Page 14 of Captured By the Cold Duke
Thankfully, the duchess had also gone to pains to arrange the wedding breakfast table so that Cherie was seated on the opposite end of the table from her husband. She had also arranged it so that her friends were surrounding her, so for the next few hours, Cherie busied herself with talking to Cassandra, Minerva, and Samantha. She also made sure to keep motioning for the footman to refill her champagne glass. The third time this happened, she caught her husband’s eye from across the table. He was watching her, a wary look on his face, but she looked away quickly and refused to make eye contact with him for the rest of the meal.
It was only as they were digging into dessert that the wedding breakfast became truly interesting.
“Am I late?” A cool, cutting voice cut through the chatter of people, and Cherie looked up from her pudding to see a tall,thin, middle-aged man standing in the doorway of the breakfast room, a thin smile on his face. The man had blonde hair and tawny eyes, and they were fixed on her husband with an intensity that made her uncomfortable.
The room grew silent at once. Most people present knew who this was. Those who didn’t looked around curiously at the dark expressions on everyone’s faces.
“Lord Rochford,” the duke said, at last, setting down his knife and fork. “You are, in fact, not invited.”
“I am aware that an invitation was not extended to me,” Lord Rochford said, smiling benignly. “But I chose to believe the snub was accidental, considering that we are family, and considering that the Duke of Wheaton is not an unforgiving man.”
Once, Cherie might have agreed with him. The Casserly she had known had been kind and funny. But the new Duke of Wheaton was as cold and unforgiving as she could imagine.
“However, if you are in an uncharitable mood,” the earl continued, his cold blue eyes flickering around the table and coming to rest on Cherie, “then I at least hoped I could appeal to the sensibilities of your new wife.”
The duke stiffened, and Cherie set down her fork and knife and gazed furiously at the earl.
“What is it I can help you with, my lord?” she asked.
“I am here hoping to beg for your forgiveness,” Rochford said, and the tension in the room became even sharper.
“You’re not in a position to make entreaties of my wife,” her husband said, his voice as cold as ice, and Cherie felt goosebumps go up her arm. She glanced covertly down the table at him. His face had remained calm and composed, but there was a cold dislike and even anger emanating from his eyes that she hadn’t seen before.
“We are family,” the earl said, his eyes unmoving from Cherie’s face. “And family forgives one another.”
The Duke of Wheaton let out an astonished laugh, and everyone turned at once to look at him.
“What kind of man tries to buy a woman’s hand in marriage?” he asked Rochford, the remark sarcastic and cutting. “Is that what you consider to be proper behavior?”
The duke’s cool anger was so strong that Cherie was surprised the earl didn’t look more discomposed. She herself felt discomposed, but not out of alarm or fear. It was as if she was seeing the old Casserly, and it made her heart ache… the boy she’d known might have defended her that way.
Instead, the earl bowed low, an obsequious smile on his face. “Thomas, we are old friends as well as cousins, and I can assure you, I came here only with the best intentions. You are right, of course: it was not the correct approach to accept Mr. Norton’s offer of his cousin as a match. But it didn’t come from any placeof malice. I am simply in want of a wife, and Lady Cherie is a beautiful, intelligent, and wealthy woman. I knew she would make an excellent wife and countess.”
“You will refer to her asHer Graceor not at all,” Thomas said slowly, and although his voice remained calm, there was a finality to his tone that told everyone listening he would brook no opposition. To her surprise, Cherie felt her heart leap at her husband’s defense. She didn’t fully understand why it made her feel as if her whole body were on fire, but it did.
There was a long, uncomfortable pause, and then the Earl of Rochford smiled again. “Of course. I apologize, Your Grace.” He bowed his head in Cherie’s direction. She did not respond. “However, as I was saying… You cannot fault me for thinking it wise to marry the duchess. I did not intend to “buy” her, as you phrase it. I merely thought it would make a good match and would have allowed her cousin Mr. Norton to fulfill his debts and keep his dignity intact.”
At the end of the table, Norton had turned the color of beetroot. “You have only brought me more indignity!” Norton cried out. “And now you lie by telling these people that I offered Her Grace to you?! I did not offer, my lord. Youaskedfor her hand in marriage, in order to settle my debts.”
Cherie pressed her hand to her mouth to keep from gasping. So, the earl hadrequestedher hand in marriage?! She had assumed her cousin had merely offered, out of thoughtlessness for her feelings. But knowing that the earl specifically requested the marriage changed everything. It meant he had been thinking ofher as a potential bride, even before whatever card game had led to her cousin’s debt.
But why? We are barely acquainted! Why would I be his first request?
“It is no lie,” the earl said smoothly. “I am not ashamed to admit I asked for the lady’s hand. But again, it wasn’t merely to ‘buy’ her, but to allow two gentlemen to mutually benefit from a difficult situation. My intentions, I assure you all, were pure.”
“Surely you don’t expect me to believe that,” the duke said, raising an eyebrow. “If your intentions were pure, you would have asked the lady for her hand in marriage, or at least waited until the Duke of Vaston had returned to ask his permission to court her. Instead, you took advantage of a weak man to try and manipulate the situation to your advantage.”
If Cherie hadn’t been so angry at the sight of the Earl of Rochford, she might have found it funny her husband didn’t think twice about abusing Cousin Charles to his face as if he weren’t present.
“I am inclined to agree with Wheaton,” Aidan said, from where he sat across from his wife. “You have shown your true colors, Rochford, and you cannot be trusted.”
The Earl of Rochford’s smile finally faded, and he stared around the room with a beseeching look on his face.
“I came here to make amends,” he said at last. “And to bring a present to the newlyweds, so that I might show them that while I did once hope to marry Lady Cherie, I am happy that she has found such a perfect match with someone else.”
The earl snapped his fingers, and a servant entered after him, bearing a bottle of expensive-looking brandy. After taking it from the servant, Rochford turned to Cherie and bowed low.
“This cognac is one of the rarest and most exclusive ever produced,” he explained. He took several steps closer to her, and even though she saw both her brother and husband stiffen, neither moved. When Rochford was only a meter away, he stopped and glanced down at the bottle.
