Page 47 of A Duke, a Virgin and a Baby
Anna avoided his gaze, her eyes twinkling as she looked around the room, smiling at the other dancing couples around them.
“Well… you did not seem like the sort who would like to dance. You are more likely to be found brooding handsomely in a corner, causing young maidens to whisper about your identity and swoon over your glare.” She said.
Julian stifled a sigh, finding her claims ridiculous.
“I received all the necessary etiquette training required of the heir of a dukedom as a child. Learning to waltz was a task I had accomplished by the time I was eight years of age. It doesn’t matter whether or not I prefer to engage in this activity… but I cannot say that I mind it so much at this moment,” he responded, pulling her closer than was needed at the end of his statement.
He really could never get enough of the way color filled her cheeks, how Anna’s gaze wavered as she tried to summon the courage to face him head-on, ultimately falling and trying to hide in plain sight.
Julian wanted to tease her a little more but relented, simply thankful that she seemed to have lost the tension she had carried for most of the night. It hadn’t taken him too long to notice that her focus had not made it past the foyer of their home, likely still hovering over the little boy she had spent nearly every waking moment with, ever since he had shown up at their door.
He understood that she possibly worried about his well-being, but he had intended for their attendance at the ball to serve as a chance for her to leave Nicholas’ care up to someone else. But she had only grown more and more anxious the further away they got from the house.
Something sharp had twisted into his heart as he watched her haunt herself with pointless worries, and before he knew what he was doing, he had asked her to dance with him.
Now, she was here in his arms, looking like a goddess beneath the soft lamplight, the jewels in her hair and around her neck sparkling like stars, giving her a more ethereal look with every moment that passed.
It was quite a sight, to behold her in this regal state, but Julian found that he equally favored the picture of her flushed, barely dressed as she shivered and moaned with pleasure. That was a form of his wife he knew he could never get tired of seeing, a look she wore so well and he missed dearly. Need began to stir within him and the duke clenched his jaw tighter, summoning control from the depths of himself. He fought the urge to find a room in that moment where he could once more gaze upon his wife in an intimately, his dry throat aching for a chance to taste her.
“Regardless, I appreciate you asking me to do this. I did not believe we would get a chance to be like this. Like a married couple. This is quite nice,” Anna told him softly, giggling as he spun her around a little.
He did not expect that something so small and fickle to him would make her so… happy. Was she merely easy to please?
Anna’s admission of the loneliness she had endured in his absence trickled into Julian’s mind once more, a problem that he couldn’t seem to ignore. Guilt gnawed at him and he inhaled deeply, feeling as though the best he could offer was an explanation, even though it would fix nothing.
“It was never my intention to abandon you.”
His words caught Anna off guard and the smile on her lips faded and she frowned up at him in confusion.
“I don’t – I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
“After our wedding. I know my actions might have seemed cruel, but it wasn’t my intention to punish you for a situation that was not your fault. A situation in which you were also a victim. I only wanted to do what was right – and avoid repeating the mistakes I had witnessed my family make. My father was quite incorrigible and cruel. He only ever viewed his family – our family as important when he needed to boast about his perfect heir or join conversations that ridiculed wives. He did not care for my mother – certainly did not love her, if the numerous affairs he’d had during their marriage was anything to go by. My mother was… far too lovely to see him for who he really was. Despite how deeply hurt and sad his actions made her. Between the complicated mess of my parent’s marriage and my brother’s irresponsible attitude, I did not feel as though I would make a good husband on any account.”
Anna lifted her head, her expression portraying surprise and confusion.
“Brother? You have a brother?”
He raised an eyebrow at her question. “Did you not know?”
“No, I – you never brought him up. There were rumors, but you never mentioned him, and neither did the staff. And there areno portraits of your family within the estate – none I have come across anyway.” She replied, flustered.
“I do not speak of him because I do not like the sort of life he lives. He is reckless, ignorant, childish… and I suspect that he is Nicholas’ birth father.”
Anna tripped over her own feet, stumbling forward with a gasp. Julian’s hands came down to hold her steady by her waist and the moment she was stable, she questioned.
“What? How do you know? How long have you known?”
Julian exhaled deeply. “The child is not mine, but he has strikingly similar eyes to mine. And this trait was passed down from my father to his sons, so I took a gander. It is still a mere speculation, but I have located my brother and I instructed him to find Nicholas’ mother. If I am right, then Seth is how we’ll put an end to all of this. I have cut off his resources and he is bound to come crawling to us, any day out. If he’s smarter than I give him credit for, he’ll come with the answers we seek.”
Anna thought she would be relieved to learn about Nicholas’ parents, but the news only made her sick, a wave of uneasiness threatening to smother her.
“W-What about his mother? Do you know anything about who Nicholas’ mother could be?”
Julian shook his head slowly, looking frustrated for a moment.
“Not a clue. But judging by my brother’s preferences, she could be a mere maid or servant. That would explain why she abandoned the child at our doorstep. It is possible she hoped we would raise him and provide a better life than she could have.”
The small bout of thrill and joy Anna had felt moments ago had faded, leaving behind heartbreak and disappointment in its wake. She had suspected that Nicholas’ parents might not have been able to provide for him, and only wanted to give him the life they couldn’t afford.
