Page 83 of A Virgin for the Duke of Scars
Curse her rules.
He had grown so used to spending time with her daily that he could scarcely go a few hours without her company.
With another deep, steadying breath, he rose to his feet and fixed his mask in place. He stood in front of the mirror and straightened his clothes, smoothing down the fabric and adjusting the suit jacket. It would not do for her to see him disheveled.
He opened the heavy door to his tower and quickly headed in the direction of her chambers. When he arrived, he could hear that she was inside with someone else, though the door muffled their conversation.
Who would be with her in her chambers besides him?
Jealousy bubbled up in his chest. He had been deprived of her company all morning, and here she was, entertaining someone else in her room.
Tentatively, he raised a hand and knocked on the door before pushing it open. She was his wife. He did not need to knock before he entered her chambers. It was his right to know what she was doing and who she was with at all times.
He looked inside, and what he saw nearly sent him to his knees.
In the center of the room sat an open trunk, half full of gowns and undergarments. Juliette and Theresa barely looked up when he barged in, but kept folding the garments and tucking them inside.
“I wish to speak to my wife,” Aaron said in a commanding tone.
Juliette stared back at him, not intimidated by the power he could wield over everyone else. She continued to fold the gown in her hand before putting it in the trunk.
“Alone.”
Juliette narrowed her eyes and looked to Theresa for permission to leave.
Aaron’s anger flared hotter. How dare his sister look to his wife for permission instead of obeying his command? Had Theresaso thoroughly wrapped everyone in this house around her little finger?
Of course, he knew the answer to that question.
He had experienced it himself. Her kindness, her joy, and even her innocence endeared people to her. She had the exact opposite effect on people. He intimidated them, while she charmed them.
It was easy to see which one of them inspired more loyalty.
Juliette waited until Theresa nodded to her before rising to her feet and leaving the room. On her way out the door, she pinned him with a glare that would have intimidated a lesser man. He pitied the poor man who would one day marry his sister; she was a force of nature.
Aaron watched as Theresa continued putting clothes in the trunk. She said nothing to him, as if she knew that whoever spoke first would yield.
He decided that he was all right with that compromise.
He cleared his throat, and Theresa paused what she was doing to look up at him.
“What are you doing, wife?” His voice was low and gravelly from disuse this morning, but it was also thick with emotion.
Where was his wife going without so much as a word to him?
What would he do without her?
Theresa took in her husband’s disheveled appearance. She noted the paint on his hands and figured he must have been just as upset as she was over the rift between them. But she also knew that the rift was caused by him and his refusal to let her in.
He was not the only one who was upset. She had spent the night alone in her bed, crying for all she had lost. Before, she could have returned to her life in the nunnery, to her sisters who loved her. Now, she was ruined for a life as a lady of the cloth.
Their marriage was official and could no longer be annulled, allowing her husband to pursue the woman hetrulywanted.
When she looked in the mirror this morning, her eyes were swollen from the tears she had cried all night long. Theresa had been angry when the carriage first brought her home. Angry that Aaron had taken this from her, angry that he had done so with thoughts of another woman.
Slowly, that anger turned to sorrow. She hoped he had still been standing outside her door when she broke down in tears, her sobs echoing off the walls of her chambers.
She had buried her face in the pillow on her spacious bed and wished she had someone to share it with. Earlier, she would have asked her husband, but now?
