Page 63 of Trapped with her Cruel Duke

After breakfast, Christian called Marcus to the study, but both men knew it was not an invitation—it was an order. Christian frowned at him when he entered with the kitten in his arms, a strained smile on his face.

“I have rather taken a liking to him. Do you mind?” Marcus asked pitifully.

Christian shrugged a shoulder, still trying to tame his emotions. It was so strange to have his brother wander into his study as though he had never been gone.

“Do as you like, but that kitten is a menace.”

Marcus pulled the kitten closer to his chest, just as Louise had done the first night she found him.

“Do not listen to him,” he whispered in Jack’s ear. “He does not know how special you are, does he?”

Christian stiffened, noting the similarities between his wife and his brother.

Would she be happier with him? They are so similar in many respects, and the joy on her face when she saw him was beyond anything I have seen from her.

His gut clenched at the memory as he motioned for Marcus to sit down.

His brother lowered himself carefully into the chair across from his desk. The effort to support his whole weight with his arms was painful to witness.

Marcus placed Jack on his lap, and the kitten trotted up his thigh and nestled against his chest.

“Did they not feed you in the village?” Christian asked. “You are half the size you were, and you barely ate anything at breakfast.”

“My appetite is still not what it was. I could not eat for a long time due to my injuries, and the village did not have a great deal of food. I could not expect them to serve such a banquet as you have. I am grateful for the breakfast—I ate more than I thought I could.”

“Hmm.” Christian sat down, fixing him with a hard stare. “I do not wish to tire you out completely, but Iwillhave the truth even if I have to drag it out of you.”

“What do you want to know?” Marcus asked.

The question surprised Christian. It seemed a decidedly odd thing for him to say.

What do I not wish to know would be more accurate.

Christian eyed him warily, noting the almost guilty expression on his face.

Something is not right about all of this.He is keeping something from me, I am sure of it.

“I thought this had to do with Louise’s father,” he admitted, steepling his fingers in his lap.

Marcus looked up. “Northbridge?” he asked hesitantly.

“The same. I assumed it had to do with Louise—that you were in love with her—and therefore, the Earl wished to prevent the match.”

Christian held his breath, blood pounding in his ears as he watched his brother’s expression carefully.

Injecting a casual calm into his voice, he continued. “If that is the case, I am sorry I have stolen her from you, but I hope you don’t plan to lead her into adultery.”

Marcus appeared somewhat startled by that statement.

“Idolove Louise,” he admitted carelessly, as though he were speaking about the weather. The simple phrase made Christian’s heart stop. “But not like that. You have nothing to worry about on that score, I assure you.”

Christian was still not entirely sure he believed his brother, but his heart rate slowed, nonetheless.

At that moment, the door burst open, and Louise marched into the room, coming up short when she spotted both brothers.

Jack jolted awake with a pitiful meow, and Louise walked over to him, stroking him gently to soothe him back to sleep. Christian’s fingers gripped the arms of his chair so hard that they ached.

She is stroking that kitten in Marcus’s lap! Order her to stop it at once.

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