Page 41 of Wedded to the Beastly Duke
“Good.” He took her hand and kissed the back of it in an archaic, surprisingly sweet gesture. “Come, put your clothes back on before you catch a chill.”
“My clothes?” She looked at him in astonishment. The bulge in his breeches hadn’t decreased, and he looked a little in pain. “But what about you?”
“Not today,” he said, and shook his head when she frowned. “Today was a lot for you. I never intended…” He ran a hand through his hair, visibly frustrated. “I never intended for it to get so far. You disobeyed me.”
“And you punished me,” she said slyly.
“We both know that was not punishment for either of us.” He stood up, handing her back her clothes. “I should not have lost control. I should not have kissed you in anger, or—” He cut himself off abruptly. “Dress and leave me.”
“Adam—”
“I said leave me!”
Stung, the warmth from their encounter fading, Emmeline snatched up her dress and chemise and stays, sliding off the bed and walking to the door that connected their rooms.
Before leaving, she turned to him and said, “I may submit to the commands of your hands, My Lord Husband, but I will not submit to those of your tongue. Be careful how you treat me, or else you may lose me entirely.”
He stood before the fire, head bowed, the picture of dejection. After a few seconds passed and he made no move, she exited the room and closed the door behind her.
* * *
Adam’s body thrummed with need as he strode out of his room, calling for his horse to be saddled. Emmeline was in her bedchamber, quite possibly hating him, and perhaps that was necessary because he now knew he could not trust himself around her.
She was a maid, innocent but for him, and he had taken that innocence in the most uncontrolled way possible. She did not know what he was doing; she was not accustomed to such acts.
He could not allow himself to be around her until he knew he had mastered himself and would not treat her the way he had.
Heavens, no, he could not allow himself to get carried away.
Some distance between them was necessary. He had spent time away before, searching for the truth behind his brother’s death, but this time he would go to London and visit some of William’s closest friends. Nicholas, of course, but some others.
Someone had to know something. There had to be a reason no body was discovered. Foul play?
The servants knew nothing, he was certain of that. But someone had to know something—that was the way of things. If William had dropped dead of his own accord in the house, there would be evidence of that. Proof. He would have had a body to bury, unlike when his mother had died.
The similarities between the two cases made his jaw clench, even if in reality there were very few similarities at all. William had not perished in a fire—no one could claim that, even if they wanted to, given the lack of evidence—and he was not the reason behind his brother’s death.
And yet the thought of having lost another member of his family with nothing left to mourn him but an empty grave made something ache inside him.
By the time he changed into his riding breeches, his gelding had been saddled and bridled, and he swung himself onto the horse’s back.
“Send Jarvis in the carriage to Picard Place,” he said, referring to his valet and Nicholas’s estate. “From there, I’ll travel to London.”
The groom looked at him dubiously. “Do you not want to wait for the morning, Your Grace?”
Adam knew how it looked—the Duke running wild across the country. But if he stayed in that house a moment longer, who knew what he would do?
Emmeline would hate him, and although he had once thought himself resigned to the idea that his wife would despise him, now he found he couldn’t quite bear it. The guilt was too much, weighing him down.
He had been the one to bring her here. The least he could do was ensure she was as comfortable as he could allow.
“Send a message to Mrs. Pentwhistle,” he said, gathering the reins in his gloved hands. “Ask her to do her best, if she pleases, to dissuade Her Grace from entering the east wing. I suspect she won’t try again, but there are things there that could harm her if she’s not careful, and I don’t want her getting injured while I’m gone.”
The groom touched his forelock. “Yes, Your Grace.”
“Very well. I’ll be off.”
Adam nudged his horse’s powerful flanks, and with a toss of his head, the gelding broke into a trot, then a canter. He still had some time before dark, and Nicholas’s estate was only twenty-five miles away, so he arrived in good time.
