Page 65 of The Duchess Debt

“Don’t think you’ll outsmart me by convincing Gabe to elope to Scotland either. If you do, I’ll make your marriage into a scandalous hell.” He leaned toward her, lowering his head until his eyes were level with hers. “Trust me, Helena, I’ll spread enough gossip and rumors about you that thetonwill question the true paternity of any child you bear my brother.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she challenged, pressing her hand to her stomach to hold down its roiling. Dear God, she was going to be sick! To hurt his own brother like that, to woundinnocent children— He was an absolute monster. “You’d never be welcome at Grangely Park again.”

“I was gone for five years and never bothered to write or inquire about this place. Do you honestly think I give a damn about it now? I care about what it can do for me. Nothing more. Certainly not now that my brother has become domesticated.” He tapped the peony bloom against her shoulder. “I have a better life waiting for me in the Caribbean, and the money you’ll give me will ensure it. So find a way to sign over your wedding funds to me, and I will leave Grangely Park to Gabe and leave you to your marriage. If not, I’ll make certain you never become duchess, one way or another.”

He crushed the peony in his fist, then tossed it to the ground at her feet.

“And if I were you, I wouldn’t bother to tell Gabe we had this conversation.” He shrugged. “I’ll simply deny it and claim you’re behaving just like Clarissa. For some reason,” he said sardonically, “my brother can’t seem to remember the difference between you.”

“He knows the difference,” she rasped out breathlessly, but even her own ears didn’t believe her words.

With a dark laugh, he sauntered away toward the house.

She stared after him, stunned. She pressed her fist against her heart as it pounded so hard that every beat was a jarring thud, and she struggled to catch her breath. With a gasp, she sank against the wall for support, but her eyes fixed on the broken flower at her feet.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Helena hurried through the village on foot, so fast she had lost her breath on the long walk from Grangely Park. But she had no time to stop to catch it back, just as she’d had no time to wait for the carriage to be brought around or a horse to be saddled for her. She couldn’t risk that Adam might find Gabe first, that he would say something awful about her—

So she’d simply run.

“Mark the level!” Gabe’s voice boomed up from the river.

She reached the embankment and halted. The new bridge site was a hive of activity, with over two dozen men of all talents busily working away. Laborers with shovels and spades made sweaty work of leveling the riverbank on both sides of the river, while stonemasons checked the quality of the stones already stacked and waiting by the river’s edge to be positioned in the center of the river. A ferryman pulled a wooden raft across the river by a rope stretched from bank to bank, delivering supplies and tools to both groups of men.

Gabe stood on the bank, tall and proud, supervising it all. He wore the same plain, coarse clothes as the workers and the same tweed cap and leather gloves, with his shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal muscular forearms. But his proud bearing distinguished him from the others, so did his commanding stance as he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out again to the men on the bank below him. “Mark the level!”

The lead worker waved a gloved hand to acknowledge the order. He stopped the four laborers with him, ordered one of them to lay down a board across the little terrace they were digging, then reached for a large spirit level to gauge the angle of the dug ground. He signaled back to Gabe that all was well.

With a pleased nod, Gabe slapped Caleb Parker on the back, then gestured at the building plans beside them, lying on aplank supported by two sawhorses. The construction was going well and far ahead of schedule—even Helena could see that, just as she could see Gabe’s pride when he swept his gaze over the site. His broad shoulders were relaxed, and a smile curled his lips, only to burst wide into a beaming smile when he laughed at something Caleb said.

For once, he looked…completely happy.

“Helena!” Maggie Parker waved to her from the street as she walked toward the site, with a man beside her who was hauling two buckets of water, while her two young boys bounced around in circles. Over her arm, she carried a basket covered by a checked cloth, undoubtedly filled with sausage rolls or pasties for the men. “What a pleasant surprise to see you here. Did you come to join us for the break?”

“No,” she answered quietly, her gaze returning to Gabe as he and Caleb fell into an animated conversation. “I came to see Gabe.”

“He’ll be pleased you’re here.” Maggie came up beside her and gestured for the man to pour the water into a large barrel where the men dipped out their drinks. “I’m certain he’ll want to show you their progress. It’s all coming along nicely. They’ll be able to start placing the stones on the banks by the end of the week, once the ground is leveled off.” She handed off the basket to one of her boys and ordered him to place it on a nearly large stone. The boy did as ordered, then ran off toward the water’s edge with his brother. She sighed after them. “And those two need to go into your school as soon as it’s open.” She added in a mumble beneath her breath, “Not a moment too soon.”

Helena absently nodded and repeated, “Soon.”

At the lack of an expected laugh at her expense, Maggie laid a hand on Helena’s arm. “Is something wrong?” Concern darkened her face. “Is there a problem with the school? Or Grangely Park?”

A big problem. A six-foot tall, wickedly scheming problem.“No, I just…” She broke off, then took a deep breath and forced a smile to reassure Maggie. “The house is empty this afternoon—Alice and Verity are both out for visits, Gabe is here—and I didn’t want to work in the garden. So I thought I would visit the site.”So I can speak to Gabe before Adam does. And so I wouldn’t be alone in case Adam tries to approach me a second time… But she couldn’t share that, not even with her new best friend. So she waved a hand dismissingly in the air to disguise the unease swirling inside her and widened her smile. “I’ve been boring Gabe silly lately with all my plans for our wedding and breakfast, so I thought I would ask him if wanted to give me a tour of the bridge site…and bore me for a little while.”

Oh, that was a lie! But Maggie believed it, and the concern lifted from her brow as she linked her arm with Helena’s. “I don’t think it’s touring the site that he wants to do with you.” A sly smile crossed her face as she leaned in toward Helena. “And I don’t think either of you would be bored.”

Maggie laughed when Helena’s face flushed. Thank God for that! Otherwise, she was certain the blood had all drained from her face and left her white as a ghost.

As if he could feel the two women’s gazes on him, Gabe turned and saw them. His lazy smile greeted them, and he nodded his welcome. Just then, Maggie’s two boys raced past him. Gabe darted forward and grabbed the youngest one around the waist and tossed him into the air, eliciting squeals of laughter from the boy. Joining in with their play, he tossed the boy over his shoulder and ran down to the river’s edge with him, where he pretended to throw the boy into the water. More peals of laughter drifted up to the two women on the high bank, with Gabe now laughing nearly as hard as the boys.

“Look at him.” Maggie nodded toward Gabe as he placed her son on the grass and tickled him. When Gabe let him go andstarted to walk away to rejoin Caleb, the boy and his brother chased after and jumped on him from behind. Soon, all three were rolling around in the grass in an impromptu wrestling match. “I haven’t seen Gabe this happy in years. If ever.” She squeezed Helena’s arm. “It’s all because of you.”

“No,” she countered quietly, not wanting to be the reason for his happiness. Because if she were, then she could also so easily be the cause for hisunhappiness. “He’s helping the village, and that’s why he’s happy.”

Maggie slid her a scolding glance. “Believe me, he was never this happy before when he…” She bit her lip and looked away.

“When he was married to Clarissa,” Helena finished bleakly.