Page 18 of A Duke's Unwanted Bride
A look that Adele could not quite read flitted across Duke Scarfield’s face. After a pause, he threw up his hands and said, “You really are the most stubborn woman I have ever met.”
“And you are the most judgemental manIhave ever met,” she retorted.How can he be so charming one minute and then the most irritating man in the next?
“I can see you will not be moved. Fine, I will call off my guards, but you must swear to me that you will not go back to the King’s Arms. It is no place for a woman, and I cannot allow you to get yourself killed for idle gossip.” He gave her a hard look.
Adele almost snapped at him but stopped herself just in time.Let him think that is what I am doing; it will be better that way.She did not want him interfering in her work, did not want to risk what revealing it might mean, but she also did not want to stop going to the King’s Arms.
“A compromise. I will tell you in advance when I plan on going to the King’s Arms, and you may send guards to accompany me.” She swallowed.
Duke Scarfield’s face could have been carved from marble for all the emotion it revealed. “Very well. Then we have an accord.”
“Should we shake hands?” She grinned maliciously as she held out a hand to him, her eyes full of defiance.He will not shake my hand.“After all, this is a gentleman’s agreement.”
“It would be, but you are a gentlewoman, Lady Adelaide.” He took her hand in his, clasping his fingers so lightly around hers that she knew she could slip her hand from his grip if she wished. Before she could decide to, he brushed his lips gently against her knuckles.
She drew in a breath as every hair on her body stood on end, and she was grateful she was sitting down. The Duke released her hand and stood, straightening the lapels of his coat.
“I will take my leave of you, Lady Adelaide.” He inclined his head towards her. “I am not one for negotiation or lenience. Do not make me regret it.”
Six
“Of course, with an endowment like that, who could say no?” Lord Henry Sweeney, son of the Earl of Montrose, winked at the men gathered around him. “And I am not just speaking of her father’s purse though that certainly helps.”
Warner groaned into his glass of scotch, as the group of men surrounding Lord Henry burst into guffaws of laughter. He had only been at the gentleman’s club for half an hour, and already he was starting to regret it.
He swallowed the rest of his whiskey, revelling in the burn of it against his throat, hoping it would distract him from the men’s conversation. It did not.
“Did you get her on her back?” one of Lord Henry’s cronies asked.
“A gentleman never tells.” Lord Henry downed his drink.
Warner tried to focus on the newspaper in front of him, drowning out the man’s conversation as he read about proposed changes to taxation.
It was working until Warner heard, “… never had a widow.”
His gaze snapped to Lord Henry and his crowd of sycophants. His heart sped up, and he gripped his glass more tightly.There are any number of widows he could be talking about anyone.
“At least, until the war. But now, there are so many pretty young things who are in need of consoling, and I am more than happy to oblige.” Lord Henry laughed. “There is something about death that seems to inflame passion in these women. They are desperate for it, and those that do not get it act out.”
The men around Lord Henry nodded in agreement. Warner placed his glass on the table, worried that he would shatter the damn thing if he tightened his grip any further. The sound of blood roaring in his ears drowned out the first part of Lord Henry’s sentence.
“And their newest addition…” Lord Henry licked his lips like a dog surveying a steak. “Why act the way she does if she does not want attention? She is probably more desperate than most—after all, if rumours are to be believed, she is unspoiled. Though, I doubt she will remain that way for long. Not if I have my way.”
“If you believe that kind of rubbish, then you are even more of a halfwit than I thought.” Warner’s voice was clipped, his wordsfull of an icy rage as he got slowly to his feet. “You know nothing about women, much less Lady Adelaide.”
“I do not believe I was talking to you.” Lord Henry stiffened, and swung his legs onto the floor, his smug look slipping for an instant.
“Really? I assumed you were. After all, you were being so loud a dead man three towns over would have heard you.” Warner smirked at Lord Henry as several people around them laughed.
He saw the tips of the man’s ears turn pink, and Warner’s grin broadened. Lord Henry stood up, his shoulders squared as he glowered up at Warner. “I had not realised that these years had made you so squeamish, Duke Scarfield. A rather far cry from the rogue you used to be.”
“Some of us mature,LordSweeney. You should try it; then you might not need to rely on grief to appeal to the fairer sex.”
“And is this your attempt to play the white knight? To rescue some attention seeking little sl?—”
Lord Henry’s words were cut off as Warner sunk his fist into the man’s stomach. “I warned you, did I not?”
There was a commotion behind them, and Warner felt arms trying to pull him off Lord Henry. He shook them off easily, driving his fist into the man again as he pulled him close and muttered, “If I so much as see you looking at Lady Adelaide, Iwill destroy you. I will ruin everything you hold dear, and make you thank me for it.”
