The Duke's Revenge (23 page)

“
I just can’t believe
this. If Tyson didn’t look so much like Mary, I wouldn’t have
thought that...” Christine said as she stared at the two young
people. They both had silver blonde hair, oval face, and metallic
blue eyes which she had no doubt they had inherited from Lady
Hartland herself. Their features, as they now stood almost side by
side, were exactly the same that they seemed like identical
twin.

“
Your son, Lady Hartland,”
Ivy began, “what is his name?”

Lady Hartland turned to look at Tyson, her
eyes glistening with tears. “Tyson Frederick Bradford, the Marquise
of Hartland,” she said.

CHAPTER 20

“
Don’t you think you look
rather fetching?” Lisa said, glancing at Ivy through the
mirror.

“
Hmm,” Ivy replied with a
nod as she stared at herself. She was wearing a rosy pink evening
gown styled in the latest fashion of high waist and long trained
that enhanced her slim figure. She didn’t like the mere three
inches of material that barely covered her breasts, however. To
cover her over exposed chest, she wore a Pomona green robe over her
gown but that didn’t seem to help because the darker shade color
only enhanced her petal white skin even more.

“
That gown certainly is
perfect for you. You will turn heads tonight.”

“
Nay, Lisa, who would want
to look at me? The countess is very beautiful, isn’t she?” She
turned to look the maid.

“
Oh yes she is but you are
beautiful, too, in your own way,” Lisa insisted. “Now come along,
the guests are here though I must say it is rather a small dinner
party.”

“
Have you finished yet?”
Ivy asked, and when Lisa nodded, she stood up. “The guests are
here, I will have to go down.”

“
Yes, you will have to.”
Lisa smiled and her eyes twinkled.

Ivy was very nervous when she was descending
the stairs. Her body couldn’t seem to stop shaking, and she was
sure she would probably fall down the stairs if she wasn’t walking
slowly as she was, at a snail pace.

At the door to the drawing room, Donald
bowed his head at her. She glanced at him and saw him winking at
her. She sighed, and with her heart still pounding in her chest,
she walked into the elegant drawing room.

“
Ah, there she is,” Lady
Mornington said, beckoning her to come to where she, Lady Hartland,
Christine, and Mrs. Smith; Christine’ grandmother, sat. Without
looking at who was present in the room, she approached them and
took a seat beside Christine.

“
We were just talking
about the season,” Lady Hart began.

“
Oh,” Ivy said and
sincerely hoped that the duke was not near enough to over hear
their topic of conversation.

“
You must prepare, Ivy,
the season is very expensive,” Christine said. “You needs ball
gowns, day dresses, gloves, parasols, shoes, and many other small
accessories you could never think of.”

“
Her Ladyship is right,”
Lady Hart put in. “I remembered my first season, rather expensive,
but I’m sure it is no problem at all for the duke would take care
of that.” She nodded her head, glancing at Max.

“
Though I must admit,
“Lady Mornington said, looking at Max standing in a group with the
Earl of Huntingdon, the Earl of Mornington, Mr. Smith; Christine’s
grandfather, and Mr. Tim Oliver. “The duke does not seem at all
eager for Ivy to attend the season.”

“
You are a very good
observer, Caroline. I, too, feel the same,” Lady Hart
commented.

“
Why is that so?” Mrs.
Smith voiced, looking at Ivy.

“
Perhaps you can tell us,
my dear,” Lady Hart said.

“
Well, I err...” Ivy
glanced up at Max. She saw him looking at her from the other side
of the room. She quickly lowered her eyes.

“
What is the problem?”
Christine asked.

“
I, err--oh, there is
Donald.” She sighed with relief as the butler appeared at the
door.

“
Ladies and Gentlemen,
dinner is served,” the butler announced to the whole
room.

Ivy quickly stood up to avoid any more
questions. The men approached them. Max offered his hand to Lady
Hart. Merrick took Lady Mornington’s hand, and the two men led the
ladies into the dinning room. Lord Mornington escorted Mrs. Smith,
Christine took her grandfather’s arm, and Ivy with Tim followed
them through.

“
You look beautiful
tonight, Ivy,” Tim said.

“
Thank you,” she replied,
blushing with the compliment.

“
How is your
ankle?”

“
Much better thank you.”
She smiled. “Such a coincidence don’t you think?”

“
Coincidence?” He raised
his brows at her.

“
That Lady Hart happens to
meet her long lost son here of all places. I think that it’s such a
pleasant thing to have happen. I only wish we all could have such
happy fate,” she said with her eyes downcast.

“
Hmm, you don’t think that
your fate would have a happy ending?” He looked at her with
amusement.

“
Nay, I do not think that
the Lord is that kind enough to me.”

“
You are losing faith in
him, my dear, perhaps one day he will see you as who you are, and
that is a beautiful, kind hearted woman. He will bring you
something that will make you very happy,” he said and his brown
eyes twinkled.

She looked up at him and said,
“Perhaps...”

“
What would make you very
happy, Ivy?”

“
Freedom and
love.”

“
Have you none,” he asked
in surprised as they came around to the dinning table already set
with the arrays of delicious food, and on the sideboard, with
various choices of wine such as champagne, Madeira, port, and
whisky.

She shook her head, and her eyes met Max
across the table. He stared at her for a moment. Her stomach
knotted and she shifted her gaze away.

“
Please sit down,” Tim
said, pulling out a chair for her.

“
Thank you.” She nodded
and sat, still with her eyes downcast. Tim took a seat beside
her.

Their meal began with the first course of
white soup, roasted geese, turkey, and beef, fricassee of turnips,
and vegetable salad with dressing. During this time talks were of
various topics from the many dinner parties and balls that they
were invited to for the upcoming season, to the peninsula war, and
then the increasing in taxation, especially for tea, and then there
was the topic that was notoriously unavoidable at any dinner table,
the Prince Regent himself.

“
I do declare that it is
official the Prince will have a grand ball up at Carlton House,”
Lady Mornington was saying to the general audience.

“
He shouldn’t really have
such grand ball during his father’s sickness,” Lady Hartland
said.

“
What does that man care
about his father?” Lord Mornington grumbled, his face, though
already red from the many glass of Madeira he had drank, turned
even redder now.

At that point Donald nodded a command to the
footmen and parlourmaids, and they cleared away the dishes. There
was a moment of hustle and bustle when they replaced the table with
the second course of ice cream, petit pastries, vegetable pie, and
macaroni. The guests helped themselves to the food once the
servants had backed away.

Tim cut a piece of vegetable pie and placed
it on Ivy’s plate. She thanked him with a nod of her head.

Christine, who was sitting on Max’s right
hand side, made a comment, “Don’t you think they look rather
handsome together?”

Max glanced at her with his brows
raised.

Christine looked at him. She knew he didn’t
know what she was talking about and said, “Them.” She nodded toward
Tim and Ivy who were deep in conversation.

Max stared at the two
people with is eyes narrowed. Ivy was blushing and smiling
profoundly, and he knew those reactions well for he himself was a
rake, after all. Many women had responded to him in such a way when
he was flirting with them. She looked very happy indeed. He gritted
his teeth and turned his gaze away, disgusted at the way
that
chit was obviously
hanging on to very word that young, handsome surgeon was
saying.

He turned to Lady Mornington who was once
again urging him to send Ivy off to London. He had just about
enough with this season thing and Ivy.

“
Honestly, your grace, the
young dandies in London would fall heads over heels for Ivy,” the
woman said.

“
Yes, I know that, Lady
Mornington,” Max remarked sourly as he fixed his gaze on Ivy. “She
is, after all, very beautiful.”

“
Are you enjoying dinner,
Merrick?” Christine turned to ask her husband and smiled at Max’s
cynical composure.

“
Hmm, very nice,” he said,
looking down at his wife and wondered just what she was thinking in
that pretty head of hers.

After dinner the women
departed while the men stayed behind, enjoying their male talks and
drinking wine. It was rather quiet and boring in the drawing room
for Ivy since she had no one to talk. The women had taken up all
the space on the sofa near the hearth. They were discussing about
the up coming seasons and what was
the
rage in fashion for the year
1811. She took the chance to slip out into the rose garden to get
some fresh air and to calm down her near breaking nerve.

Outside, she breathed in
the cool evening air and closed her eyes. She smelt the beautiful
aroma of rose, lavender, and honeysuckles. Already her head had
lightened up, and she felt more relaxed than she had ever felt
before since she had met
him
.

At that very moment, she just wanted to get
away from him. Her nerve was tense every time she met his gaze. His
eyes were so cold and sharp that she thought if it had the power
too, it would probably have killed her by now.

She wandered deeper into the bushes. The
array of colorful roses nearly blinded her eyes with its beauty. It
ranges from white to dark pink to bright red and yellow, and not to
mention the purple of lavenders along the side walk.

She stopped near a willow tree with its long
branches hanging low and nearly touching the ground. There she
stood and folded her arms across her chest. And slowly, she closed
her eyes with a content smile playing about her face...

“
You are so like your
mother.”

She opened her eyes with a start. She
twisted around. Her heart was pumping hard in her chest as she
stared at the man standing not five feet away from her.

“
You are very like your
mother,” he repeated, approaching her and his eyes were intense on
her face.

Ivy panicked, and without saying a word, she
stepped to his left and quickly walked pass him.

Max caught her wrist and pulled her back to
him. She was puffed out of breath as she collided against him.

“
You grace,” she gasped.
She tried to wrestle her wrist free from his captive, but it was to
no avail. He tightened his hold on her.

“
Please, I wish to
return.”

“
You and your mother are
but the same. Slut and money hungry,” he sneered, his eyes sharp
and cold.

She whimpered like a
trapped animal as she stared up at him. How dare
he—
to call her slut and money
hungry?

“
I am not a slut nor am I
money hungry, your grace,” she said, her voice quivering because of
her anger.

“
Am I wrong there? You are
nothing but a slut, giving yourself freely to me, and now, you
intend to do the same to that young surgeon.” His hand griped
around her small wrist tighter, and she felt as though she was
being imprisoned with an iron cuff.

She shook her head as he continued, “I know
what you’re doing. Being my mistress isn’t good enough for you, is
that it? Is that why you have to become that surgeon’s wife, too?
Aye, seduce him you will, with your bloody tricks.”

“
Stop it!” she shouted as
tears spilled down her cheeks. “How dare you? To speak of such to
me? How dare you?” She glared at him through tears. She shoved him
away and slapped his cheek.

Max gritted his
teeth.
How dare she, a mere chit, slapped
him?

He thrust her toward him and seized her face
between his thumb and fingers. “I believe you asked for this,” he
said and assaulted her lips.

She shook her head and pushed her hands
against his chest.

He ignored her and pulled her closer against
him, thrusting her small body against his hard ones. When he moved
his head back, he stared down at her with cold eyes. His hand was
holding the back of her neck so that she was looking up at him. “I
will never let you become another man’s wife.”

“
No,” she
sobbed.

He kissed her again, hard and long. When he
moved his head back, he saw that her lips were bright red.

“
Why?” she whispered,
“Will you never stop hurting me? I have done nothing to
you.”

“
Stop using your bloody
tricks on me,” he snapped.

“
What have I done to you?”
she cried, “You must stop, it hurt.”