Page 25 of The Seductive Love of a Lady
A chorus of screams rang out, along with deeper notes of masculine disapproval.
Peter would have risen, but Drew struck his shoulder with the heel of his shoe, keeping him sprawled on the floor. ‘Traitor!’ The word echoed about the high ceiling.
‘Andrew! Please stop!’ Mary’s hand held onto his right arm.
Peter leaned up on one elbow.
Drew was not done. He pulled his arm away from Mary and dropped to one knee. ‘Leave my wife alone. Do you hear?’ He would have grasped Peter’s neckcloth but Peter caught his wrist.
‘I was doing you a favour,’ Peter growled, his voice containing disgust.
‘I don’t care. Don’t touch her. Do you understand?’
‘I only danced with her.’
‘Do you understand?’
‘For God’s sake, don’t be ridiculous. You are making fools of us both,’ Peter snarled.
Drew clasped Peter’s cravat and twisted it as his other knee came down on Peter’s chest.
‘Enough!’ a domineering yell rang out, as someone grabbed the collar at the back of Drew’s evening coat and pulled him back. Drew released Peter with a shove as he was pulled to his feet. ‘You are embarrassing my daughter,’ Marlow hissed into Drew’s ear. Then, ‘The show is over,’ he said in a loud voice to those watching, releasing Drew’s collar.
The Duke of Arundel helped Peter to his feet.
Mary’s skin was pallid, and one hand hovered over her stomach as though she were nauseous.
Hell. He had done it now; he could not be a good enough man for her.
But Drew’s whole being revolted at the thought of Peter’s hands on her, of him in a room alone with her.
‘I will call for our carriage,’ her father said.
‘We are going now, anyway.’ Drew looked at Mary and held out his hand.
She did nothing.
He raised his hand higher, saying come to me, and desperately hoped she would…
Her hand slotted into his, in that perfect fit he had become accustomed to. But a vicelike pain clenched about his heart as he remembered her hand in Peter’s moments ago.
He turned away from Peter and her family, taking her with him. He would not apologise for who he was.They can like me or not. I do not care.
All his life that spiteful voice inside him would have then shouted,I only care for my friends. So, what now…?
So what if I no longer have Peter? I have Harry and Mark.And he had Mary. She could not leave him.
Drew forced a path through the crowd, pulling Mary by the hand behind him.
In the hall, he told a footman to find her cloak quickly. That was where her parents caught up with them.
‘Lord Framlington!’ Marlow’s strides ate up the last few yards.
Mary’s loyalty was to be tested in another tug of war.
‘What did you think you were doing? People are gossiping.’
‘What do I care?’ Drew snarled.
