Page 26 of Married to the Ruthless Duke

Alexander considered that question carefully. There were a few ladies in the ton he could consider mature enough to handle such a secret at best, and at worst faint at the suggestion. And those few were either already married or too old for him to consider marrying.

He sighed, taking a sip of his drink. Helen would have been a perfect fit if she wasn’t so aggravating.

“What are you going to do about her then, Alexander?”

Truly, he didn’t know, but he was good at pulling himself out of even more complex situations, so he was sure the answer would come to him in time.

“I am thinking about it.”

* * *

When Alexander arrived back home, it was very late. He started considering that he should cancel the marriage license.

“Your Grace.”

“I would like a bath then I will go straight to bed. I do not want to be disturbed.”

“Your Grace?—”

“Make haste.”

“There’s a woman.” Alexander’s hand stopped on a banister. He never required support to walk, but his entire person felt jaded. He turned to the butler. “She requires an audience with you.”

“Where is she?”

“In the parlor.”

Alexander took a tempting step down. “Who is she?”

“She requested my discretion.” The butler cowered. “But she’s also wearing a cape. I haven’t caught a glimpse of her face yet.”

A faceless woman at this hour, in his parlor?

If she was not begging to be compromised… but what if she was? His butler was loyal, but he had also served his family long before the former Duke died. He could be susceptible to the Dowager Duchess’s wiles.

Alexander barged into the parlor, his presence imposing in the dimly lit room.

“Your Grace?” She rose.

That voice.

She took off her hood and revealed those beautiful blue eyes to him. Even in the dark, she glowed. He stood there, like a smitten man, staring into her face unmovingly.

His first instinct was to grab her face and kiss her senselessly, but then he remembered what she said to him.

I hate you.

Her words began to kindle something inside him, and staring at her, he realized it. Need. He needed someone for the first time since he was a boy. He needed her to like him. He needed her to want him. Everyone wanted a duke, everyone wanted what the title could offer, but not her. She didn’t care about the title or the power, and a part of him hoped that if she saw him as Alexander, she would like what she saw.

You’re despicable.

He did what he did best, what he had learned to do all of his life—he masked his need with anger and pretended.

“An innocent girl visiting a bachelor’s lodgings this late into the night—” He walked further into the room. “You never cease to surprise me,” he spat.

He realized when she flinched that he had been too harsh, but he wasn’t going to apologize.

Hate was a strong word. No matter how superficial a relationship was, the word shouldn’t pass through one’s lips. Not that Alexander had cared until her.

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