Page 27 of Her Sinful Duke

She chuckled at his words, feeling that their relationships with their fathers held some similarities.

“Have you been offered some tea, Felix?” she inquired.

“Not yet,” he revealed. “I have only just arrived, and your butler told me that James will be down shortly.”

Penelope thought about it and reached the conclusion that this was the time of James’ morning exercise routine, so it might be a while before he joined Felix. Wanting to make a good impression on her husband, she decided that she would play the role of a generous hostess and keep his friend company until his arrival.

“I shall ring for some tea then,” she said heading towards the bell.

“Only if it is no trouble,” he replied, appreciating her gesture.

“No trouble at all,” she assured him, ringing the bell and then instructing the servant girl, who appeared a minute later, to bring them some refreshments.

“I must say,” Felix acknowledged as they were left alone, albeit with the parlor door open for propriety’s sake, “I am delighted to finally make your acquaintance. I wish to be able to say that James has told me much about you, but I’m afraid it is exactly the opposite. James has told me nothing, and I can see why.”

“You can?” she wondered, her brows furrowing in confusion.

“Why of course,” he grinned. “If I had a wife as lovely and kind as you, I would also try to keep her a secret from the snakes of the ton.”

“Oh,” she chuckled. “It can’t bethatbad.”

“Trust me,” he nodded, his lips tightening into a thin line on his face. “It is worse than you can imagine.”

“I have been away from London for the past five years,” she found herself admitting. “Have things gottenthatbad?”

“I assure you, my dear lady,” he said with that same grin. “If you were my wife, I would stay home all the time and never leave.” He chuckled at his own words.

She found herself on the receiving end of the man’s compliments and flirtatious banter, but something told her that he was dangerously close to crossing the line of propriety. His words were charming, his demeanor affable, but beneath her polite façade, she couldn’t shake a growing sense of discomfort.

“You truly are a vision,” the man remarked with a playful twinkle in his eye, his smile warm and inviting, only it was an invitation she didn’t want to accept.

Penelope offered a polite smile in response. “Thank you,” she replied softly, her tone tinged with unease.

She was starting to regret offering to be the hostess and silently prayed for James to join them swiftly. However, it seemed that Felix found all that perfectly normal. Penelope wondered if those five years at the nunnery made her forget about basic social proprieties. After all, it was normal for gentlemen to compliment young ladies, whether or not they were married. Most of the time, it meant nothing. It was just a social requirement, nothing else. But was this that? Was Felix being polite, or was he crossing the line?

At that moment, the tea arrived, and she smiled, thanking the servant girl, deciding to give Felix the benefit of the doubt.

“I’m sure that my husband will be right with us,” she said, purposefully using the termmy husbandinstead of James’ name.

“To be quite honest, I would not mind if he were a bit late,” Felix said, leaning to take his cup of tea, but at that moment, James appeared in the doorway.

“I do apologize for ruining what appears to be your good time, Felix,” James said, not sounding a bit pleased with what he was seeing.

Surprised, Penelope jumped up from her seat, almost as if she were caught doing something she was not supposed to.

“James,” she greeted, “we were just waiting for you.”

“Some more than others,” James frowned, walking over to Felix.

“Oh, you don’t mind a bit of fun and banter, do you, old boy?” Felix asked with a chuckle, offering James his hand.

But Penelope could see from the look on his face that James was in no mood for fun and banter. He refused to acknowledge Felix’s outstretched hand and only stared at him dead in the eyes.

“There is fun and banter,old boy,and then there is blatant disrespect and flirting with someone’s wife,” James snarled angrily.

Penelope was shocked. She had never seen him like that. She never even knew that there was such a fire inside of him as James had always been calm and composed. But she had forgotten that it was those who were calm and composed who carried the entire storm inside their minds and hearts.

“James, I assure you that we haven’t crossed any lines,” she tried to explain. “Felix was merely being polite.” Although she herself could sense it was more than that, but the last thing she wanted was for a fight to break out because of a simple compliment.

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