Page 11 of My Ruthless Duke

He loved his nephew. There was no denying that he was intelligent and high spirited… very high-spirited. Dorian’s gaze rolled over to where Georgie seemed to have constructed some sort of building on his plate out of his glazed carrots and the bit of potato left on his plate. He was toying with his food. Mary flushed a deep red and immediately scooted her son’s chair closer to her own. He could not hear what she was whispering to the boy, but little Georgie started to sink lower into his chair.

“Auntie Cordelia! Look! I can make my peas fly!”

Dorian watched as the young man loaded a pea onto the bucket of his spoon and launched it toward the construction that he had made on his plate.

Only, it did not go onto his construction. It bypassed it with such impressive distance—all the way into Dorian’s soup bowl.

Mary arched a brow, giving her son a disapproving look, but Cordelia only laughed. “Quite the feat, Georgie. Though I am not sure if your peas were meant to travel so far.”

As if either one of them needed to be encouraging the other.

Mary leaned forward, whispering in a fashion that was very much meant for Dorian to hear her. “If he keeps this up, we will be serving dinner from the ceiling before long.”

“At least it would make for an interesting conversation piece.”

Georgie took their lack of reprimand as a clear challenge and happily sat up on his knees in his chair as he excitedly bounced in place. “I can make them go even higher. Watch!”

Mary sighed, seeming to have surrendered any efforts that she might have had to eat. She cast an exasperated look at Cordelia. “He has not sat still for more than five minutes all day. I do not know where he gets the energy.”

“Perhaps you should start serving whatever it is he has been eating. Might perk the rest of us up.” Cordelia only grinned. “Heaven knows I could use the energy boost.” Dorian pinched the bridge of his nose. Perhaps it would have been wiser to have simply had dinner sent up to his study. The women seemed to be getting along just fine, and as they were dominating the whole conversation apart from when Georgie interjected himself, Dorian was clearly not needed there.

“—He is just testing the limits, Mary. I have heard that little boys do that. You did say he was up early?”

“Before dawn. I thought letting him run around the garden would wear him out, but look at him now. I am starting to wonder if he is part squirrel.”

“If you find him hiding nuts in your shoes, you will know for sure. Imagine the havoc he could wreak with a broom instead of a spoon.”

“You have no idea. The last time I asked him to help in the stables, he tried to ‘groom’ the hens with a rake! I swear, he is the reason our stable hand began losing his hair.”

“He is creative, I will give him that…”

Dorian could not even keep up with the conversations that they were having, they were bounding from one topic to another so quickly that the pair of them might as well have been speaking in a foreign language entirely.

Cordelia caught his attention again, her head tilting back as she laughed. “If this is what he is like at dinner, I can only imagine how bedtime must be.”

Mary groaned none too quietly. “Oh, you do not even want to know. It is like negotiating with a tiny emperor. ‘Just one more story, Mama, just one more biscuit...’ No nanny can handle him.”

Georgie’s foot started to tap against the closest leg of the table nearest to him, shaking the goblets and silverware as he did so. He hummed an unfamiliar tune, once again wholly absorbed with doing anything other than eating the food that was in front of him.

Cordelia sighed, leaning back in her chair as she watched him. “He really is a force of nature. I feel sorry for his nanny and governess.”

Mary nodded, “Well, that… He is a force I can hardly control. If he were any more energetic, I would have to tie him to the chair.”

“I am sure that could be arranged,” Cordelia agreed impishly.

Dorian had done the right thing in bringing her there, had he not? It was still the wisest choice to have taken her as his bride. Was it not? She did not seemdispleasedto bond with his sister or nephew at least.

So, why did hestillfeel so guilty?

It was not as if he had simply abandoned her mother to fend for herself. He had already ensured that she had adequate care and assistance. She could drink if she wished, and the staff that he had employed for her would also ensure that she did not make a fool of herself. He did not wish to have anything or anybody in a position to embarrass his wife ever again.

Across the table from him, Cordelia seemed amused by Georgie’s antics. No matter how Mary attempted to settle him down, he was only being riled up further from their attention. That was all that he truly wanted: attention.

The tension in Dorian’s jaw was so tight it nearly pulsated. This was perhaps the hardest part about having Georgie around. He knew very well how this situation would have been handled by his father. The late duke was everything that Dorian did not wish to be. And yet, the impulse to demand that Georgie sit down and behave himself or else was there. He hated it.

“How about we make a bargain?” Cordelia’s voice interrupted Georgie’s fit of giggles. “If you can finish your supper while pretending to be the perfect gentleman, then I shall allow you to show me all of your toys.”

Georgie’s eyes widened. “All of them?”

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