Page 101 of Taken By the Beastly Duke

"Shall we?" he said, offering her his arm with an exaggerated flourish that elicited a laugh from Victoria.

"Of course," she replied with a smile so wide her cheeks ached.

He led her to the dance floor just as the musicians struck up the strings for a waltz. He pulled her towards him, closer than was considered prudent in polite Society but she didn't care, not when he was staring down at her with so much love and affection in his eyes.

As she looked into his face, she wondered what would have happened if Theodore had succeeded on ending their lives right there in the middle of the road. She would not have had this opportunity to be standing here dancing with the love of her life

"My love," he called, his voice just a little above a whisper. "You seem to have a lot of things on your mind. Do you care to share?"

Victoria was quiet for a long moment before she spoke up

"I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you in my life and how naive I must have been to not see Theodore for who he was. My naivety nearly cost us this," she gestured between them. "The joy and love we both share. Try as I might, I find myself reviewing all my interactions with Theo but for the life of me, I could not pinpoint the point he started to go insane. Perhaps he was always insane but the boy I knew as a child was definitely not, so where did it go wrong?"

When she paused to take a breath, Anthony cupped her face.

"Look at me," he said quietly tilting her face upwards until she locked eyes with him.

"You are not to be blamed. Seton turned out to be a great actor, seeing as he managed to deceive everyone. I think he has always been obsessed with you but at some point, that obsession crossed the boundary into delusion and madness. I did see the signs, but I wrote it off as simple affection between friends because I didn't want to be the jealous husband.

I see now that it would have been better to voice my suspicions. Trust me love, you are innocent in this situation "

"When I think about how much Henrietta must have suffered in his hands, being constantly compared to a woman, she had never met, enduring abuse in the hands of a man that was supposed to protect her. It must have been terrible for her."

"She will heal," Anthony said rubbing soothing circles on her cheek

"We all will, since Seton will be nowhere close to inflict any further pain on anybody. He has been transported to the continent. I would say that is good riddance. The man definitely does not deserve to mingle in polite society at all. Somehow, I still feel the punishment was not painful enough. After what he did to you. I would have loved a chance to deal him a few well-placed blows"

"My warrior husband," she said with a chuckle patting his chest. "While I appreciate the sentiment, I have no wish to see you punished because of him. I couldn't bear it," she said quietly, her expression turning serious.

"I love you," he said, the words a poor description for the emotions that swam in his dark eyes.

"I love you too," she replied with a smile at him.

He released her and bowed to her, bringing to get notice the fact that the dance was finished, and the dancers were dispersing.

Taking her arm, he led her out of the dance floor towards the lemonade stand, just when they were halfway there, they were waylaid by a beautiful couple. The woman was blonde, while the man with her was tall and dark, a perfect foil for his partner's light coloring. She must admit they made a striking couple. The woman looked familiar, but she couldn't place where she had seen her before

"Anthony," the female stranger greeted. "Fancy seeing you here,"

The fact that she addressed Anthony by his first name showed they had a close relationship. Who was this woman and how was she related to Anthony

"Likewise, my lady," Anthony said stiffly. "May I present to you my wife., Victoria, Duchess of Devlin" he said a proud smile curving his lips.

Victoria gave a tilt of head in acknowledgement.

"My love this is Rose, Lady Sunderland and her husband, Lord Sunderland."

The lady curtseyed while her husband bowed deeply.

At the mention of her name, Victoria started to make the connection. Rose? Surely this was the same woman who had rejected Anthony when he recently returned from the war.

Now she thought hard about it. She remembered seeing her in previous balls and she had noted Anthony's reaction whenever he spotted her in the crowd.

So this was her husband's former betrothed. She was definitely beautiful in a way that Victoria could not acclaim to. Standing side by side to her. She felt dowdy. Her long forgotten propensity for nervousness returning full force.

"We seem to be seeing more of you around in society these days," the lady said addressing Anthony.

" Well I think you have my wife to thank for that. She definitely makes sure to drag me to these events."

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