Page 35 of Captured By the Cold Duke
“Believe me, I’d have no trouble telling you if you were mortifying,” Cherie said sarcastically.
“Oh, there she is,” he chuckled. “The real Cherie.”
She folded her arms. “So what if I’m quiet sometimes? Can’t I be quiet?”
“Sure you can, I’m merely curious as to where it’s coming from. There have been a few occasions since we married when you were quieter than usual, but those times, I could feel the anger coming off of you as if it were heat from a fire. This is different. You don’t seem surly or angry. If anything… you seem embarrassed.”
There was no denying it now. Cherie really was embarrassed. Not only were her cheeks flaming, but there was a choked sound in her voice when she spoke again that reminded him of someone who was so embarrassed they were about to burst into tears.
“You were right about Lady Chastity,” she muttered. “Your presence reminds her of the horrible incident with Lord Dawson. It is for her sake that I’m embarrassed.”
But a quick glance at Lady Chastity told Thomas that his wife was lying. Lady Chastity looked perfectly at ease and was laughing at something that her sister was saying.
He raised an eyebrow. “Whatever you say, my dear.”
She blushed again, but before she could respond, the Duchess of Vaston said, “It’s your turn, Cherie!”
Cherie picked up the die and shook them in her hand, then let them roll across the table. They landed on five and eight. At once, all the ladies let out shrieks of delight.
“Lucky number thirteen!” Samantha shouted, and she actually jumped up out of her chair. “You move ahead ten spaces!”
“What?!” Thomas stared at the die. “What is happening?What are the rules of this game?”
The ladies all laughed at him, and Cherie delightedly moved her marker forward. When she passed his, she knocked it out of the way, and it clattered to the floor. “I’m sorry,my dear,” she said, flashing him a smile. “But you have been knocked out of the game.”
“This makes absolutely no sense,” he informed them, as he collected his marker from the ground. “Did you ladies make this game up?”
They all exchanged furtive glances, and he laughed.
“Wait—did you?” he asked, staring at each one of them in turn.
“Well… not exactly,” Samantha said sheepishly. “But the instructions were in German, and we couldn’t understand them all, so… there were a few things that we made up.”
“Including that a roll of thirteen entitles the roller to knock out any player she passes on the board,” Cherie said happily. She grinned at him, then lowered her voice. “Am I still being quiet, Your Grace? Or is this level of volume more accurate to me?”
“Believe it or not, I much prefer you forthcoming to shy,” he said, smiling slightly. She reddened again, then rolled her eyes.
“Samantha is right,” she murmured. “This is closer to the Casserly I remember.”
“You and your brother were the only people who ever really knew that Casserly,” Thomas said, a little heavily. “For most people, at least of my father’s acquaintance, the somber, version of me is much closer to the truth.”
This softened the look on his wife’s face, and she looked at him curiously. Perhaps even tenderly.
“After what you told me, that my brother was the first friend you ever really confided in, I can believe that,” she said at last. “And I’m glad that we got to know the real you.”
The real you.Thomas wondered, not for the first time, what exactly that meant: whowasthe real him?
Was it the surly, frustrated man who had constantly been going up against his father, trying to demand better treatment for their workers and better business practices? Or was it the fun-loving,laughter-prone, teasing gentleman who had always carried a torch for his best friend’s sister?
He certainly liked the version of himself he was with Cherie and Aidan better, but that didn’t mean it was the true him. He’d spent so long feeling angry at himself and his father to fully believe that the lighthearted, charming side of him could be the real one.
She’ll only be disappointed when she realizes that this is the real you, the voice said in his mind. For the first time, he realized how much like his father that voice sounded.You’ll disappoint her like you do everyone.
“Are you all right, Your Grace?” Thomas was startled by the voice to his right, and he turned to see Lady Chastity peering at him closely. “Are you upset that Her Grace knocked you out of the game?”
Thomas forced himself to laugh. “No, no, not at all. It’s only a game, after all.”
She smiled hesitantly, and Thomas remembered how his wife had told him how painfully shy Lady Chastity was.
