Page 48 of Her Devil of a Duke
“Clearly, I have been mistaken in many things.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but he walked away. He let her reach the door as he went back to the bed and slowly sat down.
I cannot believe he lied. He did all of this to seduce me like any other woman, did he not? What other explanation is there?
When he made no further effort to explain himself but just sat on the edge of the bed, calmly staring at her, his face contorted in anger, she was even more furious at herself than before.
“Goodbye,” she whispered the word, her voice suddenly losing its venom as she hurried out the door.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
“God’s blood,” Rafe muttered darkly as he pulled himself back out of the bath and wrapped a towel around his body. He’d barely dipped himself into the water to wash off before he reached for clothes and hurried to dress. Everything he did was sharp and angry, every movement he made was loud. He kicked the bath as he stepped away from it and threw the towel across the room.
She thought of Mr. Windham the whole time, did she not? She came here to seduce Laurence Windham. Remember that!
Her fury at him had seemed to make no sense, until they started talking about the reason she had come here. Abruptly, Rafe had seen it all for what it was. As his heart was falling for her, she had come to learn about seduction and pleasure so that she could use it on another man.
I despise that man.
He pictured seeking out Mr. Windham and decking him. Such a man who would cheat on her and kiss another woman at a ball did not deserve Evie. She had too good a heart to marry such a man as him. But she had too pure a heart that would forgive him for his transgressions too.
“How has it come to this?” he muttered darkly to himself as he pulled on his breeches. He’d had enough of this. He wished he could turn back the clock twelve hours and have Evie in his bed again, for the two of them to be content, but it was not to be.
One of the reasons she had to be so angry at the mask was because she had realized he had seen everything that night. He had seen her at her most vulnerable. He had seen Mr. Windham kissing another woman.
Did she fear I would think ill of her? For wanting to seduce a man that had kissed another woman?
Strangely, he didn’t think ill of her at all. All he felt was unbearable jealousy and rage.
There was a piercing knock at the door.
“What?” Rafe barked uncharacteristically at the door.
“It is I, Your Grace,” Stede’s voice came from the other side.
“It is open,” Rafe called.
Stede opened the door, his eyes going wide when he saw Rafe was only partly dressed. He turned away, blushing a deep shade of red.
“Oh, have at it, man. Let me guess. I am hardly acting like the duke you would have me be, Stede,” Rafe said with plain derision. He was in no mood to put up with Stede’s resentment today.
“I have come to tell you something, Your Grace. It’s the west wing.”
“What about it?” Rafe asked as he pulled on his shirt and went for his waistcoat.
“Did you not hear that sound?” Stede looked toward him, his brow furrowing.
“What sound?”
“About ten minutes ago.”
Rafe had had his head plunged under the water in the bath at the time as he tried his best to forget the feeling of making love to Evie.
“The west wing has imploded and collapsed.”
“Collapsed?” Rafe hurried to pull on his hessian boots. He barely glanced at Stede as he marched out of the room and ran through the corridor, though he heard the butler following him, chasing after him.
When he reached the cord that acted as a barrier to the other wing, Rafe skidded to a stop. From this position, he could only see part of the hallway and it had caved in. Half of the roof had torn open, the ceiling molds now just rubble on the floor.
