The Scoundrel Duke of her Heart by Violet Hamers

Chapter Thirty-Five

Nicholas braced himself for Ernest’s blow but it didn’t come. The man towered over him, his demeanor that of intense bewilderment.

“I am ostensibly married to Vanessa Whittaker,” Nicholas said. “If you are going to hit me, go ahead. And if you are not, then sit down.”

“How could you do this to Jenny?” Ernest’s rage was on Jenny’s behalf and Nicholas did not find any fault in it. The man was taking his self-appointed role of being her brother rather seriously. He raised his fist in the air. “Tell me it is not true,” he ground out.

“I did not know. I was drunk when I signed this in Versailles. I knew nothing of this until the fire at Heartsbay.”

Slowly, Ernest lowered his arm and returned to his seat. “Go on.”

Ernest was already aware of the relationship he’d had with Vanessa and the life they had led at Versailles, thus, Nicholas went on to tell him about the letters he had received and his meeting with both Lady Digby and Vanessa. “How could you be so reckless as to get that drunk?”

“That was years ago, Ernest, and you are the last person to judge me because you are no better,” Nicholas defended.

“Very well. What are you going to do now?”

“Lady Digby all but blackmailed me. If I don’t choose Vanessa, she’d go to the gossip mongers. I wrote to an old friend and business associate Versailles, giving him all the information he needs to start an investigation.”

Ernest examined the document again. "I don’t know how the French deal with the legalities of marriage but this is your signature, Nicholas. Do you need any other proof?”

“I don’t know if I can face the truth yet I want nothing more than the truth. What if I am truly married to her?"

Ernest reached for the bottle between them and poured some liquor into his glass then Nicholas’. "Now I understand why you needed me to drink. Since you haven't consummated the marriage, I should think that your union with Jenny holds the upper hand here."

Nicholas scoffed in self-derision. "I would say it is something of an even battlefield."

Ernest's eyes searched his face for a moment, then, "You cannot be serious, Nicholas!"

"I thought things were..." He cleared his throat. "I suppose I have been denying some truths all this while." He had been denying and running away from loving Jenny.

“You need to do everything you can to contain this and the public must not know.” Ernest looked greatly disturbed by what Nicholas had shared with him.

"I might be faced with no other option but an annulment," Nicholas admitted.

"And which marriage are you going to annul?"

Nicholas did not answer this, for giving voice to the words was something he could not bear. Everything he touched, he destroyed.

I wish…Jenny would have been happier without me.

"Find a way out of this, Nicholas," Ernest said, the warning in his voice crystal clear. "You may be my blood but as I have told you earlier, anyone that hurts Jenny will meet me."

* * *

The following morning saw Nicholas in his study endeavoring to reconcile some accounts and barely able to process the figures before him. His conversation with the day before kept replaying in his mind.

He still had not been able to reach a decision about his marriages but he was certain that one of them had to be annulled. He was not the sort of man to take people’s threats lightly and when Lady Digby had threatened to expose him, he took it very seriously. When a knock sounded on his study door, he released a long sigh that had been lodged in his chest and granted the visitor permission to enter, thankful for the distraction.

"Your Grace," Bentley began as he walked in but before he could get another word in, his grandmother and her cane appeared in the doorway.

"You never listen," she said to Bentley before waving for him to leave them alone. Then she proceeded to make herself comfortable in one of the wingback chairs before the hearth.

"He is doing his job, Grandmother," Nicholas drawled, leaning back in his chair and slowly swiveling it from side to side. "What brings you here this early?"

"It is not early since I did not wake you up, Nicholas," she returned and he signed again.

He had been thankful for the distraction but that was before he knew he was going to suffer his grandmother’s company and he was not in the mood to put up with her this morning.

"I am here about your wife," she announced, straightening her cane before her and looking for all the world like she was about to command an army.

"What about my wife, Grandmother?"

"She is not with child."

Nicholas quirked a brow but now out of surprise. He had been expecting this for a while now. "Yes, she is not. I know you consider Seaton’s heir your heir but I am not going to give you an explanation.”

She thumped her cane on the carpeted floor and her face slightly reddened. "You have been married for months. It is unnatural to not have a child on the way, Nicholas."

“What makes you think she is not with child?” he asked, his tone beleaguered.

“She told me she is not when I asked her.”

"Do you really think that Jenny would tell you if she were with child? If I were Jenny, I would avoid you at all cost, lest you curse my child."

"Well, the morning you left for Heartsbay, I found her unwell, positively dreadful. We had a little chat and she insisted—perhaps too vehemently—that she was not expecting." Persephone’s keen gaze narrowed as she spoke.

He wondered if there was any truth in what the woman was saying—she had the proclivity to be dishonest if it would serve her—and Jenny had never mentioned being unwell. Then again, he hadn’t given her the chance to tell him of her troubles, had he? It had always been about him and his never-ending problems. And now he had dragged in another one. The worst of them yet.

"Nicholas!" Persephone snapped, breaking into his thoughts. “Are you listening?”

"What are you implying?" he asked.

"A number of things. Either your wife is lying or there is something you are keeping from me."

"Do you really want the truth, Persephone?" An idea began to take form in his mind, one that was certain to completely stop her prying. His use of her Christian name was also deliberate.

“How dare you!”

“How dare I not? Now, do you want the truth or not?”

"Why else would I put myself through the trouble of coming here?" she responded impatiently, thumping her cane again.

"Jenny cannot have children," he deadpanned gauging her reaction. Some of that was true. The mire he’d put himself in could see to that if he did not find a solution soon. If his marriage with Jenny ended, then she would never have a child with him. The mere thought of that cut through his heart and he grimaced.

"I beg your pardon?" Persephone sat up, her expression horrified. "Surely you do not mean that she—"

"Yes, Grandmother. Jenny cannot have children," he repeated. "Ever."

She was silent for a short stint before she finally asked, "When did you find out?" Her voice was dangerously calm and there was no trace of the initial horror her face had displayed. This unsettled him more than whatever fit she would have thrown instead.

"Recently," he lied. "We found out recently. She was devastated." Nicholas hadn’t thought this through and it appeared it was backfiring. Still, he remained firm in what he’d said. He needed Persephone out of his way while he sorted out the ruined pieces of his life.

"I am sure she was." Persephone was pensive as she drew her shawl tighter about her small shoulders.

In all the years he had grown to understand the sort of woman his grandmother was, she had never been as unreadable as she was now. She rose from her chair, her back ramrod straight and her chin set in a proud manner.

"I shall leave you to your work, Nicholas. Do have a good day." She turned and left the room before he could gain his own feet.

Something was telling him he had made yet another grave mistake.