Page 52 of My Ruthless Duke

Where could he have gone without a horse or carriage in this weather?

“Please tell me that you at least have some sort of grand plan for all of this?” Dorian asked his captor.

Matthew paced back and forth in front of where Dorian was bound, seated, and his arms tied behind his back. Matthew had found Dorian in front of Cordelia’s family home and forced him into his carriage at pistol point. At the time, it had not even occurred to him to fight him on it. Cordelia was finished withhim, that much was obvious. She had refused to allow him into her house, not even to let him explain, and he could not imagine what she thought of him.

“You know that you will not be walking out of this room alive. Do you not?” Matthew warned him, still pacing.

Dorian’s brow arched. “Are you planning to talk me to death, or will you just get on with it?”

“You are that eager to die? How cowardly!” Matthew laughed.

Cowardly had nothing to do with it, and he was certain of that. “I do not care what happens to me anymore. If I cannot have Cordelia, if she hates me… then what is the point?”

Matthew scoffed. “As if you do not deserve her hate? You are nothing more than a dirty murdering bastard!”

“And yet, here you are, wishing to reduce yourself to my level.” Dorian sighed. It was all too ironic for him. This was a waste of time. If he was to die here, if that was truly Debonaire’s plan, then he ought to get on with it as quickly as possible so that he did not have to waste his last moments. It was already bad enough thatDebonaire,of all people, was going to be the last thing on earth that he saw.

“I shall never understand what she sees in you,” Matthew scoffed, stopping to squat down in front of where Dorian knelt.

“Are you looking for a list of reasons why I am superior to you?” Dorian prodded, knowing very well that it was only going to serve to make him even angrier over the situation. “Or is it that you have no plan? Were you hoping to kidnap my wife instead? Did you think that abducting her would somehow make her choose you? She could have, and she chose me.”

It might not be the wisest thing that Dorian had ever done, provoking such a madman, but he was not going to meet his death as a coward or with any fear in his heart. Cordelia had become so important to him, his everything, and now that she knew what he truly was… well, what was the point of anything else?

“For now. I have told her the truth, you know! I have told her what you have done and she is never going to trust you again. I am merely doing her a favor by hurrying along the process. I will save her from your loveless marriage and then when I swoop in to support her, she will be only too grateful for me!” Matthew finished with a grin. He pressed the tip of his pistol just under Dorian’s chin as he spoke.

So that was his end game all along? He thought that he could handle a woman like Cordelia? How very unlikely. If anything was to be said about Debonaire, then it was certainly something to be said about the sheer ego that the man possessed.

“Have you ever even held a pistol before today?” Dorian pressed further.

“Do you really think that it is wise of you to continue pushing me like this?” Matthew sneered, his teeth clenching as the vein in his forehead started to stand out prominently against his pale skin during his rage.

“If you are going to kill me, then do it!” Dorian sighed, allowing his eyes to drift closed. “If you think that you have what it takes to pull the trigger anyway.”

If he pushed the man hard enough, then perhaps it would actually just end it all.

It would be doing him a favor. It would be what was best for Cordelia to be free and able to live any life that she chose. Matthew could not have been more wrong about the loveless marriage. He was absolutely head over heels in love with his wife. So in love with her, in fact, that he could not accept a future where she was not his. If he could not have her… he deserved death for the crimes that he had committed in this life.

Chapter 25

“Dorian! Dorian!” Cordelia shouted in what seemed like a futile attempt. She could hardly hear her own voice as the rain continued pouring down in sheets.

Oh, Dorian, where are you?

Overhead, the storm raged on, the sky an angry mixture of blue and purple that was punctuated by yellow and white bolts of lightning every few moments. Cordelia was half soaked through with rain as her poor horse fought against the rapidly strengthening winds. It was hard to see in front of her, but she had to find Dorian. If something had happened to him because she had refused him entry into her home, she would simply never forgive herself.

But the man that she loved was nowhere to be found.

How could they fix things and have even the slightest chance at their happily ever after if he was gone? She knew in her heart that he would not have left her doorstep by choice. He was far too stubborn of a man to simply give up like that. He would at least want to hear her first. Was she truly so wrong about him?

She had asked the footmen and the stable hands, who had pointed her toward where they had thought that they saw another carriage headed. It had to be wherever Dorian was. There was no time to waste.

Perhaps he managed to find shelter here?

The wind was freezing when she rode into the courtyard of Matthew’s home. She dismounted and pulled her horse toward the barn, roughly tying him and hoping for the best as she took off toward the main house. Her dress clung to her legs as she went, making moving difficult as she entered through the unlocked servant’s quarters.

“Matthew!” She called up the stairs. The whole house was asleep, but she could not allow herself to care. Her gut told her that this was where she needed to be. If anything, her cousin could help her in the search for Dorian. However, the same halls she used to play in as a child felt somehow sinister now. “Matthew, are you home?” She called again as she reached the main hallway, dripping all over the floor as she went.

Are there no servants around here? What is going on?

---