Celeste Bradley - [Heiress Brides 03] by Duke Most Wanted Read Free Book Online Page B

gazing at him in wary confusion. “A double tragedy,” she said. “How sad.”
    Laughter, desperate and panicked, began to fight its way free. “There’s more—!”
    Sophie drew back and folded her arms, staring at him. “Gray, just spit it out.”
    “They’re all gone.” His voice, strained already from resisting the laughter, broke oddly on the word “gone.” He rubbed at his face again. His hand came away wet. He inhaled deeply, alarmed by his own lack of balance.
    And then Sophie was there, taking his hand in hers, leading him to a seat—nearly shoving him, actually—and kneeling at his feet.
    He was about to thank her for staying close when he realized that he had her hand tightly in his. His knuckles were white with force but she made no sign of pain. He eased his grip. “I’m sorry.”
    She reached toward him. He leaned closer.
Yes
. She placed one hand on his chest—and pulled his handkerchief free of his breast pocket. “Here,” she said calmly. “You’re dripping.”
    He was dripping. It didn’t seem right to use the word “weeping,” for he felt calm enough except for the remaining unbalanced laughter and the tendency for his eyes to leak.
    He looked at Sophie. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
    She nodded in unruffled sympathy. “Yes. You’re all alone now.”
    He tamped down on more wild hysteria. “No. I mean . . . yes, I’m alone. But more importantly, for I’ve virtually been alone all along . . . I’m the new Duke of Edencourt.”
    Sophie had always wondered why people used the word “heartbreak.” Hearts raced and sometimes stopped, but how could a muscle break?
    Completely without effort, it seemed.
    She’d thought herself immune. She’d arrogantly assumed that because she didn’t have a lover that she wouldn’t feel love.
    What an idiot she was.
    Through the pounding in her head and the roaring in her ears, she heard Graham say her name. He sounded so far away.
    He is, farther than he’s ever been
.
    And he’s not coming back
.

Chapter Five
    The room that had once seemed a refuge against a hostile world now surrounded Sophie in all its tawdry dilapidation and deceit. Her sanctuary was only a room in a cheap, rented house and her prince was simply a man she couldn’t have.
    “Of course, there isn’t a penny to be had,” Graham was saying lightly, as if it were of no consequence. “All that land and not a bit of it offering up my just deserts as duke.”
    Money. He was talking about money—when he ought to have heard the crystalline shattering of her heart from across the room?
    What did you expect of a man like him and a woman like you?
    “So it seems,” he went on to say, “that I must marry immediately and marry rich, if I please to continue living in the manner to which I am accustomed.”
    Well. Thrice an idiot in a single afternoon. She’d thought her heart could break no more. She was truly going to have to learn not to make such naive assumptions.
    “Marry,” she repeated flatly.
    “Yes.” His gaze was on the view through the window—or perhaps much farther than that. All the way to Lady Lilah Christie’s house?
    “Who?”
    He blinked, his surprise bringing him back to the parlor, back to her. He grinned crookedly and shrugged, his hands held wide. “I haven’t the foggiest notion, I fear.” He tried to bring back his former teasing tone. “Why don’t you pick for me, lover? Preferably someone I can stand for more than an hour at a time.”
    He didn’t mean to be cruel. She had to believe that. If she’d needed further illustration of just how far out of her reach he was, all she had to do was look in a mirror!
    Enough!
    She stood abruptly. When had she seated herself? She couldn’t remember. “I’m sorry, Graham—ah—Your Grace. I just realized the time. I hope you’ll forgive me, but I’ve so much to do today . . .”
    Ridiculous excuse, when he’d caught her napping on the windowseat not an hour past. He was too