Redemption of the Duke Read Free Page B

used to command. She tried to imagine him in a life-or-death situation
     and could not.
    “Have you given thought to my offer of assistance?” he continued.
    She arched a brow. “There was no need to consider what I’d already politely turned
     down. Did you forget?”
    “No, Miss Cooper, but I cannot disregard the fact that because of your brother’s death,
     you, a gentleman’s daughter, were forced to accept a position of employment. And I
     feel responsible.”
    She heaved a sigh. “That is entirely wrong of you, Your Grace. Unless you shot the
     rifle yourself—”
    “I might as well have,” he interrupted quietly, soberly.
    The words of dismissal died in her throat, replaced by a lump of dismay and sadness.
     “What are you saying?” she whispered, forgetting that she stood in a public park with
     a man.
    His eyes met hers with directness. “Miss Cooper, I have lived with the knowledge of
     my mistakes for well over two years now. Guilt and sadness mar my every day.”
    “Mistakes?” she echoed.
    “I and two of my fellow soldiers made a decision that cost three men their lives,
     one of them your brother.”
    “What decision?” she demanded in confusion. She didn’t know what to think, as everything
     she’d been through the last two and a half years seemed to mock her with futility.
     Had her brother died for nothing? It seemed appalling and infuriating, and so terribly,
     terribly sad.
    “The words are indelicate to a lady’s ears,” he began.
    “Do continue,” she said between gritted teeth. “Death is an indelicate subject.”
    He bowed his head a moment too long. “It is. My explanation will sound as if I’m making
     excuses, but you wanted the truth. My regiment was escorting prisoners to a detention
     facility where they were to be . . . questioned.”
    “Interrogated, you mean, even tortured,” she said indignantly.
    “We believed so, yes.”
    “I know how to read, sir, and because my brother was involved, I learned to understand
     the meaning beneath the pretty words.”
    “In times of war, such measures are often necessary,” he explained, “but these men
     seemed like starving villagers, and were in the company of their women and children.
     I was convinced that the information supplied by our superiors was wrong, and I persuaded
     my friends of this. We looked the other way as the prisoners escaped. These same men
     returned with reinforcements and attacked. Your brother and two other men died because
     of my judgment.”
    “Your judgment?” she said in a choked voice. She tried to put herself in his place,
     but she couldn’t see starving villagers, only killers who’d taken Mathias away. “More
     than one person in London has believed your judgment suspect, sir. Do they not hold
     you accountable now?”
    “Strangely enough, Miss Cooper, people seem determined to believe that mistakes happen.
     That is too easy a way out.”
    “And now you try to salve your conscience?” she said, appalled that her voice was
     shaking. But the enormity of the consequences of this man’s actions seemed to be strangling
     her. Everything in her life had changed because of him. “Another easy way out?”
    “You cannot believe this is easy for me, Miss Cooper.”
    There was sadness and weariness in his voice, but she had no sympathy for him. “What
     do you want from me?” she demanded, her own voice low and hoarse. “Forgiveness? You
     shan’t have it. My brother is dead, and you are alive and dressed as London’s finest
     dandy.”
    “No, not forgiveness. But allow me to help you in some way.”
    She drew her breath in harshly. “Help me? You cannot. You cannot bring my brother
     back, can you?”
    She saw a muscle clench in his jaw, but his voice was mild when he spoke. “No, and
     I regret that every day. But you are in need of assistance, and I can offer that,
     in memory of your brother.”
    Assistance? She wouldn’t accept that from a man again.
    “No, thank