Page 48 of Married to the Ruthless Duke

He might be a fool, but he was not so foolish as to make such a mistake. Sophia gritted her teeth and stormed off, her fiancé hurrying after her.

“If it isn’t the Duke of Blackhill,” Nathaniel, his half-brother, said, walking over to them.

The stench of alcohol was heavy on his breath, and one look at his skewed cravat and jacket told the truth of that assessment.

“Nathaniel,” Alexander answered icily.

His brother shared the Blackhill genes, with his dark hair and dark green eyes, but rather than a broad build, he had his mother’s slender frame. He was handsome, that Alexander could admit, but his reprobate ways made him look haggard.

He had taken to gambling even as a student at Oxford and had been expelled midway because of the same habit. The only thing he seemed to be skilled at was losing money and planning to entrap Alexander in scandals several of which he had nearly fallen into.

The last attempt that had set Alexander on his toes was when Nathaniel had convinced Lady Statham’s daughter that he was in love with her and invited her to his chambers, pointing her to Alexander’s instead, at the last event they’d been at together. It was sheer luck Alexander wasn’t in his chamber when the girl’s mother barged in to find her daughter naked and wrapped in his bed sheets, waiting for him.

Since then, he had specifically avoided events that would have them all together.

“That’s no way to greet your brother now, is it, Your Grace?” Nathaniel sneered. When he caught sight of Helen, his smile turned lopsided, and he gave a mock bow. “I must say, Brother, you’ve always had a good eye for women. She’s, by far, your prettiest paramour yet.”

Helen gasped and took a step back.

“Helen is my wife and by all rights, the Duchess of Blackhill, and you will show her the respect she’s due.” Alexander glared, somehow restraining himself from punching the smug smile off his brother’s face. “Apologize.”

He was well aware there were a number of eyes on them, and he didn’t want to bring any more scandal to their family name, even though it was all too tempting to do so.

“I apologize, Your Grace,” Nathaniel said with a mock bow. “I did not mean to mistake you for a paramour, but knowing my brother’s reputation with women, I thought you were one of them.”

“How—”

“It is all right, Alex.” Helen smiled up at her husband, squeezing his arm. “I thank you for considering me beautiful, Lord Nathaniel. It shows you, too, have excellent taste in women, but it is apparent that is where it ends.”

Alexander felt supremely satisfied to see his brother shrink back in shock. He had hoped Helen would be able to hold her own, but he didn’t think she would be able to hold her own so well.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, I am just stating the obvious from the little I have seen of you.” She wrinkled her nose. “You do not seem to have a good taste in alcohol, since you so obviously love to imbibe. Neither do you seem to know the difference between a paramour or a noblewoman. It’s honestly something pitiable.”

Nathaniel spluttered like a fish and then glared hotly at her. “If you would excuse me.”

His last look was pointed at Helen.

The Duke didn’t hesitate to step in front of his wife until his brother had gone further away.

“What just happened, Alexander? I wasn’t prepared for that.” Helen backed away from him, staring frantically at her hands as if trying a grasp her sensibilities.

She was obviously scared, even though she had looked so confident.

After dealing with his siblings, Alexander needed to avoid the Dowager Duchess at all costs. It seemed that she too wanted to avoid him, since she was yet to make her presence known to him.

“Allow me to apologize again.” Alexander would have embraced Helen if not for the flitting eyes around.

“Did you grow up in such surroundings?” Her voice turned from distraught to concerned.

He hated the feeling. She was caring for him and shouldering the weight of his trauma. He was failing her.

“No. Once my father died, I was all alone.”

He tried to assuage her concern, but his words only seemed to heighten it. When she looked at him, she was almost teary-eyed.

“But you were just fourteen!”

---