The Duke's Bride
Do you think it wise to stay out late tonight?”
    Her heart hummed with hope. Perhaps he would want to stay
home with her. She wasn’t known as a muddle-headed miss, and never had been.
But her husband could turn her into a puddle at his feet.
    She turned and gave him her best smile. “Do you wish to stay
in?” she asked suggestively. “Perhaps, just the two of us? There is something I
would like to talk to you about.”
    Yes, this was a good time to tell him about the baby. He had
to listen to her if they were in the same room for a time. There were other
things about her condition that she hadn’t even told Agatha or Emily. Things
she had done that Roderick might not agree with. Things she had to keep doing.
But if she told him, he might forbid her from continuing her treatments. That’s
why she hesitated telling him anything about their child. What a sad state of
affairs.
    “No,” he finally said in a sharper tone than needed. She
blinked in dismay as he turned on his heels and walked toward the window. “If
you are up to it,” he said, clearing his throat. “I think we should give an
appearance at the ball.”
    She swallowed past the pain. Oh, dear. He didn’t want to be
alone with her at all. A ball was one thing, home alone with her was quite
another.
    She forced her lips to turn upwards as she gazed at his reflection
in the mirror. “Well, then, that’s settled.”
    She rose, clenching her hands together. Her heart was
breaking. He was tired of her. He was too much of a gentleman to say so.
Perhaps Agatha’s speech had made him feel guilty, and he was only attending the
ball with her to show Society that he was doing his duty as a husband.
    Tears jammed her throat. How droll it must be for him. But he
wasn’t heartless. He had showed true concern for her health. But did he still
love her like she loved him?
    She leaned against the bedpost, confusion racking her brain.
“I am glad you will be by my side. Lady Horatio and Lady Philomena will be
there, and to tell you the truth, they make my skin crawl at the way they talk
about people.”
    Roderick chuckled as he pulled the curtain aside and stared
at the gardens below. “Those two ladies don’t hold a candle to you, sweetheart.
You are everything pure and honest.”
    Honest? She put a hand to her stomach and swallowed
hard. How honest had she been with him the past month? Not very.
      But in truth, he had been so headstrong, she
could barely have a conversation with him before the fireworks would start. In
the past month, her confidence in sharing with him the smallest of things had
dwindled to nothing.
    He turned and stared at her. The air between them crackled
with tension. Her stomach churned. He was in duke mode now. All powerful and
controlling. It had never hindered her before. But something had changed
between them the last month. In fact, she had no idea if she could have a calm
conversation with him about the baby now or any time in the future.
    “Of course,” he finally said, clasping his hands behind his back.
“If you give those gossipmongers something to talk about, you may as well not
go. Paying attention to Captain Argyle doesn’t help matters, you know.”
    She blinked in surprise. “Captain Argyle?”
    He strode closer. The bayberry soap teased her senses. Yesterday,
it had been sandalwood.
    “I don’t care for the way the man talks to you,” he
continued, his mouth taking on a dangerous twist. “Or looks at you for that
matter. Confound it! It’s as if the man adores you. He was once my friend, but the
man has crossed the line with his recent behavior.”
    Angry now, she pushed herself away from the bed. “Is it so dreadful
that someone should adore me?” Her snappish tone seemed to catch his attention.
    She needed to tell him the captain was helping her, not ogling
her. But Roderick was not in a position to listen. The arrogant oaf!
    Despite their differences, fire flared in his eyes. His gaze
riveted on her lips. The

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