Page 35 of A Deal with her Forbidden Duke
What cruel fate would wind her into a second loveless marriage?
Misery hardened her heart as she stood up, letting Alexander take her hand. She felt so hollowed out that she could not even brush against that warmth of desire that usually came with his closeness.
“I will take care of everything, Madeleine,” he swore. “I promise to send word about everything within time.”
Madeleine nodded, and watched as Alexander made his leave.
Within a few days, she would be married again.
A Duchess.
The thought sparked something in her, fighting that hollowness, but she still let herself fall back into the armchair, thinking of the quick ruin her life had become—and the handsome man who was pulling her out of it.
Chapter Twelve
“Are you nervous, Madeleine?”
Colin’s voice was the anchor Madeleine needed, her arm linked through his as he led her down the aisle—barely a week after the Duke’s promise.
My second time meeting a man I do not love at an altar, she thought miserably.How am I so unlucky?
“I am not,” she told her friend but he only gave a small, low laugh.
At the end of the aisle, the Duke of Silverton stood stiffly, his shoulder rigid, his black wedding jacket casting him almost as one with the shadows, as if he wished to be part of them.
“I do not believe you. Your life has turned upside down. Surely that has an effect somewhere.”
Madeleine swallowed every truth that rose. “I am faring just fine.”
Colin only gave another quiet chuckle as though he was not convinced. Madeleine had a firm tongue, and could lie well enough, but her eyes always betrayed her. It was something she had been teased about by Tessa and Colin for some time.
With being on bad terms with Benjamin, the new Lord Kinsfeld, and her brother John being away with the army, Colin was the one who walked her to her future husband.
When they finally approached, and Madeleine looked at the Duke’s side profile, her stomach flipped.
His beard had been groomed, spreading over a finely cut jaw that was clenched.
“Your Grace,” she said quietly in greeting.
“My lady.”
Soon to be the Duchess of Silverton, she told herself.
Colin squeezed Madeleine’s hand once before he retreated to stand beside Tessa. On the other side of the aisle, a man who seemed vaguely familiar to her stood as a witness for the Duke.
Am I ready for this?She thought, keeping her eyes downcast.
Am I ready to be forced into another marriage?
Why must it come to this always?
She ought to be grateful—the Duke of Silverton had given her a way out of Donald’s crippling debt, Benjamin’s threats, and secured her future.
So why did dread harden her heart now?
The ceremony was swift and stoic, their vows clipped—the dream of every young debutante, she thought sarcastically.
Yet she was no young debutante anymore. She was a twenty-year-old widow, who had just now become a duchess. Out of pure necessity.
