Page 41 of My Ruthless Duke

Dorian scoffed. “I have heard such things plenty of times before.”

“I have nothing but honorable intentions toward Lady Mary, as I have expressed before. I am quite fond of her, and she of me!” Patrick insisted, his voice rising slightly.

“She has been hurt enough in the past.”

“I am not going to hurt her, Your Grace.” Patrick continued, the game of cards seemingly forgotten by everybody at the table. “Iintendto marry her.”

Dorian shook his head. “Not without my permission, you are not.”

Something that Patrick had not even done him the courtesy of asking for. He had not met with Dorian privately once on his visits. Out of deference to Mary, he had chosen to overlook what might have otherwise been considered a slight against him, given how seriously the pair seemed to be courting.

Perhaps Patrick needed a firmer reminder that it would only take one word from Dorian to end this whole thing.

“Let us not be hasty,” Xander said firmly. “Tempers can flare high; Patrick and I had a rocky start as well when I first methim.” He turned to Dorian as he set his cards down. “But he is a reformed man. Have you not punished him enough?”

It would be so easy to continue to escalate the situation. Some large part of him, perhaps the alcohol-fueled part, was itching to work his frustrations out in a fight. But it would solve nothing. Mary was unlikely to forgive him if he were to inform her that he had injured Patrick when he knew that she, too, was rather fond of him.

Rhysand, who looked bored the whole time, decided to step in. “Patrick might look like a fool at first sight, but he is also my wife’s brother. I can vouch for him if I have to.”

Patrick bristled from where he sat, turning to Rhysand as he spoke. “I almost killed you once, you know. I do not need vouching for.”

Rhysand smirked and shook his head. “We both know that you would have died if it had been anactualduel.”

Some of the tension at the table started to lessen.

“Besides, will it not be to your advantage to have your sister and nephew out of the house? I imagine it must be quite a lot to have such a full house as newlyweds,” Xander said easily as he picked back up his cards. “It sounds like a win-win situation for everybody involved, no?”

Dorian did not answer, he did not know what to say.

“Frankly, it would be beneficial for us all,” Rhysand interjected.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that Penelope will not stop talking about how enamored Lady Cordelia is with you. So, if I have to sit through another dinner, hearing aboutyourmarriage, I will come for you,” Rhysand finished.

Enamored? With him? If anything, it was he who was–

And then it hit him. He could deny it to himself no longer. Cordelia was a constant in his thoughts and an ever-present fixture. It was not supposed to have gone this way. She was not supposed to be so important to him. It was supposed to merely be a convenience, and atonement for the wrongdoings but now… oh, he could not picture his life without her.

Dorian glanced down at the glass in his hand, his heart feeling heavier with each passing moment. The alcohol was making him sentimental. What would his life be if she had not entered it… stagnant and stale… the same thing every day. She had forced him to look at parts of himself, things about his past that he had been convinced he would have kept buried forever.

Cordelia might be infatuated with him, but he was absolutely in love with her.

“Eleanor is also concerned about Cordelia’s infatuation with you. So, stop playing so hard to get, Davenport, and save us all some nagging,” Xander said, downing his drink.

Silence fell at the table, and all eyes turned to the Duke of Harper. When he did not add anything to the conversation, Xander elbowed him.

“Well, truth be told, Marina is quite concerned about her friend as well. She fears she will have her heart broken.”

Dorian nodded and accepted his fourth glass of whiskey with a polite hum.

If only that were true.

But what reason would Cordelia have to lie to her friends? Was not the information she gave to them in private an accurate representation of her true feelings? They would have to know better than he did, right? Was Mary right after all? What a chilling thought.

Could telling her the truth be not so bad after all?

Dorian certainly loved her enough to try.

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