Page 50 of A Duchess to Unravel
“We were hoping to have a small reprieve from our business discussions,” he replied.
“Oh, are we going to repeat Tristan’s dinner party?” Theo shot back, her temper flaring. “Are our poor, delicate, womanly ears too sensitive for the subject?”
Fire danced in Alistair’s eyes as he remained silent a moment. His steady, unfaltering gaze caused the longing she’d been struggling to tamper to radiate through her entire body, even into her palms and feet.
Alistair’s slow smirk bid nothing well as he kept his eyes on her and started to cut through his mutton. It was only when he picked up a piece with his utensils and placed it onherplate, that she took her eyes off him and stared down at it in confusion.
“Tell me, Amelia,” Alistair said calmly to their guest, “Did my wife eat today?”
What!
Theo’s eyes shot to her friend, silently pleading her not to answer. Too late.
“In fact, she did not,” Amelia replied, “I am glad that I am not the only one that noticed her eating habits. She has not had much since her mother’s passing and that was months ago.”
Theo glowered at her friend, feeling betrayed. In truth, her issues with food had started long before that, but she had thought she had hidden herself well.
“My eating habits are no one’s concern,” Theo stammered, picking up her fork to stab a green bean. “I am fine.”
“And I am worried.” Amelia replied quickly, giving Theo a hard look.
“She looks fine,” Everett stated, turning his attention to her plate. “If she does not want the extra mutton, I will happily take it.”
As he said so, he reached with his fork toward the meat Alistair had just placed. Before it could land, Alistair’s fork stabbed back into the mutton, clashing against incoming utensil.
The conversation stopped as Theo looked from Everett to Alistair. A hard, dominant look had settled into his eyes as he stared unblinkingly at Everett.
“We have plenty of mutton to offer from the serving plate,” Alistair stated, his tone laced with warning. “You will take it from that if you wish for more.”
Everett, as only just noticing that his playful nature had verged into disrespect, pulled his fork away and muttered something about apologies and being too drunk. Theo watched Alistair as he continued to stare in a predatory fashion toward Everett, hercheeks flushing. Then, to displeasure, that gaze turned to her. She shivered at the intensity of it.
“Tell me, darling,” he murmured to Theo, “Did you eat the last time I bid you to?”
Theo’s cheeks flushed scarlet as she remembered the command he’d given her before sending her from his office. She was told to get a bath and eat. She had done both. And it had been her first and last full meal several weeks before or since.
“Answer me,” he purred, only loud enough for her to hear.
“Yes,” she hissed, feeling as if her cheeks were about to burst into flame.
A pleased look took over Alistair’s face, and he sliced off another bit of mutton and popped it into his mouth.
“A wager then, darling,” Alistair said, louder this time for all to hear. “You finish your plate, including what I’ve given you, and Dominic, Everett, and I shall tell you all you want to know.”
“Ah, Dominic,” Amelia sighed, she and her husband reaching for another’s hands, “Do you remember when we first started making our little deals?”
“Indeed I do,” Dominic answered, a knowing smirk on his face as he kissed his wife’s hand. “You were so stubborn, I could not get you to do anything I said otherwise.”
To Theo’s surprise Amelia laughed and nodded.
“We are stubborn,” Amelia agreed, meeting Theo’s eyes with a knowing look. “Even when we do not need to be.”
She said the last pointedly and looked to Theo’s plate, then moved them back up to Theo’s, as if bidding her to eat. Anger surged through whatever longing Theo had left, eating it away until there was nothing left but rage and embarrassment.
Theo looked back to Alistair, her gaze hard. She stabbed the slice of mutton he’d left on her plate, and without breaking eye contact, shoved the entire thing rather barbarically into her mouth.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Arrogant … precocious … disputatious….”
