Page 48 of Her Duke for Thirty Days
“I’ve noticed,” Alexander once again gritted through clenched teeth. He didn’t want to be here any longer. In fact, he couldn’t wait to get out of there. “We are leaving.”
“Already?” Leonard asked, sounding surprised. “But the ball had just started.”
“I’ve had more than I can take,” Alexander was honest this time. He locked gazes with Lord Livingstone, and Alexander hoped that the man could read the double entendre in his statement.
Phyllis came back shortly after, without any joy on her face. “I am ready.”
“All right,” he said, offering her his arm. She pretended not to see it, instead offering her goodbyes to Leonard and her new friend. It took Alexander all his conscious effort not to grab her by the hand and drag her out himself. He waited patiently, then when she passed right by him as if he were invisible, he followed her closely behind, almost like a memory she wanted to forget but could not.
The carriage ride home was cloaked in an uncomfortable silence, the rhythmic clatter of hooves against the cobblestone streets amplifying the tension within the confined space. Alexander’s gaze fixated on the passing scenery outside, his jaw clenched with restrained frustration. Phyllis, seated opposite him, stared into the shadows. He could sense the same frustration inside her as well, but he refused to discuss it here, in the carriage.
He avoided her gaze throughout the entire drive, focusing on the sound of his breathing. It did little to soothe his racing nerves. Nothing had that power now. He was overwhelmed by emotions he could not make sense of.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Phyllis could not understand what she had done that was so terrible. She was only speaking to a man, and furthermore, she was mostly discussing her husband, the same man who was so utterly upset with her. She wanted to ask him what the matter was in the carriage, but his reluctance to even glance in her direction assured her that this would not be the right moment to start that conversation.
That was why, as soon as she entered the mansion, she headed towards the grand staircase, without waiting for Alexander. She heard him walk behind her, his footsteps deafeningly noisy, as if he had been making them purposefully as loud as possible, then he stopped.
“So, you are just going to retire to your chamber?” she heard him ask, as he talked to her back. “Without even offering an explanation for your actions?”
She nervously gripped the railings of the staircase. For a moment, she considered just continuing to walk upstairs. After all, he had so rudely interrupted her and demanded that they returned home, without even a single word of explanation. Now, he wanted to talk? Now he wantedherto explain herself? She honestly could not understand this man, no matter how hard she tried.
Still, she turned to him, because she respected him, although she did not particularly like him at this moment. “What sort of an explanation are you looking for?”
He frowned. “Don’t tell me that you really do not see what you did wrong.”
“No, I really do not,” she replied with equal fervor, as she descended the two stairs and now, they were standing facing each other.
It was the middle of the night. The entire household was sound asleep, but Phyllis still didn’t like the idea of having this conversation right here, in the grand foyer, where anyone could stumble onto them. However, seeing that she felt she had done nothing wrong, she could talk until the very morning, if he wanted to. She had nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of, despite what he thought.
“I was in the ballroom, where everyone could see me,” she explained, displeased. “You act as if I had disappeared off to with some other man.”
“What you did was bad enough, Phyllis.”
“How was it bad enough?” she demanded, feeling that her voice was betraying her. “Your brother was there with us.”
“Not the entire time,” he reminded her. “You were speaking to Thomas on your own, just the two of you. And don’t pretend that you don’t know that talking with other men can easily start rumors, especially in a place such as that one, where you never know who is watching or listening.”
“Rumors?” she gasped in shock, her lower lip quivering with fury. “Since when do you care about rumors?”
“Since you became my wife, and the last thing I want is to have the ton gossiping about my family,” he snapped back. “As if they aren’t doing enough of that already.”
Her lips parted in an effort to offer a worthy retort, but something prevented her from doing so. She thought about it for a moment. Perhaps she had been a little rash. Of course, no one wanted rumors about their family. She had felt the brunt of venomous tongues on her own skin, with her own mother and then, her older sister. The result of her mother’s weakness and unwillingness to fight for her children, combined with her sister’s indiscretion and the subsequent rumors that started had decided Phyllis’ fate. She was where she was now because of rumors, because of a single wrong decision on part of someone she loved and trusted.
“Your attitude about this is wrong,” he added, and this enflamed her even more, at a moment when she was ready to let everything go. “I cannot even expect you to apologize because you don’t even see that you did anything wrong. Your apology would be utterly useless to me.”
Her nostrils flared up as she spoke. “What should I apologize for, Alexander? For simply speaking to a man, in public, in front of everyone, without hiding anything, and for trying to make a friend? On top of it all, that man is a friend of yours as well! I swear, you are being nothing but unreasonable and paranoid, seeing things that aren’t there.”
She was on the verge of telling him everything, the fact that they were mostly talking about him, that she was defending his character and his behavior, because she believed in that innate goodness she had witnessed inside of him. But she managed to bite her tongue in time. Why share any of this with him when he obviously wouldn’t believe her? He had created a scenario in his mind, in which she was the guilty party, and nothing she said would rectify that.
“Things that aren’t there?” he echoed, taking a closer step towards her.
Despite the fact that they were arguing, her heart reacted to his proximity. She found it difficult to breathe. Her blood started to stream through her veins much faster, and her entire body felt as if it was set on fire. She refused to acknowledge the effect he had on her, but it was undeniable, whether she was angry with him or not. His presence did something to him, and she was unable to think straight.
“What about the way you were smiling at him?” he urged. “Is that how you smile at all your friends?”
She frowned, shaking her head at him. She was incredulous at what he was saying. “You are really being paranoid.”
