Page 70 of The Duchess He Couldn’t Resist

But then another thought came to her. How Lily stood by her side and called her interesting, bypassing all the gossip of the ton. How Owen extended his friendship to her, clumsy and preposterous as it was. And above all, how Brandon saw her: brave and intelligent and fearless. Marigold decided that she would hate to disappoint them and disillusion her own husband of who she really was.

Marigold gently but firmly pulled her arm free from her mother’s grip. Claire sensed the shift in her disposition but would not relent that easily.

“I am afraid I cannot help you, Mother.”

“Listen to me, Marigold. I am your mother, and I will not allow you to scorn me and set me aside that easily. You will give me the money, or⁠—”

“I believe I need to make myself clearer,” Marigold said in a calm tone. “There will be no money.”

Claire stared back at her as if she had been struck. The powerful mask that she always wore cracked just a little. But years of dominating over Marigold took over. She lifted her chin and her eyebrow, and her tone became even colder.

“Do you have any idea what I will do?”

“I sincerely do not care what you will do,” Marigold said. “I believe it would be something heartless and selfish. In fact, I would be quite surprised if you acted otherwise.”

“I will not stand by and allow my own daughter to disrespect me like this.”

“I am not disrespecting you. I am informing you. There will be no money.”

“So, you are sleeping peacefully knowing that you spend money on flowers and have left your mother destitute?”

“I am sleeping peacefully knowing that I spend my money the way I see fit, and I gave my mother the opportunity of a new beginning. What you do with that chance is all up to you.”

“You will find the money. I will not accept any excuse⁠—”

“I am not offering an excuse.” Marigold straightened her back and looked square into her mother’s eyes. “In fact, even if I did have the money, which I may, even if the Duke would give me an infinite amount of funds, which he may have done, I would never give you any money.”

Claire’s face contorted into something ugly. Not externally, her mother was still a lovely woman to look at. But the malice on her face took away any smoothness from her features, making her look more like a banshee.

“How dare you?” Claire attacked once more, relentless in her desperation. “How dare you speak to me like this after all I have done for you?”

“Yes, I believe I have heard that argument before.” Marigold arranged her bouquet nicely and looked at her gloves, unfazed. “And lately, I have been wondering what exactly you have done for me. Because I can make a list of the things that you have done to me. Spread rumors to save your own reputation that depict me as a cruel penny-pincher. You have humiliated and insulted me on every occasion. And last but not least, you have used me as collateral for a loan you used to buy new gowns.”

Claire’s mask completely cracked. But if Marigold were expecting to find shame or remorse under that cold exterior, she realized she had only unearthed something feral.

“I see,” Claire said. “You are under the illusion that the title you’re holding will protect you. But it only takes a whisper to make a great duke the laughingstock of the ton.”

“And you were under the illusion,” Marigold truly looked at her mother for the first time as the Duchess of Voss, “that your insignificant position trumps the reputation of the most powerful Duke in the Kingdom.”

“You will come to be sorry for rejecting me,” Claire threatened. “You can hide behind your husband as much as you want, but I will strike.”

“I am not hiding behind my husband. I am standing right next to him. See if you can strike me there without passing by him. You see, the title that you so arrogantly almost claimed as your own holds great significance. Whether you like it or not, I am the Duchess of Voss.”

Claire’s face went white, and her hands shook, both from anger and surprise. Marigold, for a moment, feared that her mother would create a scene by striking her in the middle of the road, and she couldn’t decide whether that would be a good or a bad thing. Yet miraculously, her mother found her composure.

“You have grown a spine, Marigold,” Claire said with a sharp, brittle sound that could have been laughter. “But spines can be broken.”

Marigold replied to the open threat with a wide smile. She softly patted her mother’s hand to say goodbye, still aware of people looking at them, and walked away. She held her poise and calm pace until she turned the corner.

That’s when she felt her heart pounding and her hands shaking. Her lower lip trembled as the rush of what she had done came over her. It was a taste of something that she had never felt before. Something suspiciously close to freedom.

CHAPTER 21

REWARDS

Brandon was sitting in his study, staring at the wall of papers and yarn, but he was seeing none of it. He had had his lunch elsewhere, and despite that, this had always been his routine, those few days that he had been eating all his meals with Marigold seemed to have seeped into him.

The only thing on his mind was how lovely Marigold was looking in that lavender gown, those curls on her neck, and how her shoulder softly brushed against his as he was leaving the room.