Page 6 of Married to the Icy Duke
She swallowed. “I see. Well, I would not have allowed a child to escape into an event like this. It’s terribly overwhelming. Poor Tommy was crying his heart out.”
Isaac went still. Thomas, who had been very still in his arms, rested his head on his shoulder.
“What did you call him?” Isaac managed.
Lady Charlotte blinked at him, frowning. “I … I called him Tommy. That is his name, isn’t it?”
“I call him Thomas. I do not like nicknames.”
“Well, he told me that his name was Tommy.”
Isaac felt as though the room was shifting around him.
“He … Hetoldyou?” he managed, his voice thick.
Lady Charlotte was now looking at him as though he were mad.
“Yes, of course,” she answered, bewildered.
Isaac let out a long, ragged breath. Glancing around, he saw that the crowd was rapidly losing interest, most of them wandering off or engaging in conversation. There was no sign of Lady Charlotte’s relatives yet.
He seized his moment, snatching her by the wrist and hauling her along towards a door.
“What are you doing?” she yelped, trying and failing to yank her arm back from his grip.
“You, my dear, are coming with me.”
CHAPTER 3
Charlotte pulled with all her weight, trying to extricate herself from the duke’s grip. The sound of laughter and chatter floated along behind them. It was ridiculous to imagine that countless members of Society lingered just behind them, and not a single one would intervene.
Perhaps they had not noticed. In a crush like this, one only saw what happened directly around one, and the place was full of movement and noise.
She considered screaming. Nowthatwould attract all the attention one needed. It would also attractconsequences.
Charlotte imagined, briefly, what would happen when she screamed. There was a substantial chance that the duke would release her at once, out of shock. Then she could scurry off and be free.
If he didn’t release her, then people would surely come to her aid.Surely.
But what damage would it do to my reputation? Nobody would believe that I was entirely innocent, especially after I was seen sitting under a table at a party like this. My reputation would suffer as much as his.
Gabriel would not turn against her, of course, and that was something which worried Charlotte a little more. What if he did something foolish, like challenge the Duke of Arkley to a duel? What if the dukeaccepted?
A cold shiver ran down her spine. Generally, Gabriel considered duels to be the silly, pompous affairs that they were. They were, of course, illegal, but people dueled, even so. Peopledied. If he suspected that his sister’s virtue was being challenged in some way, especially by a Devil, he might well feel as though hehadto do something.
No, Charlotte could not risk screaming.
She attempted to dig in her heels and pull herself back, twisting her wrist as she did so. It was not working. His grip on her wrist was not tight or painful, but neither could she wriggle free. He hauled her along behind him effortlessly, with Tommy tucked awkwardly under his other arm.
She had a vague feeling that she ought to be nervous, and certainly outraged—a gentleman hauling a lady along infullsightof a busy ballroom was unheard of and beyond shocking—and yet she only felt faintly annoyed.
From this angle, she could only see the duke’s broad shoulders and the untidy back of his head. He had thick, blue-black hair, the sort of shade rarely seen naturally. In short, he had the sort of hair a number of gentlemen would love to have, but he appeared not to bother styling it or even brushing it particularly thoroughly.
The little boy wriggled in his uncle’s arms, twisting around to look at her, spectacles glinting in the candlelight. Charlotte felt a pang of worry.
She should not have sat under the table with the little boy. She should have taken him to a servant straight away. It was just that he was so frightened of the crowds and so clearly miserable. It seemed perfectly natural to spend some time with him to calm him down.
But the duke looked so angry. Furious, in fact. He knows who I am, which means that he knows who Gabriel is.
