Forever a Lord by Delilah Marvelle Page B

runs a bit too strong in this family. You and I will revisit this another time. Agreed?”
    “Revisit all you like. It’s not going to change a thing. Now what else did you fucking want?”
    The duke pointed a curt finger at his mouth. “Enough with the tongue. Show your family the respect it deserves. Would you have spoken to your sister like that?”
    Nathaniel tightened his jaw, knowing the duke was right. “No, Your Grace. Forgive me.”
    The duke raked his hands through his hair. “Do you still have her diary?”
    “Of course I do. What a thing to ask.”
    “Have you read it?”
    “No. I haven’t.”
    The duke dropped his hands and stared. “Almost a year has passed since you approached us back in New York and we have not heard so much as a word as to whether you would even be coming. And now this? They are her words, damn you. Words she had breathed life into, and half of them were dedicated to you. If you cannot find the strength to read them, you are unworthy of ever knowing them and I demand you give it back. I don’t know what she ever meant to you, but I do know what she meant to me.”
    Nathaniel swallowed. It was with awe he had the honor to witness how his sister had touched this man’s life. She had found something he never thought possible. Real love. “I’m not ready to read it quite yet. It’s been difficult enough for me to face knowing I missed any opportunity of seeing her again. You have had years to adjust to her death, whilst I have barely had a year. So let me keep it.” Let me keep it until I no longer have a need for it.
    The duke huffed out an exasperated breath and pointed to the leather chair again. “Sit. And whatever you do, don’t wander about dressed as you are. I didn’t invite people here tonight to meet a disheveled phantom everyone thinks is dead. There are ways to go about this. Now stay here. I need to find Yardley. He up and disappeared on me. Again. ”
    “I’m not in the mood for a family gathering.”
    “It’s important he see you.” The duke grabbed his arm. “He suffered a very serious accident back in New York, not long after that night you came to us at the hotel. He was hit by an omni and his mind was rendered entirely blank. Though he has regained most of his memory, he hasn’t been the same since.”
    Rendered his mind blank? Nathaniel’s brows rose, remembering Matthew telling him about the man Georgia had brought into her tenement back on Orange Street. A man who had lost all memory of who he was. A man who Georgia had followed to London. Georgia. London. And his nephew was in…London. Blood on high. It couldn’t be. “Did he go by the name of Robinson, per chance?”
    The duke’s eyes widened. He released his arm. “Yes. How did you know?”
    Nathaniel scrubbed his chin with the back of his hand in disbelief. Matthew wasn’t going to believe this but apparently Georgia, that freckled street rat who only ever gave them both trouble, was set to marry his nephew. “I heard about it back in New York. From yam sellers to the boys alike. Is he all right?”
    “He has long since regained most of his memory, but for some reason, much of his trip to New York—anything before the accident—doesn’t exist. He doesn’t remember meeting you.”
    “Christ.” It would seem everyone’s mind was unstable these days. Knowing he might as well get to the point, he muttered, “I should probably admit that I’ve actually been in town for some time.”
    “What do you mean? Why haven’t you—”
    “Because I needed time to wade through this mess on my own whilst I also earned some money. At first, I was intent on leaving London and going straight to Venice to retrieve the man who held me hostage to prove my claim. I decided against it, however, because in doing so, it would have created another set of ungodly complications for you, Yardley and my mother. So I decided to approach my father on my own and take it from there. And I did. Yesterday. As