Page 69 of The Beast of Beswick
Neither of them moved, unwilling to go back to the ballroom…and to being newly wedded strangers. In a sense, the masquerade had allowed them to drop their defenses and come together as if the battle between them were on hiatus. But such a truce wasn’t meant to last. Lines had been drawn, sides formed. She would go back to being the smart-mouthed bluestocking cataloging his antiques, who had married him for security. He would go back to being the recalcitrant irascible duke. And all would be well with the world.
Thane exhaled, seemingly caught up in his own thoughts, and gathered her close before lifting her gently to set on the bench beside him. Astrid tugged her bodice into place as the duke set himself quickly to rights and removed her a small linen square from his jacket pocket.
“What’s that for?” she blurted out and then blushed as he knelt. “Oh, you don’t have to do that.” But he was already dabbing her sticky thighs.
Thane was frowning when he removed the handkerchief. “I should not have been so careless.”
She blinked as she belatedly recalled that he’d withdrawn their first time. “It’s fine.”
“No, it was foolish.” He stood and tucked the linen into his pocket. Astrid’s blush heated at the thought of something so intimate and marked with her essence being on his person. “We cannot make this mistake again.”
“Mistake?”
He stared at her as if she were dull-witted. “I do not want children, Astrid.”
The chill of the evening settled on her shoulders. Or maybe it was a chill blooming from inside her…from a place she’d thought well and truly buried. She hadn’t thought of babies with Thane before, but suddenly someone telling her that she wouldn’t have a choice in the matter made it seem so final. So absolute. She did not deal well with ultimatums.
Astrid’s chin lifted. “And what ifIwant them?”
His lips flattened, and his eyes dimmed to frosty amber. The change in him was swift and remarkable. Ah, there he was—her husband, the detached, blackhearted Duke of Beswick.
“If it’s company you seek, a pet will do just as well. Might I suggest a foxhound.”
“A foxhound?” she echoed in disbelief.
As if he hadn’t just destroyed her with his cruel, awful words, he offered her his arm. “Yes, they’re loyal and agreeable animals. Shall we?”
Astrid gathered her pride, wrapped herself in it, and rose. “You’re a bastard, Beswick.”
…
Thane downed yet another glass of whiskey. His fourth. Or fifth, he couldn’t recall. He hadn’t moved since he’d come back into the Featheringstoke ballroom, holding up an unobtrusive pillar near an alcove and watching his wife.
Queen Titania…holding dominion over her court.
Astrid had been shyly reserved when he’d first arrived, conducting herself as a married duchess would, but now, it was as if the very devil had gotten into her. Every time her laughter rang out, he flinched. Every time he saw her smile, it was a bladed fist to the gut.
She remained within the bounds of propriety for decorum’s sake, never dancing with the same partner twice, but she accepted a handful of dances from others, including close friends of his like Thornton and Roth, that made him sick with jealousy, when he had little reason to be jealous. He was the one who’d asked them to be solicitous of her in his stead.
God, it wouldn’t be long before she grasped how trapped she was in this marriage with him, and then she would hate him for it, more than she already did. It was only a matter of time before she realized he didn’t deserve her. That she deservedmore. One ofthosegentlemen. Unscarred. Unbroken. With their soul intact. He never should have let her in, wedded her,touchedher, and now it was too late.
You’re a bastard, Beswick.
She was already pushing him away, wasn’t she?
Thane gulped his whiskey and signaled for another.
“You’re going to keel over if you keep that up,” a soft voice said to his left. “Nephew.”
“Aunt,” he greeted, turning to kiss the duchess’s powdered cheeks, unsurprised that she had recognized him. She’d known him since he was in short pants. “Or should I say, Cleopatra. You look lovely tonight. How did you know it was me?”
“I saw you disappear with your wife.” Mischief glimmered in her eyes briefly. “For quite some time. I was about to send out a search party.”
Her scolding made Thane feel like a disobedient schoolboy. He’d lost control along with all sense of time, it seemed. They were lucky they hadn’t been discovered. The scandal would have been dreadful, worse yet if their identities had been discovered—the Beast of Beswick forcing his beautiful new bride to service him in public view. Because of course, no one would believe she’d been willing. He was much too hideous for anyone to want him.
But Astridhadwanted him. Until he’d ruined it with his callous response about children, but that was one topic on which he could not be swayed. No child deserved to have a father like him. Just like no wife deserved him for a husband. And he’d gone and married her anyway.
Mabel frowned at him and followed his gaze. “Astrid is having the time of her life, at least on the surface, if one didn’t know her.”
