Page 21 of My Dangerous Duke

“Do not do that again,” he warned, before slowly draining his glass.

“Richard is not perfect,” Margaret said in a trembling voice, “But he is stillfamily.You are the head of this house and this Dukedom, Xander, and that means weallfall under your protection whether you like it or not.”

Xander let out a bitter laugh and poured himself another.

“Iamprotecting Richard,” he assured her, his tone like grit, “In the Navy, he can disappear and still have a good life. He has made too many mistakes here. It is to the point where I am paying too high a price for his stupidity, and it must stop. The boy needs to learn how to grow up and be a man.”

“What are you talking about?” His grandmother asked, coming around to look at his face. He rolled his eyes and went to take a drink from his glass when Margaret’s clawlike hand shot out and stole it from him. He looked at her in disbelief as she stared right into his eyes, and took the shot without so much as a cough.

“Do not play with me, boy,” Margaret threatened, rising to her full height as she slammed the glass down. “You forget who was by your grandfather’s side with pride when he ruled. Who helpedyouwhen you first took over his responsibilities? Tell me. What have you been keeping from me?”

“Fine,” Xander agreed, waving his grandmother to a seat, too weary to keep the secret any longer. “I shall be happy to explain.You see, darling little Richard wrote some very compromising letters that are currently being used to blackmail me.”

“What?” Margaret breathed, her eyes wide as she finally sank into the chair.

“That is what all of this has been about,” Xander confessed, waving his arm toward the newly changed scenery. “The marriage. Richard going into the Navy. It is all because Victor Langley has these letters. I need Richard away so I do not have to worry about him. And I need to be away from Eleanor because our weddingmustbe annulled after I find a way to destroy this evidence.”

“No,” Margaret gasped, shaking her head. “Xander, the circumstances are horrible, yes, but Eleanor is a wonderful young lady! She is not responsible for her father’s actions! I am sure she does not even know.

“She does not,” he confirmed quickly.

“Precisely! She will be alovelyduchess and a wonderful mother to your children.

“She needs something I cannot provide!” He did not mean to snarl the words, but it came out that way all the same. The now-familiar sense of guilt then resurfaced and he turned to the window. Margaret said nothing to his outburst, only giving him a pitying look.

He brought his fingertips to his temples and rubbed them as closed his eyes. He did not love Eleanor. It was true. But he could not deny the way his body responded to her presence. Each and every time she came near him, every muscle tightened, every breath became difficult. Thought was nearly impossible; save for fantasies of what she would feel like beneath him; her legs wrapped tightly around his hips as those honey-brown eyes looked at him with so much-

Xander let out a ragged sigh, shaking his head to erase yet another vividly erotic image of his wife, and walked away from his grandmother.

“Go back to London, Grandmother.”

Chapter 11

“Another one?”

Xander looked quizzically at the piles of rocks sitting atop the candle stands in the hallway; wondering where they had all come from. It was the seventh pile he had found since he had got home that morning. He picked one up, trying to fathom why they were there and where else he might find them.

Hearing the click of heels, Xander lifted his head from his discovery, and dropped the rock; the heavy thing narrowly missing his foot. But he did not notice. Not with what was walking toward him.

Eleanor’s hourglass figure was accentuated by the tight yet garish purple corset she was wearing; making the swell of her ample breasts sway in the rhythm of her footsteps. Then there was the skirt. A burnt orange fabric that had a long slit that traveled up the delicious expanse of Eleanor’s long, naked left leg and thigh.

It took Xander a moment to pull his eyes away from all of the ways his wife’s improper gown highlighted the enticing details of her figure, but when he finally looked up at her, he stifled a laugh by putting a hand over his mouth and his other arm around his waist.

“My, my, look at you,” he said with a whistle.

“You like it, Your Grace?” She asked sweetly, grinning far too wide. Suddenly realizing what Eleanor was trying to do, he let out a genuine laugh and nodded.

“I do, actually,” he admitted, walking a small circle around her as he rubbed his bottom lip.

“It is quite- well, it is quite unique, is it not?” He asked, stopping when he came directly in front of the split in her skirt. Unable to help himself, he reached out, and ran his knuckles softly against the naked flesh, and immediately felt her thigh tremble. Xander could have sworn he heard her gasp next, which only satisfied him more.

“I particularly like this part,” he murmured, dragging his eyes up to hers.

Eleanor’s honey-brown eyes were bright with arousal and frustration- two feelings he understood very well. She seemed to battle with which one to choose for a moment before landing on frustration.

“You are not supposed to like it,” she pouted, walking away from him.

“Well, I do,” Xander replied arrogantly with a shrug as he fell in step behind her. “Where are you going dressed like that?”

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