Page 46 of Married to the Ruthless Duke

She stared in surprise, placing a hand on her chest, then smiled softly at him. “Thank you,” she said with a nod of her head.

“There’s no need for thanks between us,” he told her. “It is my pleasure to?—”

“Your Grace,” a masculine voice interrupted, coming up to them.

Alexander looked down to see an unfamiliar man in an absurd costume of colors, albeit well-tailored.

The man took Helen’s hand in his, placing a kiss on it that lasted longer than necessary. “When I learned of your marriage to the Duke and your presence at tonight’s party, I just had to come. Marriage becomes you.”

Oh…

The strange man had been greeting Helen, who beamed positively at him. And he still had her hand in his.

“Lord Everard,” she greeted. “It’s a delight as always. How are you?”

Alexander felt anger rise inside him as he watched the man visibly caress his wife’s hand, despite him being there, but when Helen shot him a questioning look, he shook his head. As if he would ever admit that something was actually wrong.

“I am quite well, Your Grace,” Lord Everard answered, grinning back. “And, Your Grace, you must be excited. Two weddings in the span of less than a year. Yours and your sister’s, but it is a shame we couldn’t attend yours.”

Alexander nodded, barely sparing him a look. He could feel Helen’s hot glare on the side of his face but didn’t glance at her either.

“I have yet to see the?—”

“If you will excuse us.”

That was all the warning Alexander gave the man, before pulling Helen along with him.

He felt her stop in her tracks, but she didn’t pull her hand out of his. He met her hot glare with raised eyebrows.

“What is it?” he asked, feigning innocence.

“Don’t do that again,” she hissed, looking around in case any eyes were on them.

“Do what?”

She attempted to loosen his hold on her, but he wasn’t letting her go. He gripped her gloved hand and fixed the weight higher up his bicep, holding it in place, his eyes meeting hers with a dare. She didn’t want to back down, but he was much stronger than her.

“What you just did to my good friend, Lord Everard,” she scolded. “That was rude.”

“I assumed he was done speaking. His rhetoric was dragging on, and as a duke, a show of hubris is expected of me. It has been bred in me since I was fourteen. You would do well to learn this requisite, now that I have made you a duchess.”

Helen shrank back in shock and hurt at the insult. A sharp stab of pain shot through him as he noticed her look. He sighed, shaking his head. He was taking out his uneasiness on her, when she did not deserve his ire.

“I am sorry,” he apologized. “I am taking out my uneasiness on you, and it’s not fair. Forgive my foolish words.”

She sighed, squeezing his arms, and he knew he had been forgiven. They realized they had stopped in the middle of the room and continued walking.

“I can feel how tense you are.” She smiled up at him. “Your eyes keep darting about, searching for danger.”

Which he knew was imminent, considering his stepfamily hadn’t even been at the door to welcome him, as was customary.

“They could not possibly be that bad now, could they?” she asked.

Alexander laughed darkly, a small laugh that he hoped conveyed the severity of the situation. He didn’t fault her hope in the decency of humans. After all, she had grown up in a loving household with a caring father, a reliable sister, conversations that weren’t laced with poison, and meetings that weren’t all about money.

Alexander had grown up barely knowing his family, and once he was old enough to have full control of the estate and the finances of his estate, he had seen just who they were.

He remembered the first letter from his stepmother, which had been an attempt to restore contact with him. It had been a toneless and blatant command that he set them up with a monthly allowance, as she had run through what his father had left to her. He hadn’t even had the heart to be disappointed, as he had been kept aware of their dealings by his man of affairs.

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