Page 25 of Married to the Forbidden Duke
His guilt must have gone deeper than he knew.
“Tell me, Alice,” he murmured, leaning in, though he knew he shouldn’t. “What will convince you that I have paid my debts to you?”
She blinked, looking almost surprised at his question. “Why, when you are fully miserable, of course.”
Of course. As though it should have been obvious.
Though perhaps itshouldhave been. It was on the tip of his tongue to say he had been miserable since the day of the accident, that he had been in a state of rare agony every time he thought of it, and having her here—proof of what he had done—was a torment.
She offered him redemption, but she was also a reminder of his suffering.
“We will continue this conversation later,” he said instead, sitting back up and handing her some water as the guests began to pour in.
CHAPTER TEN
Alice’s head spun as she attempted to sit on the chair. Her leg almost gave way underneath her, stealing what little grace the alcohol hadn’t already stolen.
The ball had come to an end, and although the Duke had been beside her most of the time since dinner, he had not quite successfully prevented her from having anything else to drink, so she found herself still rather inebriated.
She hadn’t needed to spread rumors that she had been manhandled into this union, or even that she had forced the Duke into it—both rumors abounded. All she needed to do was prove herself a wife below his station in life. Her leg already made that easy enough; her behavior was yet another way of proving it.
Convenient.
Her thoughts blurred as he came to bend down over her. So tall. So handsome. Really, she did not know how it was fair that such a man—sucha man—could be so physically prepossessing. She had expected him to be cruel and distant. Instead, he so often seemed to be encased in ice. But sometimes, like now, he seemedhot-blooded.
A man she could reach out and take hold of. One she wanted. Shewantedto crack the walls around him, to break him apart and taste him. To shatter the defenses surrounding him.
She wanted to know what his hands would feel like on her body…
No.
She stopped. Blinked. Frowned up at his blurry face and dark eyes. She didn’t want him—couldn’twant him! She was supposed to hate him. To make him break for revenge’s sake and nothing else.
She wanted to make him hurt.
The world would not stop spinning long enough for her to articulate any of those thoughts.
“Alice…” his voice resounded as he touched her arm.
She remembered again what it had been like to kiss him. How confusing, to loathe someone with every inch of your heart, yet for your body to want them so utterly. To be consumed like that.
“Your Grace,” she replied, her tongue thick, not obeying her commands.
The Duke eased his hands under her and lifted her upright. Clumsily, she attempted to grab her stick, but it clattered to the floor. The Duke sighed, then swung her into his arms.
“She is tired,” he told someone who stared after them and marched out of the room with her curled up against his chest. Her stick lay behind her, and although it was her house—of a fashion—she felt oddly bereft without it.
Without so much as a single word, he carried her through the house, up the staircase, and to her bedchamber. His gaze flicked to the chest of drawers she had instructed to be pulled over their adjoining door, but to her relief, he didn’t mention it.
“So,” he said, placing her gently on the bed, the harshness of his tone at odds with his actions. “Are you satisfied with how the night went, my drunken one?”
She licked her lips, hating the way her brain caught on ‘my’. “I hope they all hate you.”
“No doubt you do. No doubtthatis the true reason behind your inebriation tonight.”
“It is one reason, certainly.” Something in her chest tightened, hopeless and cold, as though there was nothing of joy left inlife for her. “They will never accept me, Your Grace. I am not Duchess material.”
He kneeled by her side, tilting her face up to his. She froze at the contact, but didn’t look away. “And according to many of theton, I am not Duke material. Yet here I am, and here you are. As Duke and Duchess. And do you know what I did? All night, I defended you.”
