Page 30 of Married to the Icy Duke
Coincidentally, also the same man she was meant to marry.
“So, now Tommy’s vocabulary has expanded to his own name and that of a flower,” Isaac said slowly, a rasp in his voice. “Well done, Charlotte. You have achieved what I and a host of professionals have not been able to achieve. What is your secret?”
Charlotte swallowed. “I … I don’t know, truly I don’t.”
He paced across the terrace, raking a hand through his hair. There was a wild, caged-animal quality to his actions, like a lion pacing its pen and looking for a way out.
It occurred to Charlotte that perhaps it would be wise for her to leave. Her reputation would be forfeit entirely if she were known to have stood out on a terrace with a man like the Duke of Arkley, and with her reputation entirely gone, perhaps he might try to wiggle out of the marriage. None would blame him, and then Charlotte’s last chance at a respectable life would be gone. Her heart hammered in her chest.
She did not move.
Abruptly, the duke spun around to face her. His eyes were wild and dark, and there was a line between his brows.
“How are you doing it?” he whispered. “I should doubt that you were doing anything at all, except that I saw it with my own eyes. Why does he speak toyouand no one else?”
“I don’t know,” Charlotte answered honestly. “If it’s love he needs, then his nursemaid …” she trailed off, frowning. “How long has his nursemaid been with him?”
“I don’t know,” he retorted, shrugging. “A month? Perhaps two? I couldn’t find the perfect one. To be frank, Mary can be a little too insolent at times, even though she is a most efficient nurse.”
Charlotte sucked in a breath. She stepped forward, resolutely meeting his eye.
“No. You mustn’t sack Mary, not without averygood cause.”
His dark eyebrows flew up towards his hairline. “Oh? And why must I not sack Mary?”
“Because so far, in Tommy’s young life, he has never been able to convince himself that anybody would stay with him,” she said firmly. “His parents have died tragically. He comes to live with you, a strange and aloof uncle whom he never sees. He rarely sees his Aunt Sybella. And as well as this, every nursemaid that he grows to love is abruptly dismissed byyou.”
Isaac jerked back. “I have not sacked these women out of cruelty. It was notmalice. I was only looking for the perfect nursemaid for Tommy.”
“I understand, but do you think Tommy understands that? And as for you …”
“Oh, yes, let’s discuss me,” Isaac snapped, eyes flashing. “I’m sure you enjoy listing my flaws.”
“I am thinking of Tommy’s good, not yours,” Charlotte retorted. “You still wonder why he speaks to me but not to you, don’t you?”
She’d struck a nerve. Isaac pinched his lips together, glancing away.
“Contrary to what you might imagine,” he responded, his voice thick, “I love my nephew very much. Despite my flaws, I would like him to … well, tolikeme.”
There was a brief silence after this. Charlotte found herself taken aback. She had known, she supposed, that Isaacdidlove Tommy, but hearing it laid out so clearly, in his own words, was not what she had expected.
A man like the Duke of Arkley, chief of theTon’s Devils,was not the sort of man who talked of love.
“I understand,” she said, a little more softly than before, “But a child can’t be expected to understand.”
He scowled at her again, and suddenly the prickly, terrifying Duke of Arkley was back.
“That is not my concern.”
Charlotte felt anger bubbling up inside her once more.
The wretched man. Why do I even bother to try to make him understand? He deliberately refuses to understand.
“You cannot be surprised that your nephew does not talk to you,” she snapped, “when you stamp around looking as though you want to kill somebody all the time!”
He threw her a brief, surprised glance, which rapidly hardened to annoyance. He stamped towards her, coming to a stop an arm’s reach away.
“And this is what you think of me, is it?” he muttered, his voice a low hiss. “That I am a killer?”
