Page 3 of Duke of Pride

No! Absolutely not.

He inhaled sharply, and that made her downcast eyes flick to his. He felt that sapphire look in his bones, but Victoria quickly looked away, slightly over his shoulder.

It was time he took control of this uncontrollable situation.

So, Stephen, now in his damp clothes and fraying dignity, crossed his arms and fixed her with a look that could have frozen the Thames.

“You’ll forgive my confusion, Miss Victoria,” he began coolly. “But last I checked, women do not typically reside in the Duke of Colborne’s dressing room.”

She arched an eyebrow. Gone was the shy, coy look.

“Perhaps not in the Duke’s dressing room, but certainly in the rooms that were given to them. And you didn’t knock.”

“It ismydressing room,” he argued, emphasizing each word as if he were explaining arithmetic to a child. “I am not exactly sure where you grew up, but I am certain you are aware of how rooms work.”

“And I am sure you know how correspondence works. If you had informed the household of your arrival, all this would have been avoided. Instead, you barged in with all the grace of a stampeding bull. In fact, the bull might have paused to light a candle, at least.”

“I was not aware I had to ask for permission to entermyroom. How is the fact that this is—and excuse me if I tire you with the repetition—my roomirrelevant?”

Victoria was shaking with restrained wrath.

“I was told that the rooms were unoccupied. Unless you possess the ability to haunt your residence,Your Grace, I had every right to think that I was in my private quarters.”

Stephen frowned. This was getting more ridiculous by the minute.

“And, pray tell, who granted you access to these rooms?”

“Your mother,” Victoria stated as if this was obvious and he was the daft one. “You did not presume I run around Mayfair, picking locks to sneak in, did you?”

“I am sure you did not.” Stephen was starting to get annoyed. “I was also informed that your brotherinheriteda perfectly suitable mansion.”

The way he emphasized ‘inherited’ did not go unnoticed by her, but she decided to let it slide. Still, she drew a deep breath, her chest heaving. And just like that, Stephen felt all the sensations he was fighting so hard to stifle and bury so deep slowly reemerge.

No!

“Does your brother know that you are currently in the quarters of a gentleman?”

“I am sure I wrote to him about my move almost a year ago.”

There was too much information in that single sentence that Stephen opened his mouth to say something but failed.

“I see that your brain is just as difficult to cooperate as your shirt,” Victoria drawled, eyeing his hastily adjusted shirt, which clung to his body.

Stephen felt her gaze as if she had actually touched him. His jaw clenched.

“My brother is attending to the family business in India. Your mother was kind enough to ask me to stay with her so neither of us had to be alone.”

Stephen blinked at the deluge of information that did more damage than the weather outside.

“I am your mother’s companion,” Victoria continued, annoyed. “She is not paying me, of course, so you could say it is more of a friendly arrangement that?—”

“I was never informed about this!” Stephen snapped.

“It may have been the knowledge of how logically and rationally you would have reacted. As you are now, screaming in the middle of the night. Unless the plan is to alert the whole household of our… situation.”

Stephen was too tired to deal with all of this right now. And she was annoyingly right yet again. Born into nobility or not, Victoria was still a lady of the ton. And the mere fact that they were in the same room, unchaperoned, would be enough to raise a scandal. Not adding all the other… elements into the equation.

“I think it’s best for us to discuss this once the sun is up,” he said as softly as his trembling body allowed.

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