Page 43 of A Virgin for the Cruel Duke

“So far I intend to keep the peace,” Stephen said. “But remember this,brother. I am not a forgiving man. I remember my injuries and those who have injured me. I am patient and I am morecunning than you. I suggest that you stop trying to find a reason to start this feud anew and accept the peace that we have found before you discover what will happen to those who truly anger me.”

Their eyes met for a long moment. Stephen wanted nothing more than to tear out the young coward’s throat. To hurt him the way he had planned on hurting Elizabeth, the way he had planned to ruin Stephen’s family and hurt all those he loved.

Something in his gaze seemed to shake Dudley, for he looked uneasy for the first time Stephen could ever remember seeing.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said slowly. “But of course I shall seek to preserve the peace.”

“Good,” Stephen said coldly. “Get out of my office. There will be a man outside who will show you to your room. I suggest that you wait until dinner to rejoin the party.”

He turned his back, keeping watch on Dudley in the reflection on the polished clock he kept on his desk until the man rose and stormed from the room.

Whatever happened next, he had tried his best.

CHAPTER 20

“Mrs. Carter is a most accomplished musician,” red-faced Mr. Carter said, his whiskers constantly getting into his glass of wine and then gently spraying his food as he talked. “She plays nearly every instrument I know of. I have only to mention one and it turns out she is a prodigy at it. She plays the pianoforte most uncommonly well, and then she can turn her hand just as excellently to the harp. And when it comes to singing, then she cannot be matched in the entire town we live in. No matter where we go people are always asking her to do some piece or other. Do you play anything, Your Grace?”

Elizabeth smiled lightly at him. She had been avoiding Celia’s amused gaze for the last fifteen minutes at least for she was sure that were she to look to her right for a moment she would burst into giggles.

She had never met the Carters before, but Stephen had confessed to her that he had sent them a late invitation after realizing in alarm that Lord Barnes would elsewise be takingDiana into dinner. Mr. Carter was a cheerful local gentleman with a modest fortune and enough connections to the estate that it wasn’t completely unreasonable to invite him and his wife.

He had pressed her hand to his lips and commented that she must think him paranoid to go to such lengths but she had shaken her head hard. The idea of Dudley near Diana gave her such a sick feeling in her stomach that she had nearly had to sit down.

Bless the Carters. They had filled the party in just the right way to protect Diana completely and they were kind enough people that they never questioned their inclusion.

“I am learning the pianoforte,” Elizabeth said charmingly to Mr. Carter. “But I shall be very pleased if your wife would be willing to favor us with a performance later.”

“Indeed,” Celia said, wicked thing, clearly trying to catch Elizabeth’s eye. “It has been a while since I have heard a lady perform a fine piece of music, I am alas completely unable to play any instrument at all.”

Mr. Carter was so excited to be able to talk more about his wife that he dropped his cutlery in the sauce and then knocked a spoon off the table all together and had to disappear in search for it.

Celia nudged Elizabeth’s arm lightly and Elizabeth looked anywhere but at her. She would not laugh. It would besoimproper. She was a duchess. She was serene. She was calm.

She glanced over the other end of the table at Stephen, who was between Diana and Dudley himself. After everything she had protested the seating arrangement roundly with her husband, not wanting her brother anywhere near any food that he might eat, but Stephen had pointed out that it was better than having Dudley near anyone else. At least Stephen knew what to look for.

He was carrying on conversation with several people with his usual serious intensity, but she could see how his gaze never strayed far from watching Dudley. And in turn her half-brother was tense and shifting in his seat as though he were a little boy again trying to figure out how to do the worst thing he could get away with while his tutor was still watching him.

At least he was between Stephen and the Duke of Seymour, and Herbert was next to Diana on the other side of the table. Those she loved were as safe from him as they could be with the danger right in the room.

Indeed he was focused on his plate so intensely and carving his meat with such ferocity that Elizabeth thought it might be something else he was imagining carving.

She could take a moment, letting Celia volley the conversation from Mr. Carter while she made the appropriate noises, to listen in to the conversation at the other end of the table.

The Duke of Seymour was fastidiously carving meat for the lady next to him, something that Herbert was forgetting to do. “Lady Selina, I believe apart from during the Season, I have not seen you at any gathering. It seems a shame for you to keep suchbeauty away from the balls and parties that would surely benefit from your presence.”

“Until quite recently we have had to be careful about where our family attends,” Selina said charmingly. Elizabeth suspected her of kicking Herbert from under the table for he jumped a little and started attending to the bird with more diligence than before. “While of course it Is my pleasure and duty to attend as many occasions as we are able, I do prefer not to risk my brothers’ lives while doing so.”

“One would think that the Dowager Countess of Marchmont's 80th birthday celebration would have been safe to attend,” Herbert said shortly, slipping a sliver of duck onto Selina's plate. “But alas, some people have no respect for occasions, Your Grace.”

“Indeed, it quite ruined my green ballgown to find myself in the garden in the pouring rain,” Selina said. “But then some men are unwilling to continue with trying to murder my brother if I am present so one does what one must.”

“You put yourself in that kind of danger?” The Duke frowned, leaning forwards. “Surely such business has no place for a woman.”

“A woman's place is wherever those she loves are,” Selina retorted, eyes flashing. “I have as much heart for my family as any man, and I will do what I can to help them.”

“LadySelina is aradical,” Dudley drawled, a bitter bite behind his usual barbs. “She reads about ancient lizards and science and thinks the sexes should be equals.”

Selina smiled at him so beautifully that Elizabeth thought for a moment that she was going to ram a fork into his throat. It was exactly that sort of smile. “Why Lord Barnes, I did not know that caring about one’s family was radical.”

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