Page 58 of Married to the Ruthless Duke

Helen took a deep breath and silently implored the Lord to grant her patience to deal with the man-child who sat two seats down from her.

“I wouldn’t know how soon a child would arrive, My Lord,” she answered, forcing a smile she didn’t feel right on her face. “Of course, we will welcome children whenever we are blessed with them.”

“Well, I am available if the Duke is remiss on his conjugal duties.” He laughed slyly.

It happened so fast that Helen didn’t remember thinking about doing it. It just happened.

One minute she was cradling her soup bowl, trying to drink from it, and the next moment she was emptying the contents of the bowl on his smirky face. Well, that wiped the insolent look off his face.

“Don’t you ever suggest something so insulting ever again,” she said, her voice shaking with barely restrained anger. “I will rather bed a pig than crawl into bed with a man as disgusting as yourself. The next time you choose to insult me or my husband, I promise you the soup will be much hotter. That will definitely be an upgrade to your looks.”

Then, pushing her seat back, she fled towards the entrance of the manor.

* * *

After Helen left, Alexander was shocked for a while, and then the shock gave way to amusement, and a very big smile appeared on his face and then boisterous laughter that had him throwing his head back.

Who would have thought that his prim and proper Duchess could fly off the handle in such a violent way?

One minute she was sitting down primly beside him, the next moment the contents of her soup bowl were finding a new home on Nathaniel’s face. He had always known that his beautiful Duchess was a firecracker, but then he had never seen her in the grip of rage, and damn was she magnificent.

Of course, his heart warmed to see her defend him. It was the first time someone stood to defend him, and he could not help the foolish, goody grin he could feel on his face. And, of course, he could not deny the fact that it was satisfying to see someone put his annoying brother in his place.

“I would advise that you wipe that foolish smile off your face.” Nathaniel’s voice caused him to turn towards him. “And keep that feral cat you call a wife at home, will you?”

Like magic, the smile disappeared from Alexander’s face and was replaced with red-hot rage. He slowly rose to his full height and then placed his hands on the table, making sure to corner his brother using the bulk of his body, to intimidate him. He watched as the look of arrogance in Nathaniel’s eyes transformed into fear. The man was many things, but he was primarily a coward at heart.

“I would strongly advise you, dear brother,” he said, speaking slowly, his words dripping with so much menace that it was difficult to mistake the barely restrained rage behind them, “to desist from insulting my Duchess because if you do not—” He allowed his lips to curl into a sinister smile, enjoying the shiver of fear that Nathaniel could not quite hide. “—a wardrobe malfunction will be the least of your problems.”

He pushed off the table and went in search of his wife, making sure to ignore the curious murmuring of the members of the ton present.

He was sure tomorrow that a brand-new story would be generated in the gossip mills to satiate the appetites of Society gossips, but at present, his goal was to locate his beautiful wife and take her back home, where they should have spent the day, in his now revised opinion.

* * *

Helen would never have guessed in her wildest dreams that a day would come when she would be so embarrassed that she would wish the ground would open up and swallow her.

She had always prided herself on her ability to embody the perfect noble lady with her perfect manners and etiquette—at least in public. She always looked down and criticized people who made spectacles of themselves by throwing fits in public. But it appears she had just successfully joined their ranks in the worst possible way.

It didn’t help that even she had not seen it coming. Alexander’s brother had rubbed her the wrong way from the first day they were introduced, and the fact that he had contributed to hurting Alexander in the past did not help her have charitable thoughts about him. But she had tried her best, since she believed he was family and hence she was meant to accept him.

The man had started annoying her with the open disrespect and then the petty annoying side comments. She had ignored them all, but when he turned the venom on Alexander, her vision turned red with rage, and before she knew it, Nathaniel was wearing the contents of her soup bowl, and she was not even remotely remorseful. She fled because she didn’t trust herself not to do even nastier things to the nasty man, regardless of the other guests present in the dining hall.

It took some time of her pacing the length of the lawn outside the hall for her to recover a little bit of calm. and with that came the realization of the full consequences of her actions. She had just, in one fit of rage, destroyed all the hard work Alexander had put into this event to maintain his reputation, and she felt so guilty for making herself an obstacle to his progress. She wondered how she was going to approach Alexander again when she saw him.

Just then, she felt a strong pair of hands hug her from behind, and she jumped in surprise. She stomped on her attacker’s foot as hard as she could, nearly using her head to hit his jaw in self-defense.

“Relax, sweet, it’s just me,” Alexander said with a groan. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized quickly. “I tend to hear a lot of things in English ballrooms.”

“It’s impressive you could learn this with little instruction,” he observed.

She guessed she was so lost in thought that she had not noticed him coming up behind her.

“I can hear the wheels turning in your head,” he said with a tone of amusement in his voice. “Why are you thinking so much?”

Taking a deep breath, she made to turn in his arms, so she could see his face and gauge his reaction while she apologized, but Alexander held fast.

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