Page 45 of The Duke's Impossible Deal
“He is an earl!” Tobias snapped. “You agreed to this. There are things he must learn.”
“There may be things he must learn, but that does not change the fact that I am his mother. I brought him into this world. I have kept him safe, I have protected him and taught him what I can, and I will be there for him long after all of this is but a memory.” Rowen stepped towards him. “He is my son, not one of your soldiers. I will not let you treat him like that.”
Tobias’s eyes narrowed. “Do not think to give me orders, Duchess.”
“I do not care what you do to me, Duke. Where my children are concerned, I will not be cowed or bullied.” She closed the distance between them, her heart thundering so loudly that she thought it might burst. “I may have failed to protect them from their father, but I will not make that mistake again. I would do anything for them, and I will not let you hurt them.”
Tobias was breathing heavily, his whole body shaking as he looked at her with cold eyes. She stared back at him, fury lending her strength.
“I am not a monster.” His voice was little more than a hiss. “I am not the kind of… I will not hurt them.”
“You already have, Tobias.” Rowen had no mercy left in her. “You may be my husband, but so help me, if you ever do anything to upset them again, I will make sure you regret it until the end of your days.”
“Is that a threat?” Tobias’s eyes flashed.
“Yes.” Rowen tilted her chin up.
Silence stretched between them.
Tobias loomed over her, half his face cast in shadow. Every hair on Rowen’s body stood on end, but she would not back down.
“Very well,” Tobias murmured, taking a step back. “Let us make one thing clear, Duchess. I will forgive this threat because I see how much you care for your children, but I will not be so forgiving next time.”
Before Rowen could retort, Tobias ran a hand through his hair and said, “I think we need to rethink some things. After all, this is only a temporary arrangement. You have asked me to keep my distance from the children. Perhaps that would be for the best. I will hire another tutor for Alistair, and we will stop our private lessons. You will do your best to dissuade the children from seeking me out.”
He turned to her, hands clasped behind his back, his whole face shrouded in shadow. “Are you happy now? That is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
Rowen nodded. “It is.”
Ice filled her chest, anger leaving her like air from a balloon. She had wanted this. She wanted Tobias to keep his distance, and clearly, he had upset Alistair. This was the right decision.
“I will apologize to Alistair for upsetting him, of course,” Tobias added into the thickening silence between them. “I have no wish for him to think me unreasonable. And if I do not apologize, he might think that it is acceptable to behave this way with others.”
Rowen nodded, trying to understand the maelstrom of emotions in her chest. “An apology would be appreciated, I am sure. And I will do what I can to dissuade the children from seeking you out. Though you need not go out of your way to avoid them.”
“I will not. But I think we both know that distance would be best.” Tobias gave her a smile that was as cold as a winter morning. “After all, we need to return to our separate lives.”
“We do,” Rowen agreed, her voice sounding strangely distant.
“Now, if you have gotten your outrage out of your system, I have work to do.” Tobias gestured towards his desk.
Rowen nodded. She was a little bit irked by his dismissal, but she decided to leave. She knew she had already pushed him to his limits with her outburst.
She left the room, a hand on her chest.
“It is better this way. The children will not get attached, and I will not have to deal with teary nine-year-olds,” she muttered. “He is a husband, not a father. And I do not want him to be one. I do not need one.”
She repeated the words over and over, but each time, they felt less convincing.
Fourteen
“And how is my darling niece?” Tobias asked as he scooped the little girl into his arms.
He had invited Martha Carver and her daughter, Erica Carver, to the estate. Martha had been his brother’s lover, and Erica was their illegitimate daughter. The girl was a ball of sunshine, and looked like both her mother and her father.
It had been nearly a week since his disastrous lesson with Alistair and his fight with Rowen. An uneasy civility seemed to have settled between them, and he had decided to take his meals in his study. It made it easier to keep his distance.
“You are not my father.”
