Page 48 of Good Duke Gone Far

Quinn watched as Egan turned to Kat. “I apologize for my rudeness.” He stopped and opened his mouth, then clamped it shut instead. “That’s all there is to it.”

“I accept your apology.”

Only moments ago, Quinn wanted to shoot at this man. Well, probably just over his right shoulder to scare him. But the man had apologized, and though it was short, it seemed genuine enough. Quinn was not a petty man. There was no need to hold onto a duel. Honor had been satisfied.

And wasn’t that all he cared about? Doing what was right? Standing up for those he loved? Protecting what was his? Yet in trying to protect her, he saw the moment she chose to protect herself from him. Even his attempts to protect her from this journey all together had failed. It was almost as if she didn’t need his protection…That was an unsettling thought. His life was dedicated to protecting people. Rest assured he had failed on several accounts, but couldn’t he protect one measly little woman? The thought persisted. Maybe she didn’t need his protection. If not his protection, what did she need from him? What had he to offer her? Besides being a bloody duke now. But he didn’t want her if her only reason for being with him was that he was a duke.

She didn’t need his protection, and now he was finding out he was a duke? What the hell was going on? Couldn’t anything be normal or easy around Kat?

“I see you didn’t know.” Egan poured him another drink. “There’s one way to find out everything. Your estate is just a half day’s ride back toward England. You probably nearly passed it on your way here.”

“Yes. I shall do that.” If Quinn’s words were swimming, they found the buoy in Egan’s reply.

“Stay for a meal. Stay for the night. Then leave tomorrow.”

“Yes, thank you. We will.”

We. He had told them they were husband and wife. Did they believe him? They would have given them one room if they did. Should he clear up the misconception? The lie, really. No. He would leave everything as it was for now.

“Let’s eat,” George’s cheery voice cracked through the silence. “I’m famished. Nothing like being almost shot at to work up an appetite.”

Leading the way out of the study, everyone followed George to the food. The conversation was stilted, but the food more than made up for it. Apparently guns, lies, and life-altering news did make a man hungry. They also left a man mostly lost in his own thoughts.

It wasn’t until after the meal and they were being led to their bedchambers by a liveried footman that Quinn gave more thought to the night ahead of them.

They were still husband and wife. And he still wanted her as a good husband wants his wife. But she hadn’t said a word to him since…shooting and points.

Upon walking into the room and shutting the door, Kat simply said, “I’ll take the bed.”

She walked over and threw a pillow to the ground.

“Let’s talk.”

“I don’t want to talk,” she threw another pillow to the ground. There were about twenty on the bed, she knew she could spare them. “That ought to be enough. If you need more, just ask.”

“Well, I do.”

She threw a third pillow down.

“I want to talk about what happened. About us.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Quinn. You went all crazy and you’re not allowed to.”

He chuckled.

“Don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m not allowed to go crazy?”

“No, you’re not. I’m the hothead. I’m the one who speaks whatever is on her mind. And, erm, also learning when not to. You’re the calm one. That’s why this works. Or why it could have worked.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I have a lot to think about.”

“And I don’t?” He had just received news of him basically having another identity. How could she not see from his perspective how much must be going on in his mind?

“How about you think about you and I think about me? That’s the way it was before. Maybe that’s the way it should still be. I said it already, but everything happened so fast. It all just happened to me. Now I want to be able to make some choices. Society, my parents, you…not even fate gets to tell me what to do.”

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