Page 83 of A Duke for Hire

“Corrupted. Absolutely corrupted.”

“There’s no saving her now. Not that there was much to save, given her birth status.”

It was not the talk of trade that Hugo was focused on, but the multitude of whispers coming from beyond it. He glanced away from the conversation he’d been pulled to, and swept his eyes over the ballroom.

It was not him that the others were staring at, but his wife. Same as the subject of their whispers.

“At least she is rich now.”

“What does that matter if her soul is damned to be tied to that man?”

“She’ll disappear. I heard he hunts people. Lord Repington even swears he admitted to it.”

“Pretty but foolish,” another sighed. “Oh well. Serves her right I suppose.”

“Fenwick,” Dominic boomed in Hugo’s ear, nudging his elbow. “Are you paying attention?”

“No,” Hugo admitted, not caring who he offended.

Dominic cleared his threat, and stepped back from the group with him, bending his ear toward the crowd. Hugo could tell when he’d caught the whispers by the way his friend sighed next. Dominic was not like Tristan or Everett. Much less boisterous. Some even said uncaring. But Hugo knew that was untrue. He just had a different way of showing it.

“Pay them no mind,” Dominic murmured, his tone insistent. “Seraphinawantsto be with you, and that is all that matters.”

Hugo said nothing as he searched the crowd, wanting,needingto see Seraphina. When he finally spotted her his heart wrenched painfully in his chest. She was smiling, talking quickly with a man who was standing far too close to her for his liking. Jealousy and possession exploded through him at what he saw, and his hand tightened on his glass, making it crack under the pressure.

At his side Dominic heard the sound of strained glass, and his eyes widened as he caught Hugo’s intense stare.

“Hugo,” Dominic warned.

“You with us, Your Grace?” A gentleman in the circle joked.

“Excuse me,” Hugo gritted out and took a step away.

“You said he was good at business,” Hugo heard the man seethe toward Dominic.

“I would shut your mouth if I were you,” he then heard Dominic warn. “Now is not the time.”

“I am simply trying to ask how you are, Your Grace,” Lord Carrigan insisted, drawing closer. “Is that not what friends do?”

Seraphina inched further away from him, unsettled.

“We were never friends, Lord Carrigan,” she replied as politely as possible as she continued her forced smile. Things were going well, and she did not want to cause a scene. “We courted for a short time, that is all.”

Carrigan stepped closer, his eyes raking over her neck and breasts, making her infinitely more uncomfortable.

“What are you doing?” She seethed, stepping back as her smile faltered.

“No bite marks or scratches,” he murmured under his breath, continuing his inspection. “You seem well fed. Perhaps that’s the beast’s way. Getting his victims to feel comfortable.”

Rage boiled through Seraphina. Her palm itched to slap him across the face as harsh words clawed at her throat.

“Seraphina.”

Relief coursed through her as she heard Hugo’s voice, and she broke her gaze from Carrigan to see him stalking toward him; a tense look on his face.

“Your Grace,” Lord Carrigan stated, finally stepping away from her. “What a pleasure to-”

“Save your lies for someone else, you pompous arse,” Hugo seethed as he snatched Seraphina by the wrist.

---