Page 94 of A Duke for Hire

That seemed to stop Hugo, for he immediately dropped his hands to his sides and took a step back.

“Seraphina,” he began, still sounding out of breath. “I need to apologize. I need to explain.”

“You may do so after the divorce,” she replied before he could go further. She tried to make her voice sound as numb as possible, but a quiver still passed through her vocal cords as she said the word divorce.

Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks again, but she swallowed hard and took a deep breath, and forced her eyes back to Hugo’s. They were wide with shock and something else. Worry? Fear?

Hope started to trickle through her mind, but she mentally cut it out.

“Divorce?” He echoed.

She forced a single nod.

“I will not be asking for much. I believe that what is fair is fair and-”

“No,”Hugo said, his tone adamant.

“No?”She asked, feeling her own shock. “You have removed me from your life, Your Grace. You told me you never wanted to see me again. How can you say no?”

“Please,” Hugo implored, holding a hand out to her. “Take a walk with me.”

The urge to do take his hand and do just that was incredibly strong, but Seraphina fought it and held her own hand to stop herself.

“You don’t want me, Your Grace,” she answered as numbly as possible, trying her best to ignore the agony such reality brought. “I thought you would be relieved to hear my request.”

“The only relief I feel right now is that you are here and you are safe,” he replied. “But other than that, I am in as much agony as you are.”

Seraphina scoffed, though her eyes grew glassy with tears.

“I very much doubt that, Your Grace,” she rasped.

“Please stop calling me that,” Hugo whispered, taking a tentative step toward her. “Pleaselet me talk to you. Let me explain.”

Seraphina was about to close the door when she realized just how much she wanted that. She wanted to know why he’d spent so long pursuing her only to throw her away. Ignoring the hand he still held out for her, Seraphina stepped away from the doorway and headed toward the garden gates.

“Why do you want a divorce?” He asked, quickly falling in to step with her. “Do you truly want to be away from me that much?”

Seraphina glared at him.

“It was you that could not wait to be away from me, remember?” She hissed. “Why wouldn’t you want a divorce? You still need a wife, a rightful heir. With a divorce you can go find a woman you don’t despise so much and have both. Clearly you were disappointed in your first choice.”

Hugo suddenly stepped in front of her, stopping her.

“No I was not, and do not put words in my mouth ever again, Seraphina,” he warned.

In her right mind she would have taken note of his tone, but in her current state, she paid it no mind. She was too hurt.

“Come now, you find me so simple minded to not know such things? You laid with me one time and then promptly kicked me out. I may be more of a novice than you in this particular subject, but your words to me that day were quite clear. You only married because I got you caught up in a scandal with me. I was that poorthing that needed saving. That was clearly not enough for you.Iwas clearly not enough for you.”

Pain, bright and evident flashed through Hugo’s eyes, dissolving the anger that shined there.

“I had no right to say that to you,” he told her, “And if anyone got trapped into a scandal, it was you, Seraphina. I pursued you, seduced you, even when others warned me not to.”

“So you made a mistake,” Seraphina retorted, pushing herself to take another step as she wiped her tears away. “And I am not only forgiving you for that, but also giving you a way out.”

She moved to take another step further into the gardens, but Hugo grabbed her with surprising gentleness, and turned her to face him. For a moment she was startled, for as she looked into his eyes, she saw they were blurry with tears.

“Please,” he begged, his voice tortured, “Let me explain what truly happened. If afterward you want to still divorce me- well, I will give you whatever you want.”

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