Page 23 of My Dangerous Duke

“Honey, come. Stop with this,” he pleaded, not realizing he had just used her pet name in such a desperate tone. “You are not amadwoman as you are so clearly trying to pretend to be. What is this about?”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” She asked, suddenly bringing her eyes up to him curiously.

Damn it,he cursed silently.

“Never the matter,” he uttered dismissively, “Talk to me.”

Whatever pretense Eleanor had left seemed to whither, and her delicate shoulders sagged under some invisible pressure.

“You do not want to be married to me, do you?” She asked bluntly. “I thought maybe it was some act of desperation from your family. Needing a noblewoman to bear an heir. But it is not that, is it? I am just a means to some sort of mysterious end, am I not?”

Xander looked back at her, impressed by her perceptiveness.

“Yes,” he confessed. She nodded, looking relieved to know that she had been right.

“I had thought,” she went on, a sad smile touching her lips, “in the beginning, that there wassomethingbetween us. Not love, to be sure, but something. Well, I am many things, Your Grace, but I am not arrogant. I am able to see my mistakes. I see now I imagined it all. So, since I cannot convince you out of this union, I have a proposal.”

“Can it wait until we get to my study?” He asked calmly. His question and the casual way he stated it seemed to throw Eleanor off guard, which made his lips almost twitch into a smile.

“I suppose,” she agreed after a moment.

“Good,” he said, taking her hand and walking. “It is just around the corner.”

The two of them walked quickly, their hands naturally tightening around one another as if they both needed the small touch.

“Well?” Xander asked when they were in his study. They were still standing by the door, his left hand and her right one still locked together. Eleanor looked up at him, woefully this time, and it caused a wince in his body that, for a man assumed to have no feelings, he was not proud of.

“Let us annul in secret,” she said at last, her voice barely above her whisper. “Today.”

Xander looked back at her silently, his gaze hardening. There it was, out in the open for both of them. And yet, he still found himself saying…

“No.”

“No one has to know,” she pushed. “I can slip away. Penelope and Rhysand will surely allow me to stay in their home until Ican figure things out. Then perhaps I will find a way to Paris or something. We will both be free.”

Xander was not ready for the intensity of emotion that hit him as Eleanor said this. Yes, he had been working night and day to get his hands on those letters so he could accomplish this very thing. Yet when Eleanor brought it up, it immediately released something dark and possessive inside of him.

With ease, Xander captured Eleanor’s hands with just one of his and had her pinned up against the door in a second. She gasped as his eyes locked on hers and struggled against his hold.

“Stay still,”he commanded, his voice a low growl as brought his free hand up to the delicate curve of her jaw and tilted her chin up with just the touch of two fingertips.

Whether she liked it or not, Eleanor’s body obeyed him, and she went slack against the wall; putting all of her weight onto it and Xander’s hold.

“We handle this my way,” he went on, “The safest place for you is here right now, whether that makes you happy or not. Iwillhandle this. I just need more time.”

“Tell me what there is to handle,” Eleanor breathed, her eyes searching his. “Maybe I can help.”

“Absolutely not,” he replied quickly, shaking his head. “You will stay here, and you will act the part of a content housewife until I can get this handled.”

“Just like you cannot pretend to love, I cannot pretend to be happy or content,” Eleanor replied, her tone so calm and wise it irritated him.

“Why are you so stubborn?”

“You cannot controleverything,Your Grace,” she pressed on, searching his eyes without fear. “If you want me to play a part, you must give me the inspiration to do so.”

“Inspiration?” Xander asked, feeling a stir in his groin as his mind exploded with filthy, erotic thoughts.

He had been holding back for ten days, doing everything he could to keep distracted from how much he fantasized about her, but she plagued every single one of his thoughts. It was not just her beauty that made his body ache with need either, but the way she stood up to him. Her fearlessness struck a competitive yet possessive nerve in him that he did not quite know how to handle.

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