Page 23 of Trapped with her Cruel Duke

In truth, he had not seen her for several weeks, but the last time they had spoken, she ended up in his bed. He now felt very guilty for it, as though he had betrayed Louise in retrospect.

“So formal, Your Grace… Are you feeling well?”

Her hand slid up his arm, and he moved away without a conscious thought. He gripped her wrist, and she looked up at him in shock. But then her pupils dilated with desire.

“You must be aware of my wedding, Lady Carruthers.”

She tittered. “I am, Your Grace. A marriage without love. Everyone knows it is so.” She stepped closer to him. “You and I both know what youreallyneed from a woman, Christian.”

He recoiled at the sound of his name on her lips, revulsion climbing up his throat as he glanced at the patrons sitting nearby.

“I know we have shared something in the past, but we will not be doing so again. Is that understood?”

The lady’s eyes darkened with anger, and her painted lips curled into a sneer of intense displeasure. “Really? I would not have thought, with yourlineage, you would have any issue with lying with a woman who was not your wife.”

Her eyes flashed, and Christian’s grip on her wrist tightened such that she winced. Without another word, and aware of the many men in the room, he pulled her roughly into the corridor and toward the main entrance of the club.

Jarvis, his burly steward, looked up from the desk opposite the entryway and came out swiftly, prepared to do what was needed.

Christian pushed Lady Carruthers toward him—not too roughly, but not gently either.

“Next time you try to disrespect my Duchess, I will not be so forgiving, Lady Carruthers. Is that clear?” His voice was ringing with fury now.

She scoffed in his face, her fingers curling into her skirts, her nails digging into the fabric. “That Ice Queen would not know how to care for her husband,Your Grace.And we both know if you turn your back on me, you shan’t be seeing me in your bed again.”

Christian glanced at Jarvis, whose expression was utterly blank, but there was no denying that this was an embarrassment he could have done without.

“If you cross this threshold at any point in the future, I will ensure that the precious reputation you hold so dear is ruined for all time. Jarvis, see this lady out, please.”

He caught her trying to take a swing at him just before Jarvis encircled her wrist lightly with his thumb and index finger, and she stilled instantly.

“This way, please.”

Jarvis did not need to ask her a second time.

Christian turned to go back into the club to attend to any business he might have neglected, but then he hesitated. He heard the lady’s protests as she was manhandled out the door and waited until she had made it a good way down the street before having his carriage called.

He was desperate to see Louise now—that was the truth. Lady Carruthers had unsettled him and made him feel a strange sense of urgency, as though he needed to reassure himself that Louise still belonged to him.

I have only been married one day, and already I am hurrying home to my wife. Whatever has become of me?

CHAPTER 10

Louise was happily ensconced in the garden with the Duke’s gardener, Neilson.

He was younger than she had expected, only five-and-thirty or so. His face was already weathered by the sun and much more tanned than her own. His hands, too, were leathery from the constant time outdoors, but his knowledge of plants was extensive.

The garden, like in many townhouses in London, was long and narrow. But the Duke boasted more space than most. Many of the trees had been pruned back, and several rose bushes lined the pathways between the beds, but many lay unused.

“And how long has this bed been empty for?” Louise asked, indicating a long, thin plot parallel to the back of the house.

“Many months, Your Grace,” the gardener answered, looking around him with a sigh. “The Duke does not spend a great dealof time in the garden. Until I have my instructions, I keep things ticking over, but I would not plant anything new without his say-so.”

“Well, I shall have some say in it from now on. I would be grateful for your opinion on what could be added here.”

He raised his eyebrows, scratching his head and almost dislodging his cap. It was clear that not many members of the household had asked for Neilson’s thoughts on the garden for many months.

“I’ve always felt a gooseberry bush or two would be a good addition, Your Grace.”

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