Page 48 of His Duchess' Wicked List

It wasn’t an outrageous thought that the Dowager Duchess had simply used the opportunity at the breakfast table to declare his interest in Augusta. She was a determined mother. Just as determined as her own. The tactics of matrimony were often covert but still sophisticated in this society.

But it still didn’t change anything. The Duke still didn’t care about her. And the damage had been done. There were many witnesses to his intentions towards her sister, even if he hadn’t declared those intentions himself. He hadn’t denied it. The carriage had well and truly bolted.

“I always knew it would come to this,” Maddie said in a sorrowful voice. “Always.”

He frowned. “I told you?—”

“I know what you told me,” she interrupted. “I even believe you. But Iwasa fool to believe that there was anything specialbetween us.” She took a deep, ragged breath. “I have been a fool, Your Grace, but I will not let you make a fool out of my sister.”

He looked stunned. “What? What do you mean?”

Maddie straightened her spine, gazing at him steadily. “I mean that it is time to end this… this…” Her voice faltered wildly. “Thisthingthat exists between us, which has no name, and has gone further than it ever should have. And I will do it for my sister’s sake, for the Lord knows that I have never been able to do it for my own sake!”

She was appalled to find she was shaking. She knew she was on the verge of bursting into tears again. Mortified, she turned away, blinking rapidly, desperately trying to keep the tears at bay.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Her nerves were so frayed that she almost jumped out of her skin.

“Please, Maddie,” the Duke entreated, his voice uneven. “It is you. It is only you.”

She rounded on him. “You use my name now? After I have been entreating you for so long to call me by my name, to treat me as a person, and you have resisted?” She shook her head incredulously. “You believe that all you need to do is snap your fingers, and I will come running like a well-heeled pup!”

He looked shaken. “That is not the way I think about you,” he insisted. He ran a shaking hand through his hair. “I know that I haven’t courted you with roses and soppy poetry, but it is hard for me to do that. It isn’t who I am. But that doesn’t mean I do not care about you.”

Maddie couldn’t breathe. Their eyes were locked. She saw the devastation in his eyes. Either it was real, or he was a better actor than she had ever imagined.

“I do not believe you,” she said in a shaky voice. “You are only saying this now in a vain attempt to salvage the illicit game that we have been playing. You, Sir, want to have your cake and eat it!”

He flinched as if she had physically struck him. “I deserved that,” he said, looking pained. “I have not done anything so far to make you trust me, not even an inch.”

She nodded. Her heart was racing, and she felt sick. “You speak the truth, at last.”

He frowned. “I admit that itwasjust a game in the beginning,” he began slowly. “You are so beautiful, so very desirable, that I was mad for you and took the opportunity to use your list to my advantage.” He hesitated. “But it is not like that now. Please, how may I convince you?”

Maddie took a step back. She was shaking so hard that she felt as if her knees might buckle beneath her. Even now, the sensualitywas brewing between them, thickening like a fog. If she wasn’t careful, she would lose her mind again and submit to him.

“It is over,” she stated sharply while trying to convince herself. “It no longer matters what you feel, or what I feel, or what anyone else feels. You are destined to marry my sister. And that is the end of that.”

“I willnotmarry your sister,” Daniel declared hotly, his eyes flashing. He paused, looking at her closely. “Unless… this is nothing to do with your sister, but my cousin. Let us not forget that Christopher asked to formally court you this morning as well. Have you decided to cast me off, now that you have snagged an earl? Have I just beenyourplaything while you were working to secure a good match?”

Maddie was affronted. “That was done without my knowledge or permission! I have never been angling to marry your cousin, and I am offended that you are suggesting it.”

He gave a short laugh, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. His face darkened again. Instinctively, Maddie knew he was being held in jealousy’s tight grip, once more.

He took a step closer to her, bridging the gap between them once again. His physical proximity was overwhelming. She noticed a small vein twitching in his right temple. He was angry, in the grip of a jealous rage, and it was starting to consume him. His conciliatory, pleading demeanor had vanished entirely.

“I am leaving Stansgate,” she said quickly. “I cannot stay here any longer. Apart from everything else, someone knows about us. They have tattled to ascandal sheet. It is far too dangerous. My reputation is at stake!”

“And we wouldn’t want you to ruin your reputation,” he snarled. “You are just like all the other mundane ladies in Society, consumed with appearances and obsessed with the thought of matrimony. And I thought you were different.”

The unfairness of his claim hit her like a brick. He had hurt her, and now she was consumed with the desire to hurt him back.

“Why exactly areyouso against matrimony?” She squared her shoulders, a scornful look on her face. “Why do you run from it like a puppy dog with its tail between its legs? Tell me, why are you so scared of it, Your Grace?”

“I am not scared of it,” he growled. “I simply do not wish to place my neck in that particular hangman’s noose.”

She gave him a withering look. “You are a coward. You have been running ever since your father died. You were running over the entire continent of Europe for years, and you arestillrunning.”

He recoiled again. She had clearly struck a nerve. But now, she was consumed with the question. She really wanted to know why he was so violently opposed to matrimony.

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