Page 12 of The Duke's Only Desire

“James, please go home and let us sort this out,” Sophie cajoled. “We’ll have a good laugh about it later.”

But Norton didn’t move. He stayed firmly where he was, if anything becoming even more determined to remain to the bitter end.Fine.If Shay had to embarrass the man in front of Granville and Sophie in order to put an end to their engagement, then he would do exactly that.

“We are still set to be married in a fortnight, just as planned,” Norton insisted. “Nothing has changed how we feel about each other.”

Yet.The word echoed inside Shay’s mind as loudly as a pistol report.

“Please, James.” She tossed a hesitant glance in Shay’s direction before suggesting, “Let me escort you out. Then as soon as everything is resolved, I’ll send word. We can take a nice ride through the park in the morning and discuss our final wedding plans. All right?”

“Fine.” Norton took Sophie’s hand and placed it on his sleeve. “But I’m not surrendering.” His eyes narrowed furiously on Shay. “Certainly not to someone like you. We’ve all heard from your uncle, Lord Malcolm, about what really happened, how you murdered your brother so you could inherit the title and fortune.”

Shay said nothing to defend himself. Malcolm had been spreading stories about him for years. His uncle was angry that Shay had inherited the dukedom instead of him. In fact, he’d even gone and went so far in the days immediately after the fire as to file a formal complaint with the Committee on Privileges to have him removed from the line of succession. Even now Shay trusted his uncle as far as he could spit and wouldn’t turn his back to the man lest he find a knife in it.

Besides, what could he say? God knew he’d long ago said the same things about himself.

“Stop it,” Sophie scolded Norton. “Let’s go now.”

Norton took Sophie by the elbow and pulled her toward the door.

Shay stepped forward to block their path. He’d learned from Lucien Grenier what Norton was truly like, and he wouldn’t let that bastard harm her, now or ever. That was why he was here tonight. Theonlyreason.

“Say your goodbyes now,” Shay ordered quietly. “Then, Norton, you can show yourself out. Lady Sophie is needed here.”

Norton let go of Sophie’s arm, but instead of stepping away from her, he placed a kiss to her forehead. The small gesture of affection pierced Shay like a blade. “I’ll come for you at ten in the morning to take you driving, my dear.”

“She won’t be here,” Shay told him.

Norton wheeled on Shay and demanded, “Why not?”

“Because she’ll be with me at St George’s saying our wedding vows.”

Shay didn’t look away from Norton, but from the corner of his eye, he could see Sophie blanch.

“Her father and I will settle the contract tonight, and we’ll be married by special license in the morning. By ten, Lady Sophie will be the Duchess of Malvern, and we’ll be on our way north to my estate.”

“The hell you will,” Norton ground out through clenched teeth. “I have a claim to her. I don’t give a damn what your contract says, and neither will the Church nor the courts.”

“Butyouwill when you discover there’s no dowry.”

Norton froze but was unable to hide the surprised flare of his eyes. “Of course there’s a dowry,” he countered, but his voice lacked the bravado of moments before. “Her grandmother’s fortune ensured it. That contract even mentions it. Ten thousand pounds and another thousand per annum.”

So…the manhadbeen speaking with Malcolm about Sophie, just as Lucien suspected. It was the only way he would know about the contract and her grandmother’s fortune. But of course, Malcolm had played Norton for a fool by purposefully forgetting to tell him the rest.

“That was before her grandmother and uncle passed away,” Shay explained, “and before her father inherited.” Shay didn’t move but slid a look toward the earl, who remained seated behind his desk. Her father wasn’t being rude by not being on his feet while Sophie was on hers; he was simply too ill to stand for that long. “Isn’t that right, Granville?”

“Yes,” the earl reluctantly admitted. “When Lady Kelsey died, her fortune was left to Sophie, but since she was still a minor, it fell to her guardian to oversee it. I put it toward the estate.”

Norton’s mouth fell open. “You didwhat?”

Granville’s face darkened with shame. “I didn’t steal it away from—”

“John Douglass had died by then, you see,” Sophie interjected, attempting to explain and save her father’s pride. “We were certain my engagement contract had been severed upon his death and that the money wouldn’t be needed. SoIinsisted we use it to pay my uncle’s debts so we could save the estate and not have to sell any of the unentailed properties or force any of the tenants off their lands.” Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment at having to admit the family’s precarious financial situation. “Saving the earldom was more important at the time than having a dowry for a future wedding that might never happen. I always thought the money could be recouped in time, but…”

She trailed off before she could utter the rest of what Shay knew to be true…that the estate hadn’t done as well as expected, that her father’s illness had also cost them in physicians’ fees and trips to the seaside in hopes that taking the waters would improve his health. That her grandmother’s fortune had saved the earldom but that her dowry had never been replenished. Many peers had seen their bank accounts decrease or even disappear completely since the end of the wars; her father was no exception. Worse, the previous earl had mortgaged properties to the hilt, racked up huge debts, then died and left the whole mess to her father, his younger brother, to sort out.

So Shay finished for her, “Now her dowry comprises barely five hundred pounds, and the annual allowance you’ll receive from Granville is only four hundred. Not nearly what you expected, I’m certain.”

Norton wheeled on Sophie. “What is he talking about? Don’t you have a dowry?”