Page 33 of Trapped with the Forbidden Duke
“I am going through nothing,” Edwina answered tightly, defensively.
“The places we have visited suggest otherwise, even if you wish to deny it. Your brother is dabbling in a lifestyle that I have seen before, even though I do not know the full extent of it. And when Idofind out—and I hope I find out from Nicholas himself, soyou no longer have to carry the burden of his actions—I shall make him pay for what he has caused. Seeing you in those places these last few nights…”
“What?”
“It does not please me.”
“And what does a duke need to be pleased with in regards to a lady who is no more than a stranger to him?” Edwina breathed, and she swallowed at the intensity of his gaze.
He did not answer her directly. He only looked at her long enough that she thought of their kiss in this very carriage. She thought of the muscles beneath the layers that she found troublesome, for she could not stop thinking about sliding buttons through holes and undoing fastenings.
Her face flushed, and she turned away quickly, trying to banish her scandalous thoughts.
Heavens, I should not be thinking such things.
“You may retire to your chambers,” Edwina told the Duke when they sat in the parlor where her brother had been found passed out the other night.
She had hoped and dreaded to find him in the same state, again. At least then he would have passed out in the house.
“I am fine waiting here with you.”
“You do not have to be a hero every moment of the day. I am perfectly capable of waiting up for my brother alone.”
“I believe you have done that far too much already,” the Duke muttered. “I will stay.”
I cannot deny that it is nice to not be alonefor once.
“Ah, yes, you will stay with my dear sister, and you will use it against me, I imagine.”
The voice that came from the doorway, thick and slurred, had Edwina on her feet in a moment. She gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth.
Nicholas narrowed his eyes at her. “Oh, do not look so shocked, Sister. This is nothing new, is it not?”
So he is the nasty version of himself tonight.
Her heart sank at the realization.
“Do not make me warn you again of how you speak to your sister,” the Duke growled, standing up. “Look at the state of you, Nicholas. Have you no shame?”
“Haveyouno shame, Your Grace?” Nicholas sneered, his lip curling. “This ismyhome, my family. You have no place here. Go home, and stop bothering us. We need nothing from you.”
“Frankly, I believe you need a great deal from me.”
Nicholas snarled at the Duke, stumbling into the room. But then he gripped the doorframe, his fingertips white.
“Nicholas,” Edwina whispered, her heart breaking at his disheveled state.
His eyes were wide and bloodshot, and his shirt half hung off his frame, his jacket gone. A bruise was forming on his jaw.
“Have you been fighting?” the Duke demanded. “Your sister has searched the worst of places, worrying herself ill over you, and you are fighting?”
“Oh, do stop meddling, Stormhold!” Nicholas shouted, his tether snapping. “I do not care for it, and I do not need it. Just because you fancied yourself a fixer of your own family, it does not mean anybody else wants you to fix them.”
“You have grown selfish, Nicholas,” the Duke scoffed. “I am not here for you. I am here for the lady you should be providing for.I am doing what you should be doing. I am here because you are one small debt away from losing everything.”
At that, Nicholas only laughed. His hooded, unfocused gaze flicked to Edwina.
She flinched at the hatred in it, and she tried to remind herself that this was not her brother. This was a product of his addiction, the conclusion of laudanum, and nothing else.
