Page 77 of A Duke Makes a Deal
Cynthia’s arms moved around his neck as she tried to press her body against his, but he recoiled from her in disgust, pushing her backward. She stumbled as her face turned thunderous.
“What is the matter with you?” she asked, smoothing her skirts. “What else do you want to do in private?”
“What are you doing here?”
Her expression changed in that moment from annoyance to intrigue. Smiling a wicked smile, she took a step toward him.
“To see you, of course,” she said, her tone sickly sweet. “It’s been far too long.”
“We’re divorced. Or have you forgotten?”
“How could I? When every lady from here to Greece won’t seem to let me forget,” she said bitterly.
Then Silas saw it. Regret. Cynthia had not been able to live down her divorce. While she had often been able to thumb her nose at society’s dictates, protected from notoriety by her wealth and status, it seemed she had finally gone too far. Their divorce had demoted her position. Now, instead of a duke’s daughter or wife, she was a divorcee.
“Not for long,” he said slowly as he watched her as if she were a snake set to strike. “Your Lord Valle is set to have you.”
“And what good will that weakling be to me?” she all but spat. “He’s disowned by his father, though Valle believes that our marriage should satisfy the old bastard enough to resume his allowance. I had to be engaged to even think about travelling back to this godforsaken country.” Her eyes flashed with mischief. “But I am grateful to be back. I’ve been in the company of foolish boys for far too long. I’ve missed what it’s like to be with a real man.”
“Tired of pulling their strings, are you?”
Her eyes squinted.
“I’ve never had any complaints, but yes. It’s wearisome,” she said, taking another step forward. “He isn’t half the man that you are, you know.” She took another step, as her voice turned soft. “I’ve missed you, Silas.”
How long had he ached to hear those words from her mouth? For far too long he had hoped for Cynthia to return. She had broken his trust a thousand times, and yet he still would have taken her back in an instant back when he was still under her spell. But she had left him behind, and his eyes had finally opened to who she truly was. He had realized that the woman he had loved had never truly existed.
Ignoring her words, he continued.
“I want you to listen to me, Cynthia. There is no place for you in my life and I won’t have you making problems for anyone associated with me. Do I make myself clear?”
Cynthia’s eyes flashed with challenge. She sauntered up to him and he wanted to retreat, but he knew better than to show her weakness.
The familiar deep buzzing of Silas’s unease began to cumulate beneath his skin. This was the beginning of his anxiety, but for some reason it felt further away than usual, almost as though it was trying to reach him over a vast distance. It had been suffocating before, all-encompassing whenever he’d experienced it only months earlier, but when Silas recognized the panicky feeling, his thoughts instantly turned to Clara’s words.
Let it be.
Her ridiculously simple words had aggravated him when she first spoke them, but he now found a strange sort of comfort and strength in the simplicity of her sentence. He took a deep breath and repeated her words in his mind as he turned his attentions back to Cynthia. She would not summon anything from him. Not anger, not worry, not fear.
Instantly, Silas felt as if a chain that had been wrapped around his lungs had snapped. It was an odd, light sort of feeling such as he hadn’t known for years.
Let it be. Let it be.
“My, how grave you’ve become, Silas,” she said, her tone sultry. Her hand reached up and touched his face. “Since when have you become the aggressor?”
Silas’s hand seized her wrist, and she gasped. The pleasure that surfaced in her eyes would once have set his body on fire. But now he only felt cold.
“Keep away from me and my wife,” he said, tossing her arm away from him.
The mention of his wife caused Cynthia’s face to cloud with hostility.
“What are you doing with such a crass peasant, Silas?” she asked, her voice annoyed once more. “She’s not even of your class.”
“Don’t speak of her.”
Her eyes rounded. “Or is that why you decided on her? Couldn’t stand to be the weak one any longer so you sought out someone whose strength was half of yours.”
Such words might once have riled him up but Cynthia’s game was monotonous at this point.
