Page 76 of An Inconvenient Duke

Her heart stopped as all of her flashed numb for one terrible moment. She stared at the pieces on the floor as they blurred beneath her tears, unable to let herself dare to believe it. The self-recrimination came swift and brutal, ripping through her like a lightning strike.

Elise’s music box… Oh good God, what had she done?

She dropped to the floor and crawled the few feet to the broken box. The wooden case lay on the rug with its lid ripped back on the little hinges and a large shard of wood gouged out of its side. The metal disc inside had been bent beyond repair, and the tiny mechanisms that made it play lay scattered in pieces across the floor like brass confetti. All the pieces blurred together from her tears, and her hands shook so hard that her fingers couldn’t pick up the little brass key lying on the rug at her knees.

She covered her face with her hands as tears streamed down her face. Broken. Everything in her life—broken! The women she helped through Nightingale, her chance at a life with Marcus…Elise. Everything she touched seemed to shatter.

A cry tore from her. Dear God, would anything in her life ever be whole?

“What on earth was—” Harriett appeared in the doorway. “Danielle!”

“I broke it,” she choked out, picking up the case with trembling hands and carefully setting it on her lap. Then, no louder than a breath, “I’ve destroyed everything…”

“Oh, my darling!” Harriett rushed to her, dropped to the floor beside her, and pulled her into her arms.

Her sobs came freely now, uncontrollable and wretched. One hand clutched at her aunt, the other protecting what was left of the shattered music box. She shook violently as the crying overwhelmed her.

“It’s all right,” Harriett whispered, her hand rubbing soothing circles over Dani’s back. “It’s only a music box.”

Oh, so much more! Her aunt had no idea.

Harriett’s arms tightened around her, cradling her. “We’ll take it and have it fixed. It will be good as new, I promise.”

“No,” she shuddered out between gasps. “I’ve ruined it.”

“Nonsense. Everything can be fixed.” Harriett placed a kiss to Dani’s forehead, then pulled back just far enough to smooth away the hot tears on her cheeks with her palm. “We just have to try.”

“Not the music box.” Squeezing her eyes shut, she shook her head. “Marcus…”

Harriett tensed, but she couldn’t hide her surprise. “The duke? How is he…”

Broken.The word clawed at her, and she forced out through her tightening throat, “He wants to marry me.”

“That’s wonderful!” When Dani smothered an anguished sob, Harriett paused and frowned. “Isn’t it?”

Unable to find her voice, she miserably shook her head.

“But—but Marcus Braddock is a good and honorable man, with a family you adore and the respect of the empire.” Bewilderment passed over her aunt’s face. “He formally proposed?”

“Yes.” The most wonderful, most agonizing moment of her life.

“Then what you have isn’t broken, my dear.” Harriett smiled reassuringly as she cupped Dani’s face between her hands. “He’s offering you a wonderful marriage and a good life.”

“No,” Dani whispered, her lips trembling as she held back more tears. “He’s demanding an unconditional surrender.”

She clasped Harriett’s hand, and through uncertain starts and stops, Dani told her about Nightingale. Oh, she’d sworn never to tell Harriett! But now that the words were finally coming, they were pouring out, and the burden she’d carried on her shoulders for the past four years began to lighten.

Harriett listened silently, although her emotions of shock and surprise were plainly visible on her face. She clutched tightly to Dani’s hand with both of hers, and when Dani dared to tell her about Elise, her fingers tightened so fiercely that Dani winced. But that small pain was nothing compared to the desolation that was devouring her.

“All this time,” Harriett whispered when Dani finished telling her, ending with how Marcus wanted her to shut down Nightingale and carefully avoiding many other details about what happened between them that she could never bring herself to tell her aunt. “All this time, you’ve been helping these women in secret, all because of me… I had no idea.”

“You were never supposed to know. I couldn’t tell you.” She lowered her gaze guiltily to their joined hands. “I only wanted to protect you.”

“Or risk that Nightingale might become fodder for one of my stories,” Harriett admitted with exaggerated chagrin, teasing the way she did to try to ease the pain for both of them. “But I would have changed all the names, I assure you.”

Despite her tears, Dani couldn’t help the faint smile that curved at her lips. Just as Harriett surely hoped for. “Or risk that you would have wanted to help.”

“That, too,” she acknowledged with a self-knowing sigh. “But now I know, and I can help by—”