The Duke's Revenge (7 page)

CHAPTER 6

“
Come now, m’ lady, ‘tis
time for you to dress up for the meeting,” Mrs. Johnson said. “We
must get this done quickly afore Her Ladyship is here.”

Ivy looked up to Mrs. Johnson and Rena, and
there on the bed was the day dress she was to wear for the
meeting.

She sighed, her heart quivering at the very
thought on what was about to happen to her. She stood up and
allowed the two women to dress her.

Twenty minutes later, she looked at herself
in the mirror. The day dress of Jonquil color fit her body to
perfection. The décolletage made her feel very uncomfortable,
however. It displayed a generous proportion of her skin, and
because of the new stay designed to push up her rather small
breasts, this made her breasts looked bountiful. She did not like
that one bit. She felt hollow and bare as though she was a Cyprian,
which was undoubtedly going to be her future. The sleeves, too,
were but slimly straps of materials that barely covered her arms
and especially not very decent in this type of weather. The rest of
the thin muslin fabrics flowed freely from just under her breasts
down to the floor. Her dark hair was fashioned into ringlets about
the nape of her neck and there were tendrils about the side of her
face.

“
You look very beautiful,
m’ lady,” Rena said in awe.

“
Indeed, m’ lady, you’re
very beautiful,” Mrs. Johnson said.

Ivy nodded. Though she admitted she looked
fetching indeed, she did not want her mother to see her thus.
Somehow, the woman would always find some faults in her no matter
what. She could not understand why her mother would go to such
length to show her hatred.

Grace walked into the room at that moment
and stopped. “So you are almost finished?” she boomed out
coldly.

Ivy stiffened. She kept her head held high,
however, and she stared fixedly at her reflection in the
mirror.

“
M’ lady,” Mrs. Johnson
said.

“
I do hope you take good
care of the dress, Mrs. Johnson,” the skinny woman snapped, “for
Her Ladyship had paid many blunts for it, if you must know.” She
perched her lips into a thin line as she glared at the plump
housekeeper.

“
Do not worry, Ms Gale, I
have taken specific care for the dress,” Mrs. Johnson said. Gale
sneered.

“
Enough, Gale, do go down
and await our guest. He is due to arrive very soon,” Grace
ordered.

The maid nodded. She left the room after
glaring darkly at the housekeeper.

Grace walked toward Ivy. “Well, daughter,
‘tis time, and as I have warned you before, do not, I repeat, do
not disgrace me this time. I do not want a scene like the last time
with Lord McNeil. Do you understand?”

Slowly, Ivy raised her head and stared at
her mother. “I will not meet him.”

Grace’s green eyes flared. Her hand rose to
the air. It flew down halfway when it stopped.

Ivy held her breath as she stared up at the
hand in midair. Her heart drummed in her chest. Mrs. Johnson
whimpered and Rena gripped her skirt. They, too, stared at the hand
up in the air.

Grace lowered her hand. Ivy sighed, and the
two servants breathed with relief.

“
You dare to disobey me,
Ivy? How dare you? You will go down when he arrives and present
yourself to him as befit of you to be his mistress.”

“
I will not,” Ivy said
calmly.

“
Oh yes you will, my dear
daughter. If you do not obey me this time I will punish you, do you
understand?”

“
I will despise him,
Mama.”

“
I don’t give a damn
whether you despise him or not. All I care is that he has money,
lots of money, and I for once will be able to live easy and so will
you. There will be no more debts.” Grace grabbed her daughter’s
arms and shook her hard. Once she thought she had knocked enough
sense into the girl’s head, she released her.

Grace turned around and walked toward the
window. From where she stood she could see an elegant landau
driving up to the courtyard. She smiled then, forgotten about her
anger.

The carriage stopped, and she saw a man came
out. He was handsomely dressed with dark trousers and coat. Beneath
his dark hat she saw flaxen hair. She could not tell, however, who
he was or how old he was for he was too far away for her to see
properly. He was now approaching the door.

She turned toward the girl then. She smiled
and said, “He is here. Come down in fifteen minutes and if you do
not then, why, I shall order Gale to come and escorted you herself,
do you understand?” She smiled with satisfaction when she saw Ivy’s
face turning pale with horror. She walked out the room.

Ivy took a deep breath and collapsed on the
bed. Mrs. Johnson came around and placed her arms around Ivy’s
shoulders.

“
Now, dear, calm yourself
down. I am sure ‘tis not bad as you might have thought. This duke
might be nice and care for you, you understand. Everything is going
to be all right.” She stroked the girl’s shoulder.

“
But I won’t love him,
Mrs. Johnson. I do not want to be a mistress to
that
man or any man.”

“
Oh, m’ lady, everything
will be all right, I’m sure,” Rena said and wiped her tears with
her sleeves.

“
I don’t want to go down
and meet him.”

“
Now, m’ lady, you do not
want that old witch to come up here to your room. We don’t want
that old witch to come to your room either. She is capable of
anything,” Mrs. Johnson said, remembering the last time Gale came
to Ivy’s room. By the time she had finished, Ivy was all black and
blue. Aye, that Gale had whipped Lady Ivy because Lady Westwood had
ordered her to do so.

“
Nay, I don’t want her to
come to my room. She scared me that Gale.” Ivy
shuddered.

“
She scared me, too. I
think she is evil that woman, a witch!” Rena said her body shaking
in reactions.

“
What shall I do?” Ivy
asked no one in particular.

“
You must go down, m’
lady, go down and face the dragon. ‘Tis your life, perhaps if you
get to be alone with the duke you might ask him to break the
contract. Perhaps he is nice and understanding if you plead with
him,” Mrs. Johnson suggested.

“
Perhaps I could,” Ivy
said. She had to beg him to break the contract. She must. She
prayed the Lord to help her. This was her life, and she must at all
cost get out of this evil arrangement.
She
must!

***

Grace smiled when she heard Ivy crying
softly on the other side of the door. Then she descended the
stairs. Once she landed on the ground floor, she stopped, took a
deep breath, and arranged herself into order. She tucked down her
sleeves, straightened her skirt, patted her beautifully formed
hair, and pinched her cheeks to get some color. Satisfied, she
advanced toward the parlour. She stopped at the doorway when she
saw her guest’s back.

He was tall, she realized, and very big. His
large frame dominated the small parlour. She saw his blonde hair
glittering under the afternoon light. He looked too young to be a
very rich, old duke who wanted Ivy as his mistress. But it was none
of her business for as long as she gets her fair share, she was
happy.

She walked into the room.
She saw that Gale was as pale as a ghost. The woman was
trembling.
What was wrong with her
maid?
Gale was usually the one that made
others tremble before her, not the other way around. She shook her
head at her maid in disgusted and turned toward the important guest
before them.

“
Your grace, I am sorry
that I was not here to greet you when you came in,” she said
apologetically, “mayhap if you could sit down for a while. I am
Lady Grace Westwood, sir.”

Her guest turned and said, “I know who you
are, Lady Westwood.”

Grace frowned for a moment, and then as
recognition smacked her in between the eyes, she paled. She felt as
though her corset was squeezing the very life out of her. She
choked on her breath.

Lord, this could not be. There must be
something wrong with her eyes.

“
Nice that we are meeting
again, Lady Westwood,” Maximilian said and laughed, his deep voice
rumbled with pleasure when he saw her pale face.

“
You, you
are...”

“
Aye, my lady, I am the
Duke of Lynwood and, my lady,
your
daughter’s patron,
” he said
mockingly.

“
The Duke of Lynwood, you
say?” she whispered.

“
Indeed, my lady,” he
supplied as he stared hard at the woman who was shaking her head up
at him.

“
It cannot be, but how?
You were dead. Liam shot you in the duel. You died,” she uttered in
disbelieve. “I was there.”

Max’s face hardened. He gritted his teeth
and said coldly, “Ah, it is rather a long story, my lady, perhaps
it could wait until we are more acquainted first?” He walked to the
sofa near the hearth and sat down. The glow of the fire warmed his
cold cheeks. The room smelt musty and dammed--a smell that reminded
him of his pathetic past.

“
You were the one that
asked for my daughter?”

“
Indeed, my lady.” His
eyes narrowed at her discomfort. His heart felt light and
fulfilled.

Grace shook her
head.
How could this be
happening?

She turned to her maid and said, “Gale,
please leave, I need to talk to the duke privately.”

Gale nodded and left the room in a
hurry.

Max narrowed his eyes.

Grace took a deep breath and rushed to him.
“Your grace, I realized that you are doing this to hurt me, are you
not?”

He raised his left brow. “Is that what you
think?”

“
Indeed I do,” she said.
“But you see...” She dropped down to her knees beside him. She bent
her head back as she gazed up at him. She breathed deeply and
slowly so that her nearly naked breasts rise and fall. She took her
advantage, exposing them to him, making him hunger for her like
before. He was her lover once, a very long time ago, though he was
but a poor boy then. Lord, he wasn’t even as handsome as he was
now. His strong feature quickened her heart, and he was also a
duke. Not just any duke but
the
famous Duke of Lynwood. She could have him, and
for that, she would do anything to get him back for
herself.

She moved forward, her hands gripping on the
material of the sofa near him. Her breasts were touching his thigh.
Her eyes, she was trying to make them look as soft as possible.

Max was disgusted at what he saw. This woman
knew how to play a trick, but he was a man of the world. He knew
how these women play their artful ploys, and he was not falling for
it. So he stared down at her with contempt.

“
You must know, your
grace...Dominic,” she said softly, using his name, “that you are
wrong. You are wrong to be doing this to hurt me. It was not my
fault that I married Liam. It was Papa, he made me married the
earl. I didn’t want to but Papa insisted, Dominic, ‘tis not my
fault, you are wrong to do this to me. Do you ever think about me?
How much I have suffered?” She climbed onto the seat beside him and
her hands came to touch his arm.

“
Please, Dominic, think of
me, I am truly sorry. Truly I am, Dominic,” she whispered as she
stared into his eyes.

Max stared at the woman
acting in front of him. Lord, she was so shallow that it sickened
him. He was glad, however, that she thought him his older brother.
Nobody knew he had a brother except for Merrick Hasting, his best
friend and business partner, the Earl of Huntingdon, and Grace
herself, but she seemed to have forgotten that fact. And that he,
Maximilian Devilyn—the younger brother of Dominic Devilyn by three
years—might be masquerading as Dominic himself at this very moment
had never entered her mind. Did she not know that her husband had
been a damn good shooter and that a bullet shot to the heart
was
fatal!

He was not surprised though sine he knew
from the beginning that his plan would work perfectly. He and
Dominic, after all, had looked almost identical when they were
young. And so he masquerading as Dominic was no problem at all.

“
I see that you remembered
our past encounter, Grace. So it was your father that insisted you
marry this Lord Liam Westwood?” He raised his brows and smiled at
her mockingly.

“
Indeed, ‘tis father, it
was his idea. I do love you, Dominic. I love you so much and I ache
to be with you. I missed those times when we were together, when we
were lovers.” She moved her head down toward his shoulder and
kissed his neck. “I missed the way you kissed me, the way you hold
me, Dominic,” she said softly as she moved closer to
him.

“
Why didn’t you stop the
duel?” he asked sharply.

She looked at him and frowned. “Err, Liam is
stubborn. He had insisted that you were ruining my name. I do love
you, Dominic. I tried to stop him, I truly did. But you’re all
right, I mean look at you now.” She smiled uncomfortably as he
stared at her as thought he wanted to murder her.

Max wanted to push the woman away. He felt
as though there was a leech—an ugly one at that—was sticking onto
his skin and sucking his blood like those stupid doctors used to
cure sick people. He turned his head away in disgust.