Page 15 of Her Duke Next Door
Focus on your daughter, he chided himself. But all he seemed to think of was Mary’s voice in his study, as she had remained unfazed by his advances.Do not mistake me for a weak woman, Your Grace. I have lived through hell. I cannot be fazed by a man who neglects his daughter and rides on power trips of intimidation.
But oh, how Dominique adored a woman who could give back to him verbally as well as he gave. A woman with a sharp tongue of her own.
He could not stop himself from thinking of the curves of her body, how full-chested she was, ample and generously endowed. Her eyes of a most beautiful green, lined with dark eyelashes that had seduced him easily. He had been under a spell she likely did not even know she cast over him.
“Papa!” Katie yelled, stamping her foot. “Do you even listen to me?”
Too late, he realized, he had not heard anything she had said before challenging him. He winced. “I am sorry, my darling, what is it you said?”
“It does not matter!” she shouted. Katie turned back to the white ball in her hands and threw it to her governess before catching it again. The two engaged in a game of catch while Dominique lost himself once more in his thoughts.
It was only when the ball came sailing toward him, hitting him on his face, and bounced off the stone wall behind him, that he snapped to attention.
“Katie!” he yelled. “Will you be careful with that ball!?”
As soon as the words flew out of his mouth, he regretted them but could not take them back. Katie drew back. Tears filled her eyes as her lower lip wobbled.
“Katie—”
A hand grasped her wrist. Her governess loomed over her, and Dominique did not intervene, too tangled up in berating himself for having his outburst.
“Katie, do not throw the ball at your father! It is unacceptable for a young lady to even be playing with this sort of toy. Do you not wish for a doll?” Her governess asked her, demanding. But Katie only stomped over to Dominique, grabbed her ball, and fixed him with a scathing look that was entirely inherited from her mother.
“You do not ever see me, Papa,” she snapped, before stalking back over to her governess.
As soon as she did, her governess swiped the ball from her hands and tucked it under her own arm. “I shall confiscate this, my lady.”
“But it is mine!”
“And it shall bemineuntil you learn to play safely, Lady Katie. Your attention should be going into your language studies, instead. How about we retire to the library to get some books?”
“I do not want books!” Katie yelled. She shoved the governess aside, running past her and Dominique. He stood up, alarmed, as his daughter raced past, sobbing.
“Katie!” he called but she did not stop. She disappeared into the dim hallway, her footsteps fading. He squinted as a figure moved out of the shadows. Geraldine raised a brow at him as she came closer. He sighed and sank back into his chair on the terrace.
“You were too harsh with her, Your Grace. She is a child who requires gentleness and soft words of nurture.”
“I said nothing of ill will at all!” he protested. “She is at a very demanding age.”
“She is merely at an age of wanting her father so she is taking to acting out to gain your attention. She is only aware of you not being here, Your Grace, and wishes you to be. Where is the harm in that?”
Dominique glared at her, fully rebuked.
“I said nothing of ill will,” he said again, annoyed. “Stay out of my affairs, Geraldine, unless you are invited into them.”
“But that you say nothing is often the problem, Your Grace,” the housekeeper murmured. “You do not talk to her the way a child needs from a parent.”
He glared at her, thinking about reprimanding her further. He held himself back, knowing that he was hurt because his housekeeper had never once been a woman to shy away from him or hold back the truth. She had known him since he was a boy, and he had always found her a fearsome woman who did not hold back on harsh truths. Deep down, he was grateful.
“Know your place,” he muttered. Geraldine only sixty, leveled a cool, unintimidated look at him. Yes, she should know her place, but she had been good friends with his father in the end. It was hard to control a woman who had seen Dominique run around in his childish nude after bath time.
He glared at her and shoved past. But before he could truly get far away enough from her painfully honest words, she talked again.
“Your daughter is desperate for a mother, Your Grace.”
Fury overwhelmed him in a moment, spurred by the trauma of his wife’s passing. He whirled on the housekeeper. “It is not my fault she does not have one!” He flung out an arm, toward the main door. “Shedieddue to no fault of my own! You of all people should know that.”
Still, the housekeeper was unfazed and it irritated him. He shook his head, heaved a breath, and composed himself.
