice."

"Exactly," the Duke replied.

"So that must mean that there is enough money to be made in your dealings to not need the dowry if you were worried about that," Leah pointed out.

"It is feasible," the Duke told her. "Have you ever thought of working for the constabulary? You could be of great help to them."

Leach giggled. "Oh, stop it. It was not hard to work all of this out."

"Yet, you are the only one who has worked it all out," the Duke said. "You continue to impress me, Leah. Everything I do is for the benefit of my family, and when we are married, you will be a part of that family. This is something we have in common. We both do what we need for the good of others."

Oh, why do you have to make it so hard to marry you and so hard not to marry you at the same time?!

"Your sister came to me earlier," Leah admitted.

"She came to you?"

"Well, she didn't come to me. She asked to speak with me while we were on our way to supper. She doesn't know about your family debt, does she?"

The Duke's look turned stern. "No, she does not. You did not tell her, did you?"

"Of course not," Leah replied. "I would never do such a thing. No, she was worried that you were marrying me so she could go ahead and get married."

"I did suspect she thought that," the Duke replied. "What did you tell her?"

"I did not tell her anything. I did not need to. She talked herself around after seeing us together. It was why she was so cold to me when I first arrived, but now, she welcomes me as a sister." Leah felt her heart beat irregularly. "I must admit that her declaration made me quite emotional. I am honored that she thinks of me in that way."

"I am glad she does, and I am glad she does not know everything. She is young, and I wish to protect her from the world for as long as I can. She does not need to know the childhood my brother and I had."

"What childhood did you have?" Leah asked.

The Duke shot her a glare, a dark look with fire in his eyes even though there were no candles to reflect. His upper lip turned up into a snarl, but his bottom lip trembled.

"I don't talk about this with anyone," Solomon told her.

"I am to be your wife," Leah said. "You can tell me."