Page 35 of My Dangerous Duke

“What did you say?” Xander asked, feeling his vision turn red.

Rhys seemed to catch this and he rolled his eyes, walked back, and clapped Xander on the shoulder.

“Relax, Larsen. As friends. Siblings at most. He is Penelope’s brother after all. They practically all grew up together.”

Rhys then looked him down, his humor fading as he drew a more sincere conclusion.

“You know, you getting upset at this might be an indication that you areactuallyfeeling something for this woman.”

“Just because it happened for you, it does not mean we are all the same.”

Xander glared down at Rhys threateningly for a moment before he kept walking. Then, from behind him, he heard Rhys sigh loudly and say, “I found your letters.”

Chapter 16

“How?” Xander demanded, looking at Rhys from across his desk. The moment Rhys had said those magic words, Xander had grabbed ahold of him and all but dragged him into his study.

“You have your ways, I have mine,” Rhys replied with a grave expression, no longer joking. “What is important is that they have been found and confirmed with an eye witness in Langley’s wife’s cousin’s house in Bath. It is not his house so he had to be clever with his hiding spot, but we found it.”

“Did you get them?” He asked, feeling his shoulders tense. “Are they here?”

“No,” Rhys replied quickly, crossing his legs and lacing his fingers together.

“Why the bloody hell not?” Xander growled.

Rhys looked at Xander steadily for a long, infuriating moment before he finally said, “Because I want you to be sure about this, Larsen. I am not your friend, I understand that, but Eleanor is Penelope’s friend. And what I saw this evening was not two strangers just muddling through marriage, but two people who greatly enjoyed each other’s company. You bicker quite frequently, sure, but it issoobvious that the two of you love it.”

Xander struggled for a moment as the truth was thrown to his feet, but he quickly regained composure. It did not matter. It was not just about them. It was about the principle of it all. Victor Langley had to pay for his blackmail. And Eleanor… Eleanor would find her prince charming one day. Someone who knew exactly how to love her.

“Get the letters as soon as possible,” Xander rasped, rubbing the tension at the back of his neck. “For her sake more than anyone else’s.”

“It will be a few weeks,” Rhys explained. “The house is brimming with summer guests. It will be too easy to get caught. But at the end of the Season, it will be empty of everyone but a ghost staff. It will be easy then. Can you wait that long?”

“Do I have a choice?” Xander bit out.

“Patrick, stop,” Eleanor laughed, shooing his hands away with her fan, “Your stories are deplorable.”

“I am in love,” he stated tipsily, giving her a sloppy grin. “Why, oh why, did you not marry me, Ellie girl?”

“Please!” Eleanor laughed loudly, also a bit too deep in her cups. In fact, the entire dinner party had seemed to be so. Grinning from ear to ear, she reached up and patted Patrick on the cheek. “You are like a brother, little Patrick.”

A look of feigned shock and disappointment came over Patrick’s face as he dramatically staggered back.

“Little?” He breathed, looking devastated. “You wound me, Your Grace.”

A deep belly laugh poured from Eleanor at the site of Patrick’s feigned heartbreak.

“What is so funny over here?” Xander’s cousin Richard asked, joining them with a mirthful grin.

Tonight was the first time Eleanor had been given a chance to meet the man, and though he had seemed a little reserved at times, she could not quite figure out what it was about him that infuriated her husband so.

“Eleanor has just given me those most terrible of insults,” Patrick continued dramatically, clutching his chest.

“Oh, do tell.” A shiver went down Eleanor’s spine as she heard Xander’s voice, but as she spun to face him, her smile vanished when she saw his scowl.

“I also heard you laughing,” he told her, keeping his silver eyes on her. “I do not think I have ever heard you laugh quite so hard.”

“I make her laugh,” Patrick shrugged drunkenly, leaning on Eleanor’s shoulder.

---