Page 72 of My Cruel Duke

“My goodness. If it was not for your hus—” Aunt Augusta paused and cleared her throat, “His Grace, it would have been a real disaster,” she continued.

The room went silent.

So Rhysand had saved her, again. Or maybe this time he saved her because she was pregnant with his heir. Whatever the reason was, she would thank him at an appropriate time, but now, she did not want to look at him.

She had taken a good look at him when she opened her eyes. He looked even more dashing than she remembered, and that was the problem. She was sure she looked like she was beaten up, and had been left to starve for days, and worse, she shamelessly nearly lost her life—though it was not her fault— while he looked clean, fresh, and devastatingly handsome.

Penny cleared her throat, her head still throbbing from the pain. She felt Rhysand’s eyes on her, boring into her skull, begging for her to look up at him, but she did not.

“Where is Patrick? I need to speak with him,” Penny said but Aunt Augusta shook her head.

“What you need is rest. Do you forget you are with child?”

Penny’s eyes shot down to her stomach immediately.My baby!She rubbed her stomach. She could have lost her child if she was not careful.

“Your dinner will be brought to you. The doctors advised you to stay in one place and focus on resting your body,” Aunt Augusta sighed.

“What if I have to… get up?”

“I will carry you,” Rhysand’s deep voice filled the entire room, with something akin to worry, or was it guilt, dripping from each word.

A beat passed. Then another.

“Penny, talk to him,” Lydia whispered, but Penny rolled her eyes.

“Come with me dear, I need you to help me with Penny’s dinner.” Penny knew Aunt Augusta did not need any help with her food as the cook would prepare it and a maid would bring it up, but she said nothing, watching as Aunt Augusta took Lydia’s hands in hers and pulled her out of the room.

They always did this; running away when they noticed any awkwardness between Penny and Rhysand.

“Are you all right? Do you need anything? Water? Biscuits? Pillows?” Rhysand moved to his original position before Aunt Augusta came and pushed him away.

“I am not all right. I have a headache and I know it is for my benefit, but I am a bit annoyed that I am restricted to this bed.” Penny shook her head.

“I shall carry you if you need to move. I meant it.” His voice was deep and soft, and it made her belly jump.

Her belly jumped again and she looked down at it, placing her hand there.

“What is the matter?” Rhysand asked, alarmed.

“The baby, it—” she did not have the liberty of continuing her statement as her belly jumped again. Her baby was moving inside her.

“What is wrong with the baby?”

“I cannot tell, but it seems excited. It keeps kicking,” Penny looked up and Rhysand and met his eyes. He had not been looking at her belly, he had been looking at her.

“If you returned to check on your heir, I can guarantee you that I am doing a good job of taking care of him…”

“Is that why I found you almost lifeless in the lake? Is that your definition of doing a good job of taking care of him? Of yourself?”

Penny could not detect the emotion behind his words, but she did not like it. He sounded annoyed, angry even. Was he so angry that she almost lost his heir even after she explained it was not her fault?

Her lips puckered with annoyance. He did not even care that she had not recovered from her near-death experience and he was scolding her.

“Penelope…” his voice softened.

He called herPenelopeagain, not Sunshine.

“Sunshine,” his voice broke and he took her hands in his.

---