Page 41 of The Beast of Beswick
She moved to step away, but one muscular arm came down around her, holding her in place. “Not this way.”
“Explain.”
The duke nodded to Culbert. “Please show our guests to the morning salon. Lady Astrid and I will be along shortly.”
“But she is unchaperoned,” a pinch-faced Lady Ashley said. “It’s not proper to be alone with an unmarried lady, Beswick.”
The expression on the duke’s face was comical, given the scene they’d interrupted. Astrid would have snorted if she weren’t stinging from his betrayal. Nine years ago, she’d only had her word and the truth, and she’d lost everything anyway. Now, being caught in flagrante delictoonly compounded what people had once believed of her. That she was a loose woman.
“I intend to rectify that, Lady Ashley,” he replied calmly.
“Now, see here,” Uncle Reginald said. “This is demmed outrageous.”
The low rumbling growl came from the man at her side. Astrid could feel every muscle in the duke’s body bunching as if he were an animal readying to strike. Without thinking, she braced her palm against his, not for any other reason than to prevent bloodshed.
Lady Mabel cleared her throat, her amber eyes falling to their joined hands, and Astrid hastily dropped her hold. “You have five minutes, nephew.”
When the room cleared, Astrid lifted her gaze to Beswick’s eyes. It was a mistake. He hid nothing from her in their swirling whiskey-colored depths—not his regret, not his intent, not the embers of desire. A lock of silky brown hair curled onto his cheek, making him look almost boyish, like the young man in his family portraits. Unbelievably,impossibly, she wanted to kiss him again.
Astrid tore her eyes away and broke free of his clasp. “By my count, you’re down to four minutes, Duke.”
“Astrid.”
She clenched her jaw. “Beswick.”
The corner of his lip twitched at her tart reply, one tawny eyebrow tenting as if to signify the obvious fact that she’d been moaning his given name not moments before.
He poured two glasses of cognac and offered her one, which she accepted with an ungracious huff. She wasn’tthatstubborn. She took a bracing sip and then another. And then an indelicate gulp.
“Slowly,” he said, watching her over the rim of his own glass.
“Don’t tell me what to do. Three minutes, Duke.”
He canted his head after a sip of brandy. “I directed Fletcher to summon Viscount Everleigh the minute I rode for the village. I preferred to have the advantage, should he come barreling in here with demands. Lady Ashley was to be my insurance in case your uncle accused me of abducting you or Isobel.”
Astrid shook her head. “He wouldn’t go so far. Who would believe such a lie?”
“Wouldn’t he?” Beswick swilled the rest of the brandy, his face going hard and drawing attention to the ropes of scars beside it. “You don’t think they speak of me in London? They think me a beast. A shadow of a man wrecked by war. Outside and inside. Thetonwill believe any piece of salacious gossip that makes them salivate. The fact that I possess a coronet only makes it more sensational.”
Astrid sucked in a breath, her fury forgotten. “You’re aduke.”
“You say that as if it’s a magic wand.”
“Isn’t it?” she asked. “You’re one of the most powerful peers in the realm.”
Beswick smiled, and it was as dark as anything she’d ever seen. She suppressed a shiver. “People don’t like monsters, Astrid.”
“You’re not a monster.”
He gestured to himself. “The world sees otherwise.”
The explanation made sense, though it didn’t take away the sting of his method…that he’d taken her choices from her in a manner that stank of what Beaumont had once done. It wasn’t fair to compare the two situations or the two men, but Astrid couldn’t help feeling deceived.
“Why marriage?” Taking his empty tumbler, she walked to the mantel and refilled both their glasses from the decanter. She handed one to him, and they sipped in silence. “I seem to recall overhearing something about hell freezing over before you would marry me.”
“I was wrong then. And angry at what I’d discovered.” His mouth twitched. “I didn’t take you for an eavesdropper.”
“Trust me, I hadn’t planned to.”
