What a Duke Dares (Sons of Sin 3)

“Of course.” She presented her cheek. Elias felt like a stranger. She’d always been closer to Peter and Harry.

Vulnerable and unhappy as she was, she welcomed her family’s presence. But she wasn’t a fool and she could count. For Elias to reach Derbyshire for the ceremony, Cam must have sent the invitation before she’d accepted his proposal. How galling that His Grace, the Duke of Sedgemoor, had been so remarkably sure of himself.

She pasted a smile onto her face for the sake of her brothers and the local landowners. Pen wished desperately that Cam’s sister was here. A sympathetic woman would dilute this overbearing masculinity. But Lydia lived far south in Devon with her husband Simon. Not even Cam’s powers could waft her to Fentonwyck in time for the service.

“This scapegrace showed up at Houghton Park the day before yesterday, claiming he tired of London,” Elias said. “When he discovered I was bound for your wedding, he wouldn’t stay behind.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Harry said with the wicked smile that she didn’t remember in his younger self.

She’d heard that he cut a swathe through society’s ladies. Right now she believed it. “I’ll need time to get used to seeing my unpromising lout of a brother with so much town bronze. You’re almost presentable these days, Harry.”

“Too kind. If you ask nicely, I’ll take you round the modistes and show you the latest rigs.”

She cast him an annoyed glance. “I’m sure you heard about the shipwreck. I only reached Fentonwyck yesterday. There wasn’t time to have a gown made.”

“I’d take her in her petticoat.” Cam’s smile looked almost natural. She was impressed. Nobody seeing this superb man in his elegant clothing and with his easy manner would guess that this marriage wasn’t his choice.

“You almost did,” she said.

“It might be an improvement,” Harry remarked.

She scowled at him. “Now I’m a duchess, I’ll thank you to show some respect. There’s a dungeon at Fentonwyck, young man.”

Cam snagged two glasses of champagne from a footman and passed her one. As she accepted, she summoned another smile. Her brothers needed to believe that she was happy. She was bleakly aware that a lifetime of pretense awaited.

“The dungeons are now wine cellars, Pen. Tomorrow I’ll take you on a tour of your new home.”

“I’d readily commit the occasional faux pas, if it means you’ll lock me away with your claret, Cam,” Harry said.

Cam’s arm slipped around her waist. Shock made her stiffen and withdraw before she recalled that they were in public. He caught her hand and gently rubbed his thumb over her wedding ring. The new ring felt alien, almost oppressive. She’d become accustomed to the weight of his signet, now on his hand where it belonged.

“Pen,” he warned under his breath, releasing her.

She blushed at the reprimand, however deserved. And at the touch of his hand. She’d spent the last days bracing herself to share Cam’s bed when he’d do much more than put his arm around her. How could she pretend that she didn’t love him when he took her body? If he discovered she loved him, this current awkwardness would fade to nothing in comparison.

“Are you and Elias staying?” she asked Harry.

“No, we leave after the breakfast,” Harry said.

“It’s a long way to come just for the ceremony.”

How cowardly she was, but her brothers offered refuge against Cam and what would happen in his bed tonight. Except that nothing would stop him possessing her. She’d spent her life trying to strangle her painful, unwelcome love. If he took her, that dependence would worsen. And now she couldn’t run away to the Continent to avoid the constant reminder that he’d never love her.

She gulped a mouthful of champagne to dislodge the familiar lump in her throat.

“Steady on, old girl. You don’t want to be tipsy on your wedding day. Cam doesn’t need to know all the family foibles at once.”

“Ha ha,” she said sarcastically, although Harry’s teasing stemmed rising panic. She’d hoped she’d accepted her lot. Apparently she hadn’t.

“One of the nice things about marrying someone you met in their cradle is that there are few surprises,” Cam said drily, sliding his hand around her waist once more. This time she made herself stand rigidly still.

“Elias doesn’t wish to intrude on your honeymoon,” Harry said.

They’d told her brothers the lie about the European ceremony. “We’re an old married couple now.”

Cam sent her a sardonic glance. “Hardly, my love.”

The world stuttered to a stop. She only just saved herself from wrenching free. Those two words—“my love”—threatened to drag the whole façade around their ears. Those two words hurt. Dear God, they hurt. And she’d just signed up for fifty years or so of more hurt. Someone should shoot her now.