Page 20 of Trapped with the Forbidden Duke
Lady Edwina took a step back. Lucien’s hand twitched. He was ready to push her behind him if things escalated, but he also wanted to keep the other man calm.
“I’d be happy to show you the way to my residence,” the man continued, before laughing darkly and reaching in his pocket. Something glinted in the candlelight from his table. “You have that look that says you might not mind bending over?—”
Lucien was on him in an instant, his hand clamped around the man’s wrist. He slammed the man’s hand on the table, forcing him to let go of the knife he had taken out of his pocket.
“Apologize to her,” he snarled into the lowlife’s face.
Behind him, Lady Edwina began to protest. “Your Grace, let us leave. He is not here.”
The man’s expression shifted upon hearing Lucien’s title. “Who are you looking for? Perhaps I can help for a coin or two.”
“You can help in exchange for walking out of here unharmed.”
The man spat at him, missing his face by an inch. He laughed darkly. “You would not do that. Not a duke like you. Wouldn’t want to tarnish thatgleamingreputation, now, would you?”
“My reputation is very much protected,” Lucien answered. “And yours? What title are you dishonoring here? What family do you neglect providing for while you squander your money in here?”
“Doesn’t matter.” The man laughed. “I’ll tell people that you were here, though. But… I could be persuaded otherwise if you let me have an hour with your lady back there.”
Lucien saw red. His grip on the man’s wrist tightened until the man cried out.
He glanced to the side. “Notice how nobody comes to your aid?” he scoffed. “That alone proves that you do not matter, no matter what lies you spill. You will leave the lady alone.”
He glared at the man before releasing him. Then, he turned back to Lady Edwina, whose face had gone pale.
“We are done here,” he told her, straightening his jacket.
Chapter Seven
“Are you sure you wish to continue?” the Duke asked quietly. “I can continue alone. I will find him for you, Lady Edwina.”
Edwina was out of her depth as they went from the gambling den to a tavern. There was a tremor in her limbs that she was fighting to get under control. Her desperation mounted even though they had only visited one haunt.
“I want to,” she murmured. “I just… I do not know. Perhaps I had always hoped that the places my brother frequented were not so… unsavory.”
And he does not even know the worst of it.
“You are sure the ones you told me about are the only places?” the Duke pressed, giving her a long, knowing look.
She bit her lip and sighed. “No. No, but I fear the others are places I do not want to think about too much. It is hard to admit that your brother visits such disgraceful places.”
The Duke only shrugged as they approached the seedy-looking tavern. “All men have places they are not proud of visiting.”
“Do you?”
“In my past, yes,” he answered, surprising her with his bold honesty. Before she could probe him, he continued, “Let us focus on finding your brother and taking him home, My Lady.”
There he was again, all formal, as though he was distancing himself from her by using her title.
Lady Edwina nodded. “Thank you for what you did in that place,” she said quietly. “You did tell me that it would be dangerous. I cannot imagine what would have happened if you were not there.”
His eyes darkened. “I also told you that you would be protected.”
“Yet, that was not part of your promise when you first said that you would stay.”
He paused. “Situations change. Consider yourself under my protection now.”
Edwina bit her lip. The Duke held the door open for her, and she ducked under his arm easily. But before she could step inside the tavern, he caught her wrist and inspected her hand. It was bare, bereft of jewels, and she realized that was what he was searching for.
