Pierce silently congratulated himself on his patience as he watched Noelle move to the settee, for all he wanted to do was to shake her until she gave him the information he yearned for. He refused to sit, instead opting to stand in front of her, his hands clenched in tight fists at his sides.
"My patience wears thin. I'd recommend you tell me the entire truth and make it quick," he warned.
Noelle cleared her throat and tried to gather her thoughts, before tentatively beginning, "Your Grace, this whole misunderstanding is all my fault. You see, I am indeed Noelle Parrish. The girl you have been spending time with was merely my lady's maid, or at least she was."
"Impossible!" he roared, "I said I wanted the truth and I very well meant it."
"No, it is the truth. I know it sounds preposterous, but if you would only let me explain, then you might understand. Her name is Hope Hillburn and she has been my maid for the last several years. This whole ordeal started before I ever knew about you and the...uh, the arrangement you and my father had made."
"What ordeal?"
"You see I met this man by chance, an American who caught my fancy." Noelle had to stop and wipe a stray tear that had escaped the corner of her eye. It was more painful than she imagined, speaking of Soren, but the callous look on the duke's face implored her to continue. "I knew there was no way I could possibly manage to meet with him unless I did something drastic. That's when I noticed the odd resemblance between Hope and myself. I begged, then nearly commanded her, to take my place so I could sneak out of the house disguised as her, a mere servant, and meet with him."
Pierce's jaw was clenched tight, as Noelle watched a muscle twitch in aggravation. He finally sat down in a nearby chair before running a hand through his thick hair. "I swear to you that if you are lying to me you will live to regret the day I ever met your father and won your hand in marriage."
Noelle nervously gnawed on her bottom lip, as she shook her head back and forth frantically. "You have my word that this is all true. When my father finally told me of the arrangement he had made with you, I was furious. I left that night to go tell the man, the American," she could still not bring herself to say his name, "what had happened. That's when he offered to take me away to America and make me his wife. I knew I had to convince Hope to take my place permanently."
Pierce snorted, "And of course, what servant wouldn't jump at the chance to act as a lady and marry a duke?" He could have sworn he saw red flashing behind his eyes. He felt angry and sick all at once, as he realized that he had been foolish enough to fall into the same trap as before. It was a different woman but the same story—she had been out to marry him for his title and his wealth. Maybe her motives had been different than Eliza's had, but the end result was the same. When the anger finally subsided, he hung his head in his hands and stared at the ground feeling utterly and completely defeated. It was as if his heart had stopped beating and his reason for living had disappeared with the elusive Hope. He groaned at the irony of her name, for at one time she had given him hope, and now that he knew the truth, it was as if she had taken that hope and dashed it into a million pieces.
Noelle watched Pierce slump in the chair and wished she could know what he was thinking. The silence stretched out before them in painfully long minutes. She could hear the clock on the mantle ticking away the seconds, and she thought she just might go crazy if she had to listen to the repetitious sound much longer. Finally, she cleared her throat and said, "If you truly believe that about Hope, then you don't know her at all."
Turning dark, cold eyes on her he spoke, "Apparently, I didn't know her at all; I didn't even know her real name, for crying out loud. And you—you were going to let me marry a servant while you gallivanted off to another country with some foreign man, all to satisfy some selfish desire. Did you think about anyone but yourself?"
Noelle reared back, as guilt flooded and consumed her. She had been selfish, not realizing the extent to which her decisions were affecting everyone else.
"You would never have known had I not come back."
"And why did you come back? Did this illustrious American decide he had had enough of you?"
Though Noelle knew he had every right to sound bitter and upset, his coldness still managed to surprise her. She took a deep breath and tried to will down the lump of emotion clogging her throat. "No, he died, so I had no choice but to come back. There was no life for me without him, and the only thing I knew to do was to come back to the life I had left behind."
"And poor Hope was probably devastated to have to give up the life of luxury and ease you had so generously bestowed upon her."
Noelle had had enough, "Stop that! You are talking about her as if she is some cold-hearted, gold-digging wretch."
He looked at her, one eyebrow raised insolently, "Isn't she, aren't all women?"
"No, I mean I cannot speak for all women, but I can speak for her. You are acting as if she jumped at the opportunity to take on the role of a lady, and it was actually quite the opposite. I had to force her, almost threaten her to do me the favor. I knew I couldn't just leave my family with the scandal my absence would have created, so I convinced her to take my place. She never wanted any of it, the dresses, the balls, you."
For one blessed second, the insolence was wiped from his face so she took that for a good sign and continued, "I thought she would be relieved when I came back to reclaim my life. I honestly would never have thought that something would have developed between the two of you, that you could have feelings for one another."
"No, it's apparent that you don't think much when making your decisions. I, on the other hand, have some thinking to do, and it would be best if you left. I will have my driver take you home and in the meantime I will try to figure out a way out of this marriage. If there is one thing I do know, it is that I will never, never marry you."
***
Pierce had spent the last two days moping around his house, refusing to leave the premises and refusing to accept any callers. He felt despondent in a way that he hadn't felt in his entire life. He despaired when he thought of the future and what his life would be like without Hope. It still felt odd calling her that. Part of him was fiercely angry at the situation, at her for her perfidy. He couldn't help but wonder what else was a lie between them, and how much he really did know about her.
Whenever he thought of the real Noelle, his stomach turned sour and he wanted to hit something. He kept trying to contrive ways out of their engagement that wouldn't make him look the fool. He knew that if a man were to cry off, it could very well destroy the lady's reputation beyond repair. Why he cared about Noelle's reputation was beyond him, but he wanted to find a way out of the marriage with as little scandal as possible, but he knew that now that the bann's had been read, that would be next to impossible. He entertained the idea of fleeing the continent. He could admit to himself that this desire to flee had crept into his thoughts a few too many times where Noelle Parrish was concerned, but it was the only plausible, and somewhat satisfying, answer he had come up with yet.
He looked up from his desk as he heard his butler enter the study. "Your Grace, you have a visitor."
"I said I wasn't seeing anyone."
"As you wish, Your Grace," but just as his butler bowed his head and turned to leave, Elliot marched through the door.
"I had a feeling you would try to turn me away. Enough of this hiding, I have not seen you at White's for days."
Pierce shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't been feeling very social."
Elliot walked over and poured himself a brandy before coming to sit in the chair across from Pierce's desk. He noted the shadow of stubble on his friends face and the tired look in his eyes. His attire was unusually unkempt and his hair looked as if it hadn't been combed in days.
"I'm afraid to be the bearer of bad news, but you my friend, have seen better days."
"Please accept my apologies; I hadn't planned on entertaining today so I'm sorry if my appearance offends you."
Elliot leaned forward and placed his glass on the desk, "What is wrong with you man? Has the magic of love already faded between you and Noelle?"
"She's not my fiancée, I am not marrying the chit."
"What?! Are you serious? Have you finally decided to take my advice and cry off?"
"No, I mean it literally—that woman is not the girl I was going to marry."
"You mean she is not acting like the girl you thought you were going to marry, right?"
"No, I mean that it is not her."
Elliot eyed him quizzically, "I think you better explain yourself."
Taking a deep breath, Pierce pushed his chair back from the desk and propped his booted feet on his desk, both hands clasped behind his head as he began to recount the story.
When he had finally finished explaining the tale, Elliot had sprung to his feet and leaned over-animatedly across the desk attempting to get as close to his face as was possible. "Why the devil are you sitting here brooding when you should be out looking for the woman you love? I can guarantee you that if I thought even for a minute that I had a chance to find my love that I would be doing everything within my power to search her out and bring her back."
Pierce lowered both feet to the ground, shocked by the emotional outburst of his friend. He had never seen him so incensed. "Oh like you did with Felicity?"
Elliot's voice turned cold and menacing. "You know that I did everything I could to find her, I searched everywhere." Pierce instantly regretted asking when he saw the haunted look that flitted through his friend's icy eyes and realized that he was being unfair. He remembered vividly the tortured weeks and months after Felicity's mysterious disappearance when Elliot had spent days searching out any lead he could find that might possibly give him a clue as to where she had gone. He had left no rock unturned in his search for her and had never been the same when he failed to discover her whereabouts.
"This is different," Pierce reasoned.
"You are right, it is different. It is different because you are different. I would not be so foolish to let the best thing that had happened to me slip away without a fight. At least I had the gumption and the conviction to search for who I loved. At least I can feel peace knowing I did everything I could to find her."
"Is that what you've felt all these years, peaceful?"
"Lud no!" Elliot exclaimed, "But imagine how much worse I would feel if I hadn't done anything. You are a bigger fool than I thought if you won't even bother putting up a fight. People like you don't deserve the love of a good woman. I would give up everything that I have just to spend one more day with Felicity." He scrutinized Pierce one final time before turning and making his exit before his uncontrolled emotions could embarrass him any further.