Free Duchess Beware (Secrets & Scandals Book 2) by Tiffany Green Page A

what was happening to her?  From what she could tell, her brothers knew nothing of the way Edward and Caroline treated her.  And she could never tell them.  Her brothers would rush the gates of Pennington Manor to exact vengeance, but Edward would send for his good friend, the magistrate.  Her brothers could be jailed.  Or worse.
    Suddenly chilled to the bone, Silver shivered and wrapped her shawl more securely around her shoulders.  No, she couldn’t tell her brothers about living in hell.  And she still hadn’t told them about Victor Merrick.  She groaned.  How was she going to tell them about that?  Time was running short.
    Taking a deep breath, she straightened on the seat.  She would just have to figure out a way to tell them when they returned in two days from selling their wool at market.
    The crunch of footsteps brought her from her thoughts.  Silver opened her eyes and found a perfect, long-stemmed rose of the sunniest yellow offered to her.  Her heart leaped when she noticed the blunt-ended fingers of a man’s hand holding the stem.  Her eyes slowly lifted.  Garrett’s face smiled down at her, not Daniel’s as she had hoped, and her heart sank.  She wasn’t surprised, though.  The duke hadn’t spoken one word to her in two weeks.  Not since he’d come into her room after that awful dream.
    Chiding herself for being disappointed, Silver forced a smile and accepted the lovely token.  “Thank you, kind sir.” She inhaled the sweetness and tried hard not to think of her mother.
    “You’re quite welcome, m’lady.”  He glanced around.  “I have visited this lovely garden every day since our arrival.”  He turned back to her, his eyes curious.  “But this is the first time I’ve noticed you here.”
    Her mother’s smiling face filled her mind, making her chest ache.  “I hadn’t the courage to visit my mother’s garden since her death,” Silver said, her words a low whisper.  “Until now.”
    His face crumpled in penitence as he took the seat beside her.  “Do forgive me.  I did not mean to make you sad.”
    She shook her head.  “I’m afraid, Garrett, I was already in such a sorry state before your arrival.”
    “Ah, Silver, I’m certain that once you return to England, you will…”
    She stiffened at the reminder of what she faced after leaving Scotland and turned away.
    “Did I say something distasteful?”
    She couldn’t answer.  The thought of leaving her brothers and marrying Victor Merrick was more than distasteful—it was repulsive, and it made her nauseous.
    “Silver?”
    “I just remembered something I must do,” she lied and rose to her feet, noticing the evening shadows for the first time.  She must have sat in the gazebo most of the day.  She rushed away without a backward glance, glad her ankle had recovered well enough to make a quick escape.  With a pounding heart, she made her way to her room, grateful for not running into anyone along the way.
    Closing the door behind her, she leaned heavily against the wood, the forgotten rose sliding from her hand.  How could she tell her brothers about marrying Victor?  She shuddered and pressed her hands against her warm cheeks.  They would know her true feelings.  She couldn’t even say the words out loud without them sticking in her throat.  But she would leave soon.  Goodness, what was she to do?
    Someone knocked on the door, making her jump.  “Yes?  Who’s there?”
    “Yer late for dinner.”
    Mrs. Burns.  Silver blew out a breath.  “I’m not hungry.”
    “No’ ye tae!”
    Silver frowned.  Was Daniel not—no, she wouldn’t finish the thought.  “Mrs. Burns, would you do me a favor?”
    A pause.  “Aye?”
    She scooped up the tattered rose from the floor, feeling much like the poor thing.  “Would it be too much trouble to have a bath?”
    It didn’t take Mrs. Burns long to assemble the tub full of hot water.  Although Silver wished the woman would quit clucking her