Page 164 of The Dueling Duchess

The truth was that she’d been furious to come back home yesterday to the discovery that Guy had slinked out of the house while she’d been away.

“Good riddance!” she added.

For a man who claimed to love her, he certainly hadn’t let any moss grow between their last conversation and his departure.

But why did that surprise her? Why did she ever believe anything a man said?

Helen’s soft voice broke into her fuming. “I think, perhaps, that he believes he is not, er, good enough for you now, Cecile.”

“He isn’t.”

The other woman gave a startled laugh.

“He’s an idiot if he thinks any of this changes the way I will think and behave,” Cecile added.

“But he is your idiot,” Helen pointed out.

It was Cecile’s turn to laugh—but bitterly. “Not any longer.”

In his way, he was no better than Curtis—just another man who threw around the word love to ensnare and fool a woman. It was horrifying how close she had come to reciprocating.

Helen sighed.

“What?” Cecile demanded.

“You didn’t hear the way Guy talked about you when the two of us were betrothed and we both thought we would be stuck together for the rest of our lives.”

Cecile wanted to ask for specifics, but she still had a little pride left.

And will pride keep you warm?

You shut up! She snapped in the privacy of her own mind.

She glared at Helen. “I was more appealing to him when he didn’t have me. That is not so surprising with men like him—it is the thrill of the chase they like.”

“I just don’t believe that,” Helen murmured.

“Yes, well you didn’t hear him the other night when he urged me to go—insisting that I had my own life. He knows what Gaston wants of me, and yet he practically thrust me into his arms. So while it is nice that he said good things about me many months ago, it bothers me that he is so easy about giving me up now.”

“I don’t think he is easy about it. I just think he is—well, ashamed of his situation.”

“What? He is the Darling! How can he be ashamed?”

“He is a poor man, Cecile—you are now an incredibly wealthy woman. He is a man who has been publicly knocked from his pedestal. You are a duchess. Try to think about things from his point of view.”

Cecile knew the other woman was making sense, but she was too angry to care anymore. And too hurt. “What would you have me do, Helen? Go to him on bended knee and beg him to stay?”

Helen gave a faint smile. “Perhaps there is a middle road.”

“If there is one, I’ve not been able to think of it.” And she didn’t want to admit just how much of last night she’d spent trying to come up with a reason to make him stay and save her pride.

Now coming up with a reason no longer mattered.

Because he was already gone.

* * *

“Cecile?”