Page 49 of Married to the Ruthless Duke

He explained further how growing up alone, he had been forced to mature early and started excelling at his studies and duties.

Everyone admired him and secretly pitied him because he was all alone, and they sometimes meant well but failed to hide their emotions around him.

Soon the pity that had once made him sad made him angry, and so, to show them how well he truly was, he started dabbling into investments and business ventures. Everyone started recognizing him as a cut-throat businessman, and everyone wanted advice from him.

All was well until his stepmother approached him for money to repay one of his brother’s gambling debts. Not feeling like he owed them anything, he said no. So, his brother started planning schemes, trying to trap him in scandals, so he could blackmail him.

“I am so sorry. Do you wish to leave?”

“Do you wish to? I will survive. As a duke, I?—”

“But as Alexander Osborne, what doyouwant?” Her emphasis made it seem as though he was subdued by the proprieties of his title. He was.

She saw him and what duty did to him. The title changed him, created a two-faceted man. But he has become so accustomed to being the Ruthless Duke that he had forgotten there was a man underneath. Behind the title, there was a fourteen-year-old boy who wanted a normal childhood. But then, he had never had a childhood, not since the day he was born to the father that he had.

He had only learned to stop wishing the day he accepted the duchy.

He almost let his vulnerability show.

“Alexander Osborne is a duke and has been all his life.” Her concern was unwavering.

“I am fine, Helen,” he assured her. “As long as you stand by my side.”

He surprised himself by admitting that fact. He had been given to panicking when being around his family, as the trauma of being abandoned in childhood resurfaced, but having her holding onto him and squeezing his arm for comfort had eased his discomfort.

“I will be by your side then,” she assured, “as long as you need me to.”

Then she did something utterly uncharacteristic of a duchess but peculiar to Helen Osborne—she stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Come now, husband.” She pulled him softly. “All this talking has set me in the mood for punch.”

Alexander let her lead him to the refreshments table but soon came to realize that he and his wife were nothing alike.

For one, Helen was bold, unlike he had been, in handling his family. She kissed him when he could not even manage to give her a hug.

Another difference, she was dancing.

Admirers had neared them at the refreshments table and asked her for a dance and had nearly filled her card, but he snagged it and filled two slots for himself.

She had been dancing the whole evening, spinning around the dance floor in a hue of blue and silver. If not for the shimmering diamonds around her neck, he would have lost her in the crush.

Alexander stood by idly, like an abandoned man, as man after man came to claim his wife for one dance after the other. It’s not an idyllic sight, watching his lover grin up at another man as he held onto her waist and twirled her around. Alexander rushed to her side to claim her for their second dance that evening at the inception of the polka.

“I find it disconcerting…”

“What?”

She was beaming, as opposed to how she had been during their encounter with his siblings. The encounter had obviously been forgotten.

“My wife is quite popular, and I don’t know how to feel about it. You seem to know everyone by name, and they seem to know you as well. The most annoying thing is, it’s mostly the men. Mostly theattractivemen.”

Alexander looked away as Helen’s eyebrows rose with a playful smile. He hadn’t intended for the latter to come out, but now that it was out, he felt foolish.

But what was the response of his beautiful goddess of a wife? She giggled. Helen Osborne, Duchess of Blackwell, giggled, and the sound was a melody to Alexander’s ears.

“My, my, darling husband,” she teased. “You seem to notice an awful lot.”

His ears reddened at her teasing voice. Helen hadn’t been this comfortable with banter between them before now, and he hadn’t realized he could relish someone finding him amusing.

---