Page 22 of The Duchess' Ultimatum
“Is that what you are doing?” he laughed.
“I am,” she said without looking.
“And how do you intend to do such a thing?”
Her head snapped up. “I am not a complete dolt. I know thetonwell enough – better than you, I would imagine. Reginald has given me a list of your friends and acquaintances, and it is not such a hard thing to work out who might wish to come.” She shrugged and bent her head again. “And if I invite too many, well, it is not my fault if you despise human company.”
Dorian glared at the top of her head… then his eyes turned to the list of names. There were several loose pieces of parchment strewn around the desk, each one pertaining to various family members mostly. There was also a list of business associates, some current, some outdated, and this was where Dorian’s gaze landed.
“I thought so,” he scoffed.
“What?” she growled without looking.
“You don’t know what you are doing – see here.” He shot his hand out and pointed to the parchment with his business associates, his finger landing on one name in particular. “Why is Lord Kenbrook’s name crossed off?”
That had her looking up again, doubt flashing behind her eyes for the first time. “He… you and Lord Kenbrook have not worked together in years, at least not from what I can see. Why would I invite him?”
Dorian stood up and folded his arms. “My point exactly. You don’t know what you are doing. Lord Kenbrook is a guest I wasmost hoping to invite, and were he not sent an invitation, I would have deemed your efforts not worth –”
“And how am I to know that!” Penelope exploded suddenly. “How am I to know anything! You have told menothing. Not why you have chosen to host this party so suddenly. What the purpose is for. How long it is to go, how many guests, the theme.”
“You have not asked.”
She was shaking with anger. “I don’t know why… I should have… I suppose I am the fool, am I not? Why I expected a man who literally fled the day after he married me, not leaving behind so much as a note to explain himself – not sending one in three years. Not caring to do so. Not caring for anyone but himself…” Her eyes narrowed and, were it possible, steam might have billowed from her nose. “Tell me now and don’t lie to me. No matter what I do, how hard I work, or how good this party is, you don’t intend to go through with what you promised. Admit it.”
“Is that what you think of me?”
She laughed bitterly. “Believe me when I tell you, you do not wish to know what I think of you.”
Most unexpectedly, a stab of guilt drove itself into Dorian’s chest. The wrath his wife fixed on him, the truth in her words. And the very real fact that she had done nothing wrong, but he was happy to make it appear as if this was all her fault.
He couldn’t tell her the real reason that he had chosen to leave her, why he did not wish to marry in the first place… that it had nothing to do with her and everything to do with him.
He could not tell her why he had decided to throw this party as if from nowhere, how important it was to him, how desperate he was for it to work the way he needed.
He certainly could not tell her why he wanted Lord Kenbrook to attend. If he did that, she would ask why, and that would be just another lie.
And because he could not tell her these things, there was but one path left to take. Not one he felt proud of, but the only option left.
“I will remind you, Penelope, that you are the one who insisted on helping me – I admit that the circumstances surrounding your being here were strange, and not your fault. But once they were found out, you had every option to leave.”
“I –”
“You chose to stay,” he spoke over her, snarling as he did. “I am not stopping you from doing so. I have even agreed to your ludicrous request…” He scoffed. “Why I did? I suppose you caught me in a moment of weakness and because I am a man of my word, I will not change my mind.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, how very –"
“But if you are to take one thing away from this, be the very real fact that this is my party. Not yours. It will be done my way, how I say it, the way I wish for it done. I told you that I would send for you, when I am ready to do so. Until then, I suggest you wait patiently, because all of this…” He indicated her work. “It is for nothing. A waste of your time, as far as I am concerned.”
Penelope was glaring daggers at him, and he could see in those fiery eyes how much she wished to snap and snarl and put him in his place.
She could not do such a thing, however, because at the end of the day she needed him far more than he needed her. Or rather, she believed as much.
“I am sorry,” she somehow managed, not sounding like she meant it. “I got carried away. Excited to help.”
“It is fine,” he said coldly. “Just don’t let it happen again. Now, if there is nothing else…” He stepped back and fixed her in a dismissive look. “As I told you the last time, I will send for you when I am ready. Not before.”
“I eagerly away being sent for,” she responded with a snarl of her own.
