A Marquess to Love and Despise by Rebecca Dash

Author:Rebecca Dash
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2018-06-10T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Several days had gone by. Lord Ayle passed most of that time in his study, alone with thoughts he didn’t want. That he might spend the rest of his life without her had never sunken in, even when they were separated for months. He always knew Joanna was somewhere out there, thinking of him. But was she still? Or did she do her best to erase the whole relationship from memory? He wouldn’t blame her for it. Sometimes pain had to be pushed down so far that it couldn’t hurt you anymore. Sometimes you had to go on by force of will alone. He was failing miserably at that.

Ayle would sit in the comfortable chair behind his desk for hours, wondering what he should do. Then he would pace the floor and wonder some more. It wouldn’t be any kind of life at all to waste it that way, consumed by a dream of what might have been.

It was a pleasant enough day when the groom saddled one of the horses and brought it around to the front of the house. The Marquess of Ayle put his boot in the stirrup and climbed up. He pushed his steed to a gallop, riding through the countryside. If this was going to hurt, it had to hurt completely. She must destroy him all the way. As long as he could fight for the promises they used to have, it wasn’t in his nature not to try.

The wind rushed past his face. His tailcoat fluttered outward. There it was, at last. Lord Dunbrook’s home loomed in the distance like a dark storm waiting to batter him down. It wouldn’t be much longer now.

***

Lord Ayle tugged on the reins. The horse hardly stopped before he jumped off it. His boots dug into the dirt with each determined step toward the house. A footman ran out to meet him.

“I am sorry, my lord, but I can not let you pass.”

Ayle pulled a leather pouch from his pocket and retrieved a few coins to drop in the man’s hand.

The footman shook his head. “I could lose my position.”

He tossed the entire pouch on the ground and kept walking as if The Devil himself couldn’t stop him. The footman just stared, unsure of what to do next.

The house was familiar. Ayle and his brother had been there many times before. Phyllis used to play the harp for them. Joanna would always sing. Her voice was angelic. He walked through the great hall, passing the smoking room he’d spent evenings in after supper, enjoying a brandy and a fine cigar with the baron. Then the dining room where lavish dinners were hosted in what seemed like a different, happier life. The drawing room was at the end. He checked there first if only for the chance to hear her sing again.

Joanna screamed as he burst in.

“You are lovely when you’re startled,” he said.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you smile.”

“Why?”

“Because your smile is everything.”

“Good heavens,” she said.

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