Page 54 of My Blind Duke
Prudence merely picked her wine up again, drinking nearly half the contents of the glass, pleased with the warmth she could feel spreading to her body.
She just needed a moment. A moment where she felt unburdened and unbothered by all that was going on in her life. A lot of what was happening did not concern her directly and she felt tired that her efforts to help had been slowly building her own helplessness until it was staring her in the face.
She felt exhausted and weak at heart, and she needed a moment of reprieve to collect herself–
“Your Grace, pardon my boldness, but I believe it would be best to have this false duchess removed from this house. Her presence is not only disturbing but highly inappropriate considering her reputation,” Clementina said suddenly.
“False duchess?” Prudence laughed, perhaps longer than necessary. “That would imply that your nephew was a false duke, Lady Clementina. Do not start problems you do not have any solutions to.”
“Your threats mean nothing to me when I am well aware of who you are. Your reputation carries a stench that has spread far and wide. Everyone knows what you are. How shameless must you be to carry yourself so boldly?”
“My reputation? What about my reputation has put you in such a frenzy that you believe the best place to confront me is at dinner?” Prudence questioned, irritated beyond measure.
“Do not act like you are not aware of your sins. Everyone knows that you are a murderous woman with a plethora of lovers, like a farmer with a herd of goats. You have disrespectedyour late husband by engaging in immoral acts, to the point of entertaining more than one man at a time. You are precisely like your father! Incapable of loyalty and self-control. If I remember correctly, it was his skirt-chasing ways that led to his demise, was it not? I heard what people said, about how he was found dead in the bed of his mistress. I knew you would only further soil Anthony’s good name! Have you no shame–”
“Do not talk about my father!” Prudence snapped angrily, eyes filling with bitter tears. “What gives you the right to–”
“You greedy wench–”
Clementina jumped as William’s fist came down on the table, sending a loud thud echoing through the dining hall.
“Get out,” he snapped, glaring at Clementina. “Now.”
The woman quickly lost her formerly antagonizing expression.
“Your Grace, please pardon me this once. I am merely worried for your well-being and that of your little bra– I mean, your little daughter’s. I had advised my nephew several times not to marry this cunning woman, and he went against my wishes to do it. He did not even get to see the sunrise after his wedding. I merely want what is best for you. You have worked so hard to restore our home, and I know our dear Anthony would be grateful. But his gratitude is soiled by her presence, Your Grace. And I think–”
“You are somewhere between bold and daft to believe that I have any desire to listen to your thoughts. I do not care for you or whatever goes on within your head. I want you out of this room, now. Before I have someone haul you out of the house,” William told her, his voice cold and hard.
Not wanting to get caught in the middle of this as she was last time, Prudence emptied her glass and rose to her feet to leave.
William immediately turned in her direction. “No. You should stay.”
The frustration that had been brewing within Prudence finally morphed into anger, and she could not help but snap,
“Why? Do you wish to question me about the rumors? To hear my side of the countless affairs I have been having? Was this the reason you approached me in the first place? To hear the story straight from the horse’s mouth?”
William was on his feet before she could blink, and he marched toward her, grabbing her arm before he dragged her out of the dining room.
“Let me… let me go!” she protested but he did not stop or falter.
Soon, she recognized the direction they were going in as the path to his study, and she huffed, falling silent. When they arrived, the duke dragged her inside the room, shut the door, and pressed her against it.
“You are the most infuriating woman I have ever met,” he stated bluntly.
“You did not need to bring me all this way to tell me this. Why did you not join Clementina on her quest to humiliate me? It might have saved you so much trouble, and you would have given her the validation she has desperately sought from you since you first arrived,” Prudence mumbled, trying to push him away.
Only for him to reinforce his efforts to keep her trapped between his arms, with nowhere to run to.
“I do not wish to talk about another woman – much less an old crone so dissatisfied with her life, she is just full of spite. No, I want to talk about you. You mentioned my arrival. It is somewhat ironic of you to do that, seeing as you have done your very best to drive me mad ever since I set foot in this house. You confuse me, you provoke me. Every day, all day, I am torn between so many thoughts of you. I want to kiss you, to choke the light from your eyes, to protect you from all those who have sought to rip you apart like vultures,” he lowered his voice, adding softly. “I want to send you away in hopes that it will provide me with some peace of mind. And yet… I do not know what to do with you, Prudence.”
The sound of her name from his lips lifted the fog of anger from her mind and something in her ached to bend to his will.
“Do you believe them?” she asked instead, unable to look away from his eyes, noting how dark they looked in that moment. “Therumors about me. Do you believe I am a woman of loose morals after… after what has transpired between us?”
“No,” the shake of his head was immediate and insistent. “If anyone was immoral, it was me, for putting my desires onto you. At the very least, it was ungentlemanly. And I–”
“Do not. Do not feel burdened to do right by me or to take responsibility for me. I do not expect anything from you, neither do I deserve it. But you owe it to Melanie to do right by her. She deserves better from you.”
