The Unclaimed Duchess Read Online Free PDF

regained his composure. He shot a brief glance up at Lillian and then slowly shook his head.
    â€œI’m sorry, Anne. You know I view you as quite my own sister, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable in sharing that conversation with you. You should ask Rhys.”
    All attempts at calm vanished as Anne flew to her feet. “ Ask Rhys? ”
    Both Simon and Lillian leaned back at Anne’s unexpectedly violent reaction. Simon was on his feet in an instant, reaching for her as if he feared she would topple over in her current state, but Anne jerked away.
    â€œYes,” he said, watching her. “I think it would be best if you take this up with your husband.
    Anne barked out a laugh, but it was inspired by anything but humor. “I would do if I knew where he was! Tell me, Simon. Tell me what you said to him that sent him flying from our home with no explanation and no return? That sent him from London, apparently. From all of his estates! Please tell me what you said, what you did, to make him disappear like this!”
    Aside from his shock at her behavior, Simon had been cloaking his own emotions quite well during this exchange. But now…now the façade fell andhis green eyes brightened with heartache.
    â€œRhys is gone?” he whispered in disbelief. “I knew he was upset, but I never thought…Are you saying he’s quit London entirely?”
    Anne nodded. Somehow hearing another person state that fact out loud helped. It renewed her focus on her duty, and that duty was to find her husband. Tears and screaming and letting herself surrender to her pain would not aid in that responsibility, and might even hinder it.
    She struggled for a moment, swallowing her tears, calming her breath. Her heart slowed from its wild beating to something more natural, and that was when she finally spoke.
    â€œYes, he is gone,” she whispered. “The afternoon of our return, I sought him out after you left, only to be told that he had called for his horse and ridden away with no explanation or hint of his plans to return. At first I simply waited, assuming he would come back, but when morning came, he hadn’t returned.”
    She squeezed her eyes shut, ignoring the clawing panic that raged up inside her once more. “I sent word around to his clubs, discreetly inquiring if he was there, but to no avail. I even asked his mother, but she was as in the dark as I am. No one seems to know where Rhys is, and now it is three days past. And nothing. Not a word of or from him, Simon. SoI ask you again, what did you say to my husband? Because before you came to visit us, Rhys seemed perfectly contented.”
    Simon shook his head. “I’m sorry, Anne. It isn’t that I don’t believe you deserve to know, but it isn’t my secret to reveal to you. Rhys must tell you, not I.”
    Anne stared at him, suddenly overcome by a rage she hadn’t even known she could feel. Simon was staring at her with such calmness, dismissing her demands as if she wasn’t owed an explanation.
    â€œYou bastard,” Anne said. Her voice was quiet, but it shook and wavered. “Did you tell him not to love me? Not to want me? To leave me?”
    She moved toward him without realizing she was going to do it, but before she reached him, Lillian intervened, scrambling to embrace her.
    Anne tensed, not wanting to be comforted or placated, but as Lillian smoothed a hand along her back gently, Anne went limp. All the pressure and pain of the past few days, the humiliation of abandonment and the fear that she had lost her future, flooded her. She clung to Lillian, sucking in breath after breath. But she didn’t cry. She refused to cry.
    â€œI’m sorry,” Lillian whispered as she held her. “But trust that Simon would never hurt you. He adores you, he would never bring you pain on purpose.”
    Anne looked over Lillian’s shoulder. Simon stood,ramrod stiff, looking at her with a