Page 36 of My Dangerous Duke

Eleanor sensed danger for Patrick as Xander’s glare moved from her to him, and she shrugged his elbow off her shoulder. He looked with the pouty look of a toddler, but this time, no one laughed. In fact, the room had grownveryquiet.

“She called me little,” Patrick explained too drunk to sense the danger he was in.

Still glaring, Xander cocked a brow.

“And what would she know about your…size?”

“Patrick is Penny’s brother,” she explained, looking carefully from Patrick to Xander. “I have always looked at him in a similar fashion.”

She then let out a laugh as she threw a teasing look at Patrick.

“He may be older but I have always found his nature is quite childlike. Hence why I call him little.”

A satisfied smirk touched Xander’s lips briefly as Patrick threw her a wounded look, but then his mouth formed into a grim line once more.

“Patrick, have you been drinking again?” Penelope rushed to gather her brother before he caused more of a scene.

“Come, cousin!” Richard yelled drunkenly, breaking the tension. “We are all family here! Brothers, sisters, cousins.”

He drunkenly turned toward Eleanor and pointed at her.

“Andyou.You are a little bit everything, are you not, you little minx.”

“Watch it, Richard,” Xander warned, turning his glare toward him.

“I am just saying she must besomethingspecial,” Richard went on, ignoring the danger. “I mean, I got sent away because of all of this, but her? She gets rewarded with a title andmyhome!”

“What are you talking about?” Eleanor asked, her tipsiness beginning to fade as concern took over.

“Nothing,” Xander ground out, moving her out of the way so that he could go chest-to-chest with his cousin.

“You. Get. Everything!” Richard boomed in his face.

Xander did not blink or flinch at the verbal assault, but Eleanor did. Worriedly, she looked around and caught the Dowager's fearful look in particular.

“Everything,” Richard growled out again, losing his composure. He threw a dirty look toward Eleanor. “Even the things you do not want.”

“Larsen,” Rhys said, moving to step in. Before he could follow through though, Penelope was suddenly yanking him backward and giving him a threatening glare.

“He does not want either of us around, you know,” Richard said, continuing to focus on Eleanor. “Now all three of us are in hell because of your father.”

“That is enough!” Xander growled, grabbing Richard by the lapels.

Not bothering to think first, Eleanor rushed between the two men, facing Xander, and placed her hands firmly on either side of his jaw. Behind her, she heard Richard being restrained by Patrick and Rhys.

Xander tried to rear back from her hold at first but she kept her grip, forcing him to look at her. His silver eyes seethed with anger as he glared back at her, but as she continued to refuse to stand down, they eventually simmered into a cool rain gray. His jaw finally unlocked then, and she felt him lean into her touch.

“I believe we have all had enough fun for tonight,” the Dowager announced with a clap of her hands from behind them. “Thank you for coming, everyone, but it seems we have let our cups get too full.”

“Richard, come with me,” the Dowager commanded calmly as she approached the still-frozen trio.

“No,”Richard all but sobbed, still glaring at Eleanor and Xander. “He keeps saying this is my fault. But this? This is all her doing!”

“Come to bed, sweetheart, now!” the Dowager coaxed.

Two servants arrived at her side to help her while Eleanor continued to hold Xander’s gaze. She waited long after she heard the door close and silence filled the room before she finally let him go and spoke.

“What in the hell was that?” She asked.

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