Page 114 of A Deal with her Forbidden Duke
The man opened his mouth to speak but Alexander punched him—and again, and again, over and over, letting out his weeks of frustration and loneliness and anger.
Blow after blow, he channeled his feelings into Donald. He reveled in the groans of pain, the blood splattering his knuckles. He had Donald pinned as he rained blows upon his body and face, and did not care when Donald began to beg.
“Please.” The man’s wheeze echoed through the alley. Donald spat out of a tooth, coughing up a wad of blood. “Please, Your Grace, stop?—”
“Stop?” Alexander drawled. “Would you stop your men from threatening Madeleine? I do not think you would. You taunt and mock, Donald, but you have no power. You are a rat scurrying through the alleyways. I could kill you right here and nobody would know. Nobody wouldcare.”
Fear entered Donald’s eyes at the very real possibility of what he had accidentally landed himself in, the trap set up.
Alexander staggered back, wiping his bloodied knuckles on his coat. He smoothed his hair back, but when he looked at the other man once again, he knew he could not simply walk away.
Do you wish to see your wife taken by the men of this city who would love to have one taste of a duchess?
He slammed his fist back into Donald’s face, grunting with the effort of beating him. The smack of his skin against the man’s soothed him, called out to him, reminded him of the night he had sought revenge for his mother’s death.
He was not a violent man but his tether was snapped—Donald had pushed him right to the brink of it all.
When Donald could no longer stand upright alone, Alexander let go and watched as the man crumpled limply to the floor, blood dripping into his eyes, and his mouth swollen with bruising.
“What do you want from me?” Donald rasped, coughing.
“I want you to leave,” Alexander snarled. “I want you to stay away from Madeleine or there will be consequences. I imagine you are maintaining a low profile because you owe many debts, still. I will happily sing about your return—thebelovedLord Kinsfeld, alive and well, and very available to meet with. If that is not what you wish, then you will stay away from my wife.”
He declared her title with every inch of possession he had, for shewashis. She had been his ever since she opened the door to him, watching him drink her in like fine wine.
Alexander gave one last distasteful look at the pathetic man before turning away and leaving the dregs of the city, heading back to his townhouse.
He needed to get Madeleine back, no matter what.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Madeleine, it has been almost three weeks,” Tessa’s latest worry came from the doorway of the library that remained to be Madeleine’s sanctuary, still.
She was dressed up in a beautiful green gown the color of the woodlands that had surrounded Silverton House.
Stop thinking of it, she chided herself.Do not think of that place. That is in your past now.
Except she ached for it like nothing she had experienced before.
“It has,” she answered her friend. “Am I… overstaying a welcome?”
“Not at all,” Tessa said quickly. “I do not say it for that reason. I say it because… well, you have not left the house. At all.”
“I went into the garden to look at a rose that bloomed near the fountain,” Madeleine pointed out.
“That was over a week ago, and that does not count.” Tessa’s voice was softer, a kind smile on her face.
“You did not wish to attend the teahouse with us. I would not ever force you to go somewhere you could not handle but please do take even a small walk with me tomorrow, perhaps. This evening, Colin must attend dinner at his mother’s house and we cannot decline the invitation.”
“Madeleine, you must come with us.” Colin appeared in the doorway, already looking exhausted at such a prospect of visiting his mother.
“I cannot bear my mother-in-law asking me about mine and Tessa’s children. Come with us and help me bear such weight.”
“I am not in the mood for socializing,” Madeleine murmured. “Please go without me and give your mother my regards, Colin. I think I may rest here.”
“Madeleine.” Tessa’s voice was tight with pain.
“Tessa,” Colin said quietly. “We must honor her wishes. We will face the force that is my mother together. Allow Madeleine her rest. The heart can be a weary thing to carry.”
