Chapter18
Aurora closed the door to her study as fast as she could before the Duke of Northport saw her as he stormed out. She leaned upon it for support, in the grip of shock at what she’d just overheard the duke demand of his son.
That Drew had been threatened with disinheritance because he’d taken a mistress and not a wife upset her immensely.
“No, no, no, no, no,” she whispered to herself. She hadn’t expected Drew could have displeased his father so much with their arrangement, not when the duke had kept a mistress himself for years and years.
She had noticed Drew was always here, more often than she’d expected him to be. She’d believed he would eventually go back to Upper Brook Street and out into society again and see her less often. But she’d enjoyed having him around so often. She should have, however, already given him a push, a nudge, to get him to think properly about his future with someone else. But she’d been entirely too wrapped up in being with him to see that she was the worst influence he’d ever had.
There was a cost to any happiness, and he was paying high when it should have been her bill to reconcile. And it was too high for her to stomach. Their arrangement threatened Drew’s future, his claim to a title and riches he deserved.
Of course, Drew’s life was not utterly ruined yet. Not like hers. He still had a week to make a choice of bride.
She winced. He’d had two seasons and already chosen the wrong woman once. But could she help fix things to ensure he was never disinherited?
Aurora had refused to marry him for good reason. She wasn’t a suitable bride for any man, and certainly not the duke’s choice, given the way he’d just described her. But Drew had refused to give up, continuing to ask for her hand long after he should have known to walk away. And he’d chosen this life of shame, just to be with her.
It was clear he had no good sense where she was concerned.
He couldn’t even see it.
But she certainly did now. She had to help him keep his inheritance, no matter what it cost her personally.
It would be up to Aurora to end their affair so he would have no choice but to return to society for companionship.
She looked around at her home. No, it was his home, according to Northport. Drew had given up his Upper Brook Street abode and moved here without ever saying so out loud. She surely would have remembered that conversation if they’d ever had it.
Aurora walked slowly to the study desk. Sitting down, she spread her hands over the desk she’d only just begun to think of as her own. She could live anywhere and be happy, couldn’t she?
As much as she would like to stay, she could not if Drew was here. She would move out today and he could remain without her.
The thought of leaving hurt her heart. Leaving him would not be easy or simple. She could not go back to either Sylvia at Wharton House or Eugenia at the Duke of Exeter’s residence. She did not expect to be welcomed with open arms by their husbands. She had known there would be consequences.
Just not for him.
Not like this.
Not disinheritance, and estrangement from family and friends, and all for something she’d driven him to do by refusing to become his bride.
Her hand fluttered to her throat as heavy steps warned of Drew’s approach up the hall. She wasn’t ready but offered a smile as the door opened. “Are you busy?” he asked, coming into the room. “I wanted to ask how it went with your new client, Miss Mosby?”
“Very well indeed,” she told him, feeling sick to her stomach. How could Drew be concerned about her matchmaking business when his future was under threat? She gulped and continued, watching his reaction to every single word she uttered. “We will meet again in a few days to work on her conversational skills.”
“A little too blunt?”
“No, she babbles a tiny bit whenever she sees the man she admires.”
“She needs to steady her breathing, the way you showed me to do last year,” Drew mused, seating himself in front of the desk and crossing his legs at the ankles. He seemed in no way upset by his father’s visit.
But she was, almost too much to think clearly. Aurora stood and moved around the desk to be nearer to Drew while she could. “Yes, I did suggest that.”
She perched on the chair close to his, wondering why he’d moved here and not bothered to tell her about it.
“Scarsdale is long gone,” Drew said. “I hope you were not startled to see him here in the house.”
“No. Not at all,” she promised, forcing a smile to her face. If Scarsdale had not come, she might never have retreated to this room and overheard the duke’s arrival. She hadn’t needed to eavesdrop to hear Northport’s demands. He had been loud and blunt, and he had opened her eyes to what was really going on.
Poor Drew. He shouldn’t ever have been put in this position.