Page 16 of Married to the Forbidden Duke
“Pardon?”
“I wish for you to lock it. I do not wish for you to visit me in the middle of the night.” She raised her chin. “You may have forced me into your life, but I will not permit you into my bed.”
“I… see.”
Those ice-blue eyes bored into her for the umpteenth time that day, and she felt certain that he would refuse. Her heart pounded at the idea—fear, she told herself. Onlyfear.
Nothing to do with exhilaration at all.
No curiosity about what would happen if he brought his hand to her chin, brought her face to his, pressed his lips on hers, and denied her outright.
Her breath quickened, and heat sparked in his eyes. A flash of something so passionate, she wondered if she had been dreaming.
No man had looked at her like that since her accident. Ever since then, she had gone from an object of admiration and desire to someone pitied, cosseted, and ultimately forgotten. In their eyes, she no longer had value as a woman.
The idea that—despite everything—he might desire her, unsettled her greatly.
She coughed, then stepped back, wanting to put distance between them, but her bad leg buckled, and she stumbled.
The Duke darted forward, catching her and hauling her up against his body. His arms were tight around her, and his breath flowered against her neck. No one had held her in such an intimate way for over five years, and she stiffened in his embrace—for that was what it was. An embrace.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
As though he had any right to ask that of her.
Her cheeks flamed at the thought of him seeing her weakness, but she refused to let her chagrin show. This was what he had done to her. Better he saw and understood that now.
Yes, it was better.It had to be.
She leaned away from him, and he released her immediately. But by the manner in which his gaze traveled down her body, she knew he was concerned about her.
Concerned.
The indignity of it…
A small voice at the back of her head whispered that; wasn’t this what she wanted—him to understand in full terms what he had done?
But she silenced that voice, because now it came down to it, she found she didn’t want his concern, nor his pity. She wanted him toregret, not because he thought of her as lesser, but because he realized how terrible his actions were.
For her parents’ sake.
But she would not think of them.
“I’m perfectly fine,” she uttered, her voice wooden. “You should leave me. I’ve seen enough of the house, thank you.”
“Alice—”
“Leave me alone, please.”
After another long moment, he bowed, his eyes on hers. “I shall send someone up to lock the door,” he said, then left the room.
For the first two days of their marriage, Frederick scarcely saw his new wife. She descended for breakfast after he rose, and dined in her room.
He made no effort to push her to join him.
It was clear she wanted their marriage to be in name only, and he had no objections in principle. Aside from the issue of children, which he did not have to raise immediately—there was no pressing need for him to enter her bed.
And now that she had insisted on the adjoining door to their chambers being locked, there would be no convenient way into her room, anyway.
