Page 24 of A Deal with her Forbidden Duke
Instead, she straightened her shoulders and followed him as he stalked toward the wooden door, his movements fluid and purposeful, before shoving it open without hesitation.
“Oi!” The manager’s voice called out.
Once Madeleine was inside, the Duke slammed it closed and walked over to the desk, looming over it as he braced his palms on it.
“Who in the world do you think you are, coming in here?—”
“You will listen to me, and you will listenverywell,” the Duke ordered. “I do not care for lies, nor excuses, nor time wasting. I am looking for Lord Kinsfeld, and do not think about denyingknowing him. I know you have had business with him as of late. I know that he is a customer here.” The Duke dug his fingers into the desk. “And before you think about lying, I would consider your business, and think about your reputation, and how easily I could take away everything you have here. It is not much, is it, but it is yours.”
The man swallowed, his eye black, and his lip split, his mouth curling into a sneer. “I don’t know who you think you are, in your fancy clothes, and your title but I don’t know?—”
“I am getting very impatient.”
“I—All right, all right.” He raised his hands in surrender.
She saw a glimpse of his bloody knuckles. His jaw was peppered with bruises and scars from what she assumed were nicks from knives.
“Do you choke from the tightness of that cravat, my lord?”
The man shrugged but a flush of guilt flashed over his face. His eyes flicked to Madeleine.
“Do not look at her,” the Duke hissed. “Do not even let her cross your mind.”
The dominance in the Duke’s voice had her stomach tightening.
He is protecting me.
“The man—this lord—you’re looking for,” the thug spluttered, “he was last seen on the docks with a woman. That’s all I know. He owes me and my boss money. We chased him through the docks to get it back but he escaped us. We got men posted around, and they say he’s still about.”
The Duke said nothing, only shoved off from the desk and beckoned her to follow him.
She could not do so fast enough.
Soon, they were back in the carriage, Madeleine finally breathing easier.
Mortification spread through her. She was horrified—shame was a hot coal in the center of her body.
He is truly abandoning me. Has already abandoned me. If he was at the docks… and with another woman…
He had fled in the night like a common thief, like a man who stole in and out of women’s windows in secret. He had… he had left her, and Madeleine didn’t know how much more humiliation she could endure.
She did not love him, or particularly want him back for his company. She simply could not endure the fact that he might have left her for good.
Her humiliation built in her chest, bundling up into an exasperated question. “Why are you even helping me, Your Grace?”
The anger that he’d showed in the office of the pub had not yet dwindled, and the Duke slammed his fist against the roof of the carriage to set them off, back towards her townhouse.
“To settle debts,” he told her, his voice returning to that cold tone. “As I have told you.”
She scoffed. “Do not underestimate me, Your Grace. I can handle a deeper truth. I am not a fool.”
His eyes ran over her. “No, you are not. You could not be further from being a fool, Lady Kinsfeld.”
He had helped her.
When everybody else had gossiped and judged her, he had helped her. And although it had not been without their arguments or mockery, he had still agreed to investigate with her.
“You do not pity me,” she noted.
