Thawing A Duke's Heart (Faces of Love Series #1) by Jessie Bennett

the small good in him and blinds you from his bitterness.”
    Now Dunlop let out a long sigh. “Perhaps it is time I told you girls why Gaffton is the way he is.” He took another deep breath. “He would kill me if he knew I told you this. This must stay in our strict confidence.”
    He waited for both of us to node in agreement.
    “When we were lads, it was arranged for Gaffton to marry the daughter of a family friend. They both had known about the arrangement practically since infancy. I knew her well too. She was a beautiful, intelligent young lady. We were good friends, the three of us. As we got older, it was clear that Gaffton’s feelings were more than just friends. It seemed only natural, after all, since they were to be wed. We were all eighteen when Abigail had her first season out. It was really just for formalities. Gaffton and Abigail’s parents were planning the wedding for the end of that season. Gaffton was head over heels in love with her by then. It was almost like a spell placed on him. She seemed to care for him too. They seemed as if they would end up happily ever after, just like in those children’s’ stories.” Dunlop trailed off.
    He took a sip of his tea before continuing. “Halfway through the season, Abigail went missing. It was a week before they found her. She had run off with a young penniless lord. When Gaffton confronted her, she told him that she loved this man. That she had only agreed to marry Gaffton because of her parents’ encouragements and Gaffton’s inheritance. She met this other man and loved him dearly. She was sorry, told him that he would always be a dear friend to her, but nothing more. She said couldn’t go through with a lifetime without love.” Dunlop made a point to say the last in my direction.
    “What did Gaffton do?” I asked.
    Dunlop shrugged. “He loved her. For that reason, he gave her his well wishes. Her happiness was more important to him. He lived the next two years heartbroken, but knowing he had done the right thing in letting her go. He thought she was with the one love of her heart and that would bring him enough solace in his grief.” Dunlop said this last part forebodingly.
    “But after two years, it was rumored that she was having an affair with another man, a man of means. Apparently, she had grown tired of being penniless. Soon, she was found to be with child from this other man. The last I heard of Abigail was that she was discreetly put away and the child given to relations. It was the last nail in the coffin around Gaffton’s heart. He had given her up for true love. Love that had only proven to be false. He has sealed himself tight since then. So you see, I may only see the good in people and ignore the bad, but I know why he is the way he is. His overbearing manner toward me, or Elisabeth these last few months, have only been because he is a good friend. He doesn’t want me to end up like he did.”
    I was astonished by all that Dunlop had told me. I tried to picture Gaffton on those few occasions that he was happy, smiling, laughing. I didn’t know if I could picture a world where Gaffton was like this all the time. I didn’t know who this Abigail was, but for some reason, even the thought of her name sent spikes of rage up and down my body. If she had seen what I had seen in those small glimpses of happiness in him, and seen it all the time, how could she have possibly turned away from him?
    I was confusingly filled with rage that the Duke had given her his love so freely and that she had thrown it to the swine so unwisely. I couldn’t blame someone for feeling a duty to their heart. Nevertheless, if I had learned anything from all my searches into love, it was that love is nothing without commitment.
    “Here’s what I’ll do,” Dunlop said after giving us a moment to soak it all in. “I will go and talk with Gaffton this afternoon. It will ease the blow a bit if I tell him first. I can’t say that he will play along,