❆❆❆
Two months later
Rebecca prepared the tea tray in the kitchen. When she heard the bell ring, she took afternoon tea to the parlor to serve her master, Robert Langley and his guest, Edmund, Earl of Eldon.
Setting the tray on the table, she poured their tea and placed the pot on the table mat.
“Will there be anything else, Your Grace?” she asked politely.
The Duke laughed heartily. “Not right now, Rebecca. I’ll ring for you if there is.”
Rebecca nodded to both gentlemen and noticed how Duke Langley leered at her. She knew exactly what he was thinking, and hurried out of the room.
“Pretty little thing, isn’t she?” Edmund said in a lecherous tone of voice.
“Yes. And not without certain experience,” the Duke confided. “She begot a daughter out of wedlock.”
Both men laughed mockingly.
Rebecca tarried in an alcove near the door. She hated the way the men spoke about her, insinuating that she was a woman of ill repute who would be an easy target for sexual favors.
“So where is this child?” The Earl took a sandwich from the tray and sipped his tea.
“She’s in a local orphanage. I couldn’t have her here.” “How old is she?”
“She’s three years old, I think.”
“Not the child, I mean the young woman who just served us.”
“Oh, Rebecca – she’s twenty.”
The Duke chuckled and looked at his friend with a mirthful smile.
“Edmund, I need a replacement wife, as you know. What I wouldn’t give to be on top of that gorgeous thing every night. I surmise she would be very compliant in the bedroom. In any case, it is a wife’s duty to please her husband.”
They both laughed again and continued to discuss Rebecca as if she were a common little whore.
Rebecca knew she should be back in the kitchen, but she had already made some of the dinner preparations. So she huddled in the shadows and listened intently to the conversation emanating from the parlor.
“I guess you could do worse than marry a girl like her, even though she is quite feisty,” the Earl said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. But I don’t think she would marry you without some sort of promise about the child.”
“I guess I can make a bargain like that in exchange for some vicarious activity – a compromise can be worked out,” the Duke said. "You have to agree, she’s quite a beauty despite her fall from grace. I can’t wait to ravage her. I can think of many things she can do to please me in the carnal sense. Can’t you?”
Their raucous laughter taunted Rebecca’s sensibilities and she fled to the kitchen. The idea of being beholden to the Duke was distasteful. But she had heard them discuss the prospect of Emma being with her after the marriage.
Her dearest wish was to care for her daughter herself. The vicious rape she’d endured at age sixteen had given her a sample of what men want from a woman. Surely the Duke would not be as rough and cruel as that man had been.
She would do anything to have her daughter by her side – even undress and part her legs while he took pleasure from her body. She tried to imagine being in bed with him and bile rose in her throat.
Then common sense invaded her thoughts and she knew she would have to comply with the Duke’s wishes to ensure her daughter Emma could be with her. That was the price she would have to pay. To Rebecca, any sacrifice, no matter how horrible to her personally, would be worth putting up with so she could be a proper mother to her child.
Upon their marriage, she would become Duchess. Her nobility would be restored and she could put the past behind her and be a woman of dignity. People would respect her.
She recalled the vile acts her rapist had insisted she perform before he took her virginity. Surely the Duke would opt for a more gentle approach that befitted the marital bed?
***
When the bell rang again, Rebecca dutifully went to collect the tea things.
“Rebecca, when you’ve deposited the tray in the kitchen, would you please return. There’s something of great importance I’d like to discuss with you,” the Duke said.
“Yes, Your Grace,” she said. She hurried back to the kitchen and left the tray beside the sink. Trepidation overwhelmed her as she walked back to the parlor.
“Come in, Rebecca. Take a seat.”
“Have I done something wrong, Your Grace?", she asked. “No, my dear, I have a proposition for you.”
Rebecca looked at the Duke, trying to hide the horror she felt for what she knew was coming.
“Rebecca, I need a dutiful wife and I think you are perfect for my requirements. You are a delightful young woman. I am widowed. I need a gentile lady to become the next Duchess. In the several years I have been without a wife, I have not met a girl as suitable as you.”
Rebecca remained silent. It was the type of offer that came with conditions. She would be obliged to entertain the Duke in bed whenever he wanted to pleasure himself with her. Didn’t that mean he should offer her an incentive to balance the bargain? She turned to the Duke.
“Your Grace, your offer is so kind. But there’s one thing I must ask of you before I agree. I have a daughter out of wedlock. Emma is the product of a rape that was exacted upon me some years ago. I would need her to be with me if I agree to marry you.”
The Duke stood and bowed to her. “I promise if we marry, you can bring your daughter to live with us at my estate.”
It seemed too good to be true.
"When married, you will be Duchess. Your nobility will be restored,” the Duke continued.
Rebecca felt resigned to her fate. It was the only way she could ever get her precious daughter back in her life. And being a Duchess was more than she could ever anticipate with any other man.
“I accept your offer, Your Grace,” she said.