Page 98 of His Accidental Duchess

“You’d better stop,” Anna managed, at last. “My mother will be home at any moment.”

He chuckled. “Are you quite sure about that? BecauseIbelieve that I saw your mother striding across the hills behind the house. To fetch your sisters, perhaps? In which case, you and I might have at least half an hour, perhaps more, before she returns. Plenty of time. And if more time is needed, well, there’s always that quiet little back door for us to sneak out of. What do you say?”

Anna jerked her chin out of his grasp. “I think you’re a vile, disgusting man. I know you are married. You’re old enough to be my grandfather. Are you not ashamed? I cannot stand the sight of you, and neither can my mother. We owe you nothing. Leave us alone, can’t you?”

Lord Downton’s face darkened. His hand shot out again, his fingers curling around her chin with a bruising force. Anna couldn’t hold back a yelp of pain, which only made him grin mirthlessly.

“My dear girl, I think you have misinterpreted this situation quite badly. You see, I told you earlier that I am a gentleman. And gentlemen get what they want. You, my dear, are what I want. I said once I would have you, did I not? That was a promise, my dear Duchess, and I never lie.”

Something snapped inside Anna, something that let her know that she was in mortal danger right now. She threw herself at him, ignoring the pain of his fingernails digging into her skin, and brought her closed fist down onto his nose.

Crunch.

Perhaps it wasn’t thebestpunch, but it was certainly a satisfying one, enough to make Lord Downton yelp and stagger backward. Anna dived for the door, but she barely made it halfway there before a hand tangled in her hair.

She was hauled backward, pins raking across her scalp, her hair being pulled from its roots. She tried unsuccessfully to reach back, raking her nails across his hand, but she was dragged backward and thrown on the floor.

The wind was knocked out of her, and Lord Downton was on her in a moment, his knees pinning her arms to the ground.

“Ineverlie,” he hissed. His hands closed around her neck. “You know,” he said thoughtfully, “it’s rather difficult to half-strangle a person. I don’t want you dead, my dear. But I do believe you could be taken down a peg or two. What do you say?”

She clawed at his arms, panic winning the battle for only an instant before logic told her to direct her hands at his face instead. But his arms were too long, and he only jerked his head back, out of her reach.

Anna could not breathe. The pressure on her throat throbbed up into her head, blurring her vision. He loosened his grip, just enough to allow her to speak.

“Go… to… hell!” Anna rasped out and saw his face contort in anger.

“I shall see you there, my dear. I shall see you there.”

And then, quite abruptly, the pressure on her chest and the long fingers around her neck were gone.

CHAPTER 28

Theo was barely aware of grabbing the Earl by his shoulders and hoisting him bodily into the air. He threw him to the side, and the man crashed down onto the coffee table, which splintered into smithereens under his weight.

Anger pulsed behind Theo’s eyes, blurring his vision and bleeding red all over the world before him. His heart hammered, and he knew that the vision of Lord Downton kneeling over Anna—hisAnna—throttling the life out of her would stay with him forever.

The memory would likely survive longer than Lord Downton would.

The man in question was stunned, stirring and groaning amid the wreckage of the table. Theodore tore his gaze away, turning to glance at Anna.

She was already sitting up, one hand pressed to her throat. She looked pale, and there were livid finger-marks around her neck, but no lasting damage, he hoped.

“Anna,” he said, his voice quiet. “Are you hurt?”

She smiled weakly at him. “Not much, not beyond my pride. I can’t believe I let that fat fool get the best of me.”

“You were giving him a run for his money, that is for sure,” Theo responded, allowing himself a brief smile.

There was so much he wanted to say. Feelings bubbled up inside him like an overflowing kettle. He wanted to apologize, to beg her forgiveness, to demand an explanation, to fall to his knees and wrap his arms around her waist, to kiss her until she could barely breathe, to… oh, everything and anything at once.

Her,he thought suddenly, and quite simply.I want her, and that’s all there is to it.

Now was not the time, of course. There was business that had to be attended to, first of all.

He turned back to Lord Downton, who was rolling around on his back like a tortoise, trying to right himself. To prevent this, Theo casually placed a foot on the center of the man’s stomach, pressing down gently.

“Imagine my shock, Lord Downton,” he said slowly and thoughtfully, “entering this room—in my mother-in-law’s house, no less—to find you, of all people, laying hands on the Duchess of Langdon in such a way. I find myself at a loss for words, actually.”

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