Free Celeste Bradley - [Heiress Brides 01] by Desperately Seeking a Duke

her age … and angry at her swift entrapment.
    There were mere whispers at first, which Calder likely never heard in his distraction. Then there was rumor, but he ignored that as well. He’d experienced the jealous tongues of Society when he’d inherited so much so young. He knew that idle minds manufactured their own entertainment.
    Then rumor became flaming gossip and gossip exploded into scandal—and there was nothing Calder could do about it but marry the girl he’d so unwisely left unattended all season long. Dissolving the engagement himself would have besmirched him and ruined her forever—neither of which were desirable entries into the family history. He was assured by Melinda’s humiliated parents that she would settle properly into her wifely role once the wedding took place. There was nothing to do but go through with it and hope for the best.
    The best did not happen. Melinda, furious that her actions had made no difference and now madly infatuated with a man she’d met during her adventures, continued to make headlines in the gossip sheets. Matters finally seemed to settle a bit and the couple even seemed to achieve a sort of happiness—Rafe didn’t know why precisely, for he and Calder were not on the best of terms at
that time—until two years into the marriage when occurred Melinda’s next and tragically final act of rebellion.
    It was the stuff of grand theatre—the fleeing wife, the mocking cuckold, the shattered husband, and the dramatic cross-country escape which ended in the carriage accident that killed two. It was all so very tawdry and cliché—and ferociously private Calder found himself in the center of it all.
    Rafe, who had passed that night in the energetic embrace of a happily married mother of six children—who were shamelessly mismatched in coloring and features all, although thankfully his own black hair and brown eyes never appeared there—learned about Calder’s tragic mishap the same way the rest of England did.
    The papers were merciless, rooting out every scrap of old gossip and rumor from Melinda’s outrageous season and shoring up any weak points with wild speculation as well. Calder found himself in the excruciating position of being openly pitied—and snickered about—by an entire nation. Unbearable for a proud and aloof man.
    Rafe packed up the rooms he kept and came home and Calder opened Brook House to him. Neither spoke a word about the tragedy, but Rafe told himself that Calder appreciated the show of support. It was a grim, hushed time.
    Calder’s determined and dignified silence—and the stature of his enormous wealth, no doubt—eventually outlasted the storm of scandal. Rafe stayed on in Brook House and did his best not to add fuel to the gossip fires. One by one, he gave up his self-indulgent pleasures, although neither Calder nor the rest of Society ever seemed to notice. Perhaps it was simply Rafe’s own form of penance. Melinda’s wildness was not his fault, but he’d taken a certain bitter amusement in seeing Calder hoist on his own sanctimonious petard.
    He would never have wished this seething madness on anyone however, and it bothered him to see Calder retreat even farther into his stern shell.

    Calder never gave up his blacks after his year of mourning was over, and his new brooding demeanor did nothing to deter the gossips who still loved to paint him as an object of romanticized pity.
    Calder’s thoughts must have followed a similar vein, for he scowled slightly into the glass. “I do not intend to make that mistake again. That is why the wedding will take place within weeks. If not for the reading of the banns, I would take care of it tomorrow.”
    Rafe was quiet for a moment. “Do you truly mean this? You intend to be a true husband to Ph—Miss Millbury?”
    Calder slid him a glance. “I was a true husband to Melinda. She was not a true wife to me. But Miss Millbury has not been in town long enough to form any attachments and I