Chapter 21

Hastening along the hallway, Ava darted a look around the empty passage. The hallway was bright in the mid morning, sunlight streaming through the window. There was no one in sight, not even a passing servant. Today was the last day of their stay, and tomorrow they would leave early in the morning. She must return some books that Lady Byrne borrowed from the library and she preferred to do it before dark. The library and its surroundings were always empty, seemed like the residents and the guests were more excited in outdoor pursuits than spending time in a quiet room filled with the smell of old books. Clutching the books tighter against her chest, she rushed into the library. She headed to the nearest passage and put the books in the shelf hurriedly. She wedged the last book between two thick dictionaries, it took some time to put it in its place eventually.

"Miss Banks, how delightful to see you here."

The deep, smooth masculine voice startled her and she turned her head instantly. The Earl of Blackthorne was leaning against the huge shelf in the end of the passage.

"I didn't see you for a day and you look even more beautiful. How could it be possible?"

Seemed like she had to have one last encounter with him before going home. She mustn't be afraid. There was no way he would dare to assault her in this non-secluded place and more importantly, she had prepared herself to face him. The earl's gaze swept over her body, leisurely assessing her feminine curve in a way that made her cheeks flame.

"You definitely know how to play hard to get and it drives me crazy."

He muttered with a faint grin.

Knowing that any verbal response would be pointless, she refused to look at him and walked down the passage without a word. She kept looking straight ahead, her gaze fixed directly to the door. However, her heart drumming frantically as she got near. Trying to ignore his wicked smile, she quickened her pace. When she tried to edge past him, suddenly he stretched out his hand to the shelf across him. She flinched back, almost crashed his extended arms.

"You know there's toll to pay... Ouch!"

He started back when suddenly a sharply localized pain stung him. He got distracted and she slipped away swiftly, running to the doorway. Looking down to his left thigh, Blackthorne found a small sewing needle sinking through his trousers, a little spot of blood appeared on the white fabric. Cursing quietly, he pulled out the needle and tossed it to the carpeted floor.

Hearing the tread of hasty footsteps behind her, Ava knew immediately that the earl was chasing her. She felt a great relief as she reached the hallway. At least the earl wouldn't dare to molest her in such a visible place. But soon she knew that he didn't give a damn about it, because he grabbed her from behind, forcing her to turn around and face him.

"Nice try, my sweet honeybee,"

He pulled her until her body crushed against him.

"but a little sting won't kill me."

She looked up at him with disbelief.

"Have you gone mad?!!!"

Ava pulled away and twisted her hand free from his grasp, but he caught her arms and pinned her to the wall.

"Help me!!!"

She writhed against the wall, shocking him with her sudden scream.

"Easy, my love~"

Quite taken aback by her extreme reaction, Blackthorne held her tighter. Pressing his body to her, he intended to silence her with the only thing he knew.

"Help!!!" Seemingly able to read his mind, she cried again, louder than before.

"Take your hands off her, bastard!"

A furious voice broke in, followed by a marching tread of boots. Ava turned to see the duke coming over them in a rush. The earl's grip loosened and she release herself, rushing toward the duke who had just stopped a step away from them. Sending her thanks to heaven, she approached her rescuer, settling herself safely behind him.

Standing within spitting distance from Blackthorne, Ashton eyed his opponent sharply.

"Get yourself out of my sight, you filthy scum, before I kill you."

He said under his breath.

"You're going to kill me here? I don't think it's a good idea."

Blackthorne scoffed, a mocking grin touching his lips.

"You might have a serious problem."

"And you might have a broken nose."

Ava gasped in shock when his clenched fist suddenly struck the earl on the nose, sending the rake lurched unsteadily as if about to fall. Recovering from the sudden attack quickly, Blackthorne spat a blood-streaked spittle to the side.

"There will be hell to pay, you bloody bastard!!!"

Blotting his bleeding nose carelessly with his sleeve, he stripped off his waistcoat and threw it to the floor.

"What~"

Ava was just about to speak, but her words trailed off as she watched the duke doing exactly the same thing.

"There's no need~"

She tried to stop him, but he already threw his coat and stormed over his rival, delivering another hard blow. Blackthorne fought back with all his might, as his opponent made it clear that there was no mercy to be had. The duke charged him savagely, like an alpha male in a lion pride attacking the invading male who tried to claim his territory.

Stepping back to keep a fairly safe distance from the brutal fight, Ava's mind raced in confusion. It seemed both men would stop at nothing to kill each other. If she wanted to cease the fight, she had to seek help. But if anyone knew about this, it would be a terrible scandal.

"What's happening here?!!"

A thunderous voice interrupted, making the two men stop at once and turn toward the voice. Ava wheeled around to see the face of Magnus' father.

Lord Carlton had appeared from nowhere, standing a few feet away from the scene. The mature man possessed such a powerful presence, he impressively did well to freeze the two younger men with a look.

Exchanging a loathing glare, Ashton and Blackthorne backed off, turning toward the older man who was now glowering at them. Breathing heavily, they stood still side by side like two students being caught in a fight by a stern teacher.

"What's all this?"

Lord Carlton inquired coldly. Ava nearly winced when the lord threw an insolent glance at her.

"I really cannot say, Sir."

Blackthorne replied, returning to his careless nature.

"I was talking to this lady when this man suddenly made his vicious attack on me~"

"You were not talking to me, you were molesting me."

Ava cut him off quickly.

The earl raised his brow, putting an air of perfect ease.

"Molesting? You're mistaken me terribly."

He turned toward the older man, muttering nonchalantly.

"There's some sort of misunderstanding here, Sir."

"Shame on you both, young men!!!"

Lord Carlton thundered suddenly, startling everyone in the room. With narrowing eyes, he looked quickly from one man to another.

"You have disgraced your own title and your family name! You acted like two mongrel dogs fight over a rotten meat in the rubbish bin!"

Ava startled, she got a feeling that the insult was mainly addressed to her.

"And you,"

He regarded Ashton with a flicker of disgust.

"Surely you can find better things to fight for than your cousin's sloppy seconds~"

"Enough!"

Ashton stormed to his uncle, who started back at once with extreme disbelief. Still terribly shocked and hurt by the direct insult, Ava could only gape at the scene.

"What?!!"

Lord Carlton snarled, flicking his gaze at Ava for a brief instant before returning to his nephew's face. His eyes narrowed in loathing.

"Now you dare to challenge me for this bitch?"

"Not another word against her, Uncle Carl."

Ashton warned quickly with a carefully tamed voice, but it simply added fuel to the fire.

"How dare you!!!"

Lord Carlton spat in outrage.

"We'll talk, but not here."

Ashton said quickly, eyes fixed on his uncle's face. Without looking at her, he demanded urgently.

"Ava, leave us now."

Amidst the whirlwind of emotion, she noticed that it was the first time he said her name. Her given name. And silly of her, she couldn't help thinking that she loved the way her name sounded in his lips. Turning on her heels, she rushed along the corridor. Her mind was awhirl with wonder and confusion.

The insults definitely hurt, but strangely now all she could feel was she cared nothing for the insults. The thing that mattered most was he defended her. Vigorously. Moreover, he defended her against the person he considered the most important man in his life. She never thought he would do something like that for her.

Something flamed in her, setting alight a little hope there was left.

She shook the glowing thoughts off at once. For a woman like her, hope was a dangerous thing. Hope could make her soar too high, only to fall and crash the ground. Hope was a cruel joke, that tempted her to long for something that was impossible to attain.

Glancing over her shoulder at the distant scene, she knew the matter was getting worse and one thing was inevitable. Unfortunately, as Lord Blackthorne said, the duke might have a serious problem.

*****

"I apologize if I have offended you in any way, Uncle Carl. You must know I haven't the slightest intention of doing so."

Standing in his own bedchamber, Ashton chose his words with great care. In the heat of the moment, he managed to persuade his uncle to settle their dispute in the nearest place that provided privacy, that happened to be his bedchamber.

He knew that his spontaneous reaction must have shocked the hell out of his uncle. All his life, he had been totally obedient to this man, and now for the first time, he had openly defied him in front of another peer. He couldn't tell if Selene had told his uncle about his alleged affair, he could only speculate.

Remaining silent, his uncle was staring out the window. Ashton proceeded with his explanation.

"That woman was entirely blameless. She had just fallen victim to an assault. In my opinion, she didn't deserve the insults. I would have done the same for any woman. Nothing personal."

"It's nothing but personal."

Lord Carlton muttered between gritted teeth.

"Save your breath, child. I already know the truth."

Turning his back, his uncle shot him a sharp gaze.

"I've been watching you. I know you met that wench by the shore after midnight when we stayed in Magnolia Inn."

That explained his uncle's sudden appearance when the recent incident took place. It was no coincidence. His uncle must have kept an eye on him most of the time. Damn it! It was only a chance meeting. He never imagined it would turn to be a terrible misunderstanding, but at this point, seemed like no explanation or argument would sound sensible. He decided to spare any effort to convince him, because whatever he might say, his uncle wouldn't trust the least bit of it.

Lord Carlton scoffed at his silence.

"I must say I never expected such a thing coming from you but it seemed like history has a way of repeating itself."

Lord Carlton turned toward the window again, staring pensively at nothing in the distance.

"Your father, rest his soul, once fell into the same temptation. And it cost him not only his life, but the lives of his family. Your mother wasn't the only one who lost her life because of his irresponsible behavior."

His back stiffened at the mention of his father. If there was one thing he could not abide, it was to be compared or related to his father in any way.

"In some way, you lost your life either. You lost a life that could have been yours. You deserved a normal childhood, that you never had the chance to experience. Our family suffered a great deal of loss as a result of his selfish decision to choose personal fulfillment over his duty."

His uncle threw a sudden glare at him.

"You must not allow yourself to make the same mistakes."

Gritting his teeth, he regarded his uncle back.

"I will never turn my back on my duty."

"I expect more of you."

Lord Carlton replied coldly.

"I spent my life to raise you to be a man of great integrity, so that you may provide value to your title and bring glory to our family name. You must not do anything with your name of which our family will be ashamed. It's your duty to pass on a good name to those who will come after."

The bright midday sunlight flooded the room through the huge windows. Standing still in silence, Ashton watched his own shadow on the marble floor. A gentleman by birth, he had known at the early stage that duty must come first. And one of his first and highest duty was to honor his family name, no matter what. First and foremost, he must do his family right. At all costs. He had done it all his life, without any difficulty, and more or less, duty has given meaning and purpose to his cold and lonely life. Giving him reason to wake up every morning and live another day in spite of his anguish. Until he found another reason, which was much more thrilling, and this time surprisingly more sweet and more tender. But unfortunately, it seemed to collide with his duty. He felt a bitter taste in his mouth. Duty was his master, and what a cold, demanding master it was.

Lord Carlton turned around and walked toward the door, halting for a moment as he stepped past him.

"You do our family proud by far. I take pride in your accomplishment. Don't fail our family at this point. You know you're better than this."

*****

Later that evening, Ava returned to the East Tower after Lady Byrne had retired in her bedchamber. Walking the little path in the garden that led to the servant's staircase, she looked around in alert. Her eyes darted from left to right, surveying the bushes and trees. In anticipation of Lord Blackthorne's sudden appearance, she had planned an escape route. A rustling sound in the bushes startled her, and she halted at once. The duke stepped out of the shadow and she breathed in relief. Her heart skipped a beat when he looked at her, and her mind wandered to the previous incident.

The moon sent a soft, pale light to the quiet sidewalk, but the trees' bare branches cast shadows that eclipsed his face. She wondered if she was seeing incorrectly in the distorted light, but it seemed like his blue eyes had lost their sparks. They stood in silence for a short while, before he finally spoke,

"I apologize for what happened today."

"It's entirely not your fault. I don't blame you, instead... I have to thank you for helping me again."

Watching the way the moonlight turned his hair into pale silver, she recognized that he looked different tonight. He looked crestfallen, like a warrior who had just suffered a severe defeat.

"I apologize for my uncle, for what he said about you. It's terrible and totally wrong....."

He paused and she thought she heard something like a sigh.

"I'm truly sorry for what I said and how it hurt you. I should have trusted you in the first place."

Stunned, she was at a loss for words. Finally, she felt like a large block of stone in her chest was finally being removed. She must be relieved, she must be glad about it, but somehow she got a feeling that she was going to hear something unpleasant out of this.

"Because of me, you are being unjustly accused and being ill-treated. I've made your life a mess. I've made your life terrible. It should never happen again."

He said as if making a pledge to himself rather than to her. He looked away, contemplating nothing in the distance.

"I mustn't see you again."

Ava stopped dead in her track, dazed by the unexpected statement. In the midst of her daze, she could still hear him finishing his sentence,

"And if I happen to see you, I mustn't talk to you. I must do as I don't know you at all."

She heard her own voice hovered in the night air.

"I see."

"I'm sorry. I wish things were different."

"I know...... It's utterly inappropriate for us to talk to each other, or even to know each other in any way. And I'm perfectly fine with that."

She paused for a second as if hesitating, then resumed,

"Besides, it's not like anything ever existed between us."

He never thought he would ever feel this way, but suddenly it was hurt to breathe. Unaware, she continued to speak,

"We occupy separate world. It's wrong of us to have any kind of relationship."

She was still not looking at him, but she heard him saying,

"So, I gather we've come to terms with this situation?"

"Of course. This is for the best."

Finally she lifted her gaze to meet his.

"Henceforth we must do as we never know each other. We mustn't see or talk to each other anymore. It's not supposed to be difficult, though. I don't think we'll ever see each other again once we return home."

He just stared at her in silence for a little while, before he said,

"Good... I won't bother you much longer."

A slight pause, and finally,

"Goodbye."

The last thing she would ever heard from him.

And with that, he stepped away from her, and from her life as well, leaving her there with sudden emptiness of heart.

*****

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Ava stared out the window absentmindedly. It was late at night, but the candles on the sideboard were still burning bright. Ever since her last encounter with him this evening, her entire mood turned into sheer melancholia. Of all the trouble she was facing now, she knew that it was not the threat that overwhelmed her or the insults that broke her heart. It was the farewell.

By chance a series of incidents got their paths crossed over and over again. Now it seemed like fate kept throwing him into her gravity, but she knew that one day, he would completely disappear from her life. She always knew. Right from the start. They lived in different world. And really, no matter how attracted she was to him, she never had any expectations for a further entanglement. She had no interest in starting an affair. She had no wish to follow in the footsteps of her ancestors. And so was he. No matter how obsessed he was with her, he never suggested that he had an intention to take matters further. So she supposed to know, this was how it would end.

Actually it wasn't the first time she experienced some sort of wistful feeling. She had experienced it a few times, the rapturous joy that disappeared at the sudden thought of parting. But she never knew it would feel a thousand times worse at the actual parting.

A knock at the door suspended her musing.

"Yes?"

She inquired carelessly. A muffled answer came from beyond the door. It was Lady Selene Wyndham's maid again. Sighing, Ava got on her feet and moved toward the door.

As the door opened, she found the haughty maid looking down her nose at her. The woman's eyes flickered with contempt.

"Her Ladyship wishes to see you rightaway."

"There's no need."

She replied in a pensive mood, not really looking at the maid.

"Send my words to her that my answer is still the same. I haven't changed my mind on the matter."

The maid crinkled her nose in distaste.

"That's not the way the likes of you respond to her summon. Her Ladyship required your presence and you will come to call immediately."

Irritated by the arrogant remarks, she glanced at the maid instantly.

"My humble apologies, I'm afraid I must decline her invitation."

Flaring in rage, the maid snapped.

"How dare you! Who do you think you are?"

"I bloody well know who I am. I may be low, but I'm not her servant to order about."

Her answer came quickly, unexpectedly. Startled, the maid's mouth parted in disbelief.

"Tell your lady I'm not taking her offer because I've done nothing wrong. Tell her I won't stand for being falsely accused."

Burning with sudden indignation, she caught the doorknob, clenching it tight beneath her fingers.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to sleep."

The maid gaped as the door slammed right in her face. Ava locked the door quickly and threw herself down to the bed with a strangled sob.

*****

Glancing disgustedly at the reflection of his broken nose, Blackthorne started his morning shave. As the razor blade whisked away the light stubble along his jaw, he reflected the recent incident the day before. He had accidentally discovered an interesting fact.

Instead of angry, at first he felt rather amused when she pricked him with a needle. But he never expected she would call for help like he was going to rape her. For God sake, he just wanted to play a little and she acted like a chaste virgin. Well, she made a very good imitation, but he already knew that she was anything but. Beneath the illusion of innocence, that woman was a disastrous temptress. Not only she brought about a quarrel between him and the duke, she had previously prompted a family feud. If her former master was the duke's cousin, he bet this temptress had seduced the duke before her previous arrangement was over. He sneered in disgust. Even most of the notorious courtesans in London were wise enough not to insult their former possessor by flirting with men in the same circle, spare men from the same bloodline.

Bloody hell.

He never imagined a woman with that look was capable of schemes and betrayal. The devil knew how many disputes she had caused in the past. And he, foolish that he was, once thought she was a virtuous courtesan. One who had no other choice because of her unfortunate situation. Such a beguiling wench, she might give rise to the next Trojan War.

Scowling at the mirror, he swore this was the first and the last. No woman was worth a duel, let alone a fake, whoring one. All his life, he was the one being chased and fight over, not the other way around. And he had no desire to let a minx turn the table on him now.

******