Page 18 of Duke of Chaos

Her blatant welcome shocked him as much as it impressed him, and he huffed out a breath of a laugh.

“If only,” he retorted dryly, letting his eyes roam down her figure.

She wore a long-sleeved, soft, creamy-white linen dress cut close to her lithe figure, with a neckline that ended just at the base of her throat, where a cameo dangled on a thick black ribbon. Her brown hair was once more styled primly and prettily atop her head; never too gaudy or overdone, just neat and clean. And yet, somehow, she was so much more than what the eye could behold.

His sights fixed on the cameo again. It was a young woman carved into the ivory; a silhouette so similar to Lydia’s it was uncanny. But what drew him more was the intense black of the thick, glistening ribbon that kept it strung around Lydia’s slender neck.

Delightfully slender,Ezra silently noted, then wondered what it would feel like to hold such a delicate neck in his grasp; to feel the pulse in her jugular vein beat rhythmically into his palms as he squeezed.

“You will have to forgive the rush but as I stated before, your presence will be required in certain social and businesssituations,” he forced himself to say as he pulled his eyes back up to her face. “Now that you have won our little game, I suspect that will not be a problem for you?”

“Not at all,” Lydia replied.

Though her voice was serene, the bronze and gold flecks illuminated her eyes once more.

“However, once my responsibilities are fulfilled, Iwillbe sending for my sister for an extended visit.”

So fierce,Ezra chuckled silently to himself. He shrugged in response and studied his nails.

“Do what you wish as long as it does not interfere with my plans,” he replied in a bored tone.

Lydia balked at his retort as she had expected him to put up a fight, and he smirked as he bowed with mock enthusiasm.

“See you in four days,Duchess,”he said in a cold taunt.

Without another word, Ezra turned and left. Deep need railed inside of him as he climbed into his carriage, his entire body reacting to Lydia. When he had first caught her scent he had mistakenly believed it to be lark. He now realized her skin wafted with the heady scent of black heart cherries, which contained juice so dark and potent that it would stain everythingcrimson. It was so intense, so pure, that he could not believe it emanated from Lydia.

He recalled he’d smelled the same scent the previous night. It had been part of what had driven him to do what he had done to her. Even for him, the bite was much more forward than how he would normally go about being with a woman. This morning, when he’d smelled her intoxicating aroma for the third time, he had nearly launched himself at her.

She was going to be an annoyance, he realized darkly, as well as a distraction. Then, as if understanding it was already becoming an issue, he snapped his attention back to his valet.

“Start from the beginning,” Ezra demanded curtly, knowing he had not heard a single word.

“Yes, Your Grace,” the valet replied dutifully and obeyed. As the servant began to reread his notes, Ezra’s mind kept flashing back to Lydia and all the tiny details he was gathering about her. In the back of his mind, he wondered if he had made a grave mistake.

CHAPTER SIX

“Alice, Duncan, I cannot thank you enough for opening your home to us,” Lydia said warmly as she hugged her sister goodbye.

“Oh, please, I would have entered the boxing ring with Ezra himself if he had refused me,” Alice replied with a laugh as she squeezed Lydia tightly.

It had indeed been a relief when Alice had visited Lydia the day after Ezra met with their father to announce that the wedding ceremony would be held in the London Banfield House. Her sister had also pried a short reception out of Ezra, which Lydia knew, no doubt, had to do with Duncan’s insistence.

Lydia looked up at him as Alice released her and he smiled warmly as he opened his arms. Their relationship had changed so much in the last two years. Though she had started out fearing and hating Duncan, Lydia now saw him as a doting husband to her sister and a brotherly protector of both her and Juliet.

You let me know if he misbehaves,” Duncan said as he embraced her warmly, “We’ll put him in his place quickly and properly.”

“I know you would,” Lydia rasped, feeling yet another sudden bout of emotion wash over her.

They had come in waves all day between moments of estranged numbness. First when she, Juliet, and Alice were having their private sisters-only moment at the wedding. Then again when she saw Ezra look at her from the pulpit. There was no love. No approval. There was nothing. Just those dead, glittering blue eyes that remained as impassive as ever, although he did keep them on her throughout the ceremony. His touch was surprisingly gentle as he picked up her hand and slid her wedding ring onto her finger, but there was no affection. Though she had been happy with her life as a spinster, it was only in that moment that Lydia realized her option to someday marry for love was now and forever sealed off.

“We must be going now,” Ezra stated, appearing by her side from nowhere.

Lydia watched Duncan and Alice’s eyes flatten as they regarded Ezra.

“You are playing a dangerous game here, Ezra,” Duncan warned, his voice suddenly low and commanding.

“I did not realize getting married would reveal the true feelings of my friends,” Ezra said disinterestedly.

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