Page 18 of My Ruthless Duke

“What happens between my wife and I is none of your concern,” Dorian said with finality. “I do not have any desire to continue this conversation.”

“Would it truly kill you to apologize? Do you have no remorse for your actions?” Mary continued.

“What is it that you wish me to apologize to you for, specifically?” Dorian answered flatly. “You clearly have some sort of penance planned for me here, why do you not just come out and explain it directly instead of standing here, wasting my time?”

Mary paused and seemed to debate whether or not she wanted to answer.

She spoke on her way out of the room. “As if you had anything better to do with your time.”

Chapter 9

Outside, a storm was raging. The sky was a dark blue, flecked with white bolts of lightning and angry claps of thunder. Heavy rain droplets pelted the windows and ceiling, making the cold glass creak and groan. The very walls seemed to shudder with the intensity of the heavens opening up overhead.

In her bed, Cordelia tossed and turned. At least, at first. The louder the storm became, the smaller she made her body. She curled up under the sheets. A pillow clamped firmly over her head to block out the noise. But that only made the echoes of her heartbeat in her ears just that much louder. Panic gripped her tighter and tighter.

Everything is going to be all right. Everything will…

She might as well have been a child again.

It was always the same memory that storms like this pulled to the forefront of her mind. Every time, it felt more sinister.

The lightning cracks overhead, and she screams. She screams and screams and screams, wanting somebody to find her. Where is her mama? The hedges are too tall, and she is too small to see over the tops. Everything is frightening, and nobody can hear her voice over the cracks of thunder that make her heart feel like it is going to burst clear out of her chest.

There is nobody here. She is lost in the gardens. The flowers do not even seem friendly like this, the branches prick and pull at her dress. She is running so hard that her lungs hurt. The rain is freezing, and it makes it hard to breathe. She is going to be lost out here forever. Why did nobody come to find her?

She was going to freeze to death in the rain, alone and terrified.

Is there nowhere that she can hide? Nowhere that she can take shelter for just a little while?

Lightning strikes the brush beside her, and she screams again. She screams until her voice feels like it is going to tear her throat open, and she sinks into a ball, smaller and smaller…

“Cordelia!”

To the sound of her voice, she thrashed awake violently. The storm still raged outside, her eyes wild as they tried to acclimate to the darkness around her. Strong arms were holding her tight.The heartbeat that she could hear did not belong to her but to the man holding her.

“What is the matter? Are you all right?” He asked, his eyes wide with concern as he petted her hair back.

Despite how nice it was to be held, to feel secure after something so frightening, embarrassment flooded her entire body. She felt her face flame as she attempted to push herself away from him.

“It-it is nothing,” she answered in a trembling voice. She hardly even recognized herself. “Your Grace, what are you–”

“Surely, you were not screaming for nothing. What happened? Are you injured somehow?”

“Nothing of the sort. I am sorry for waking you, Your Grace.”

She could not look him in the eye. She washumiliated.

Dorian’s gaze narrowed as he refused to let her go so easily. “Did you have a nightmare, perhaps?”

Cordelia glanced at the window, jerking in his arms as lighting danced once more, followed by thunder’s sharp punctuation.

“Is it the storm?” Dorian asked, a hint of amusement seeping into his tone.

“I beg of you, do not mock me!” Cordelia pleaded.

Despite her request, he laughed pityingly. “Oh, you trulyarea Little Flower, are you not? You only smile when it is sunny. And you are afraid of storms.”

“You are cruel.” Incensed, she pushed away from him firmly, putting enough distance between the pair of them so that she was able to pick up a pillow and toss it at him.

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