Page 54 of His Grace, the Duke
“You know as well as I that he must secure an heir. Otherwise, the weight will really fall on your shoulders,” she challenged. “You think you feel the pressure now? Oh James, you sweet boy, it will break you. You’re far too soft, too weak. Youneedme!”
More words hit their target. As much as he tried to shield himself, she knew what to say to burrow her way under his skin.
I’m not strong enough. Nothing I do will ever be enough. Too weak. Too caring. Too compromised—
He took a shaky breath and exhaled it. James wasn’t soft. Did Burke not complain about all his hard edges near daily? Part of James wanted to let his guard down. God, he thought of the way Rosalie looked at him in the library, her dark eyes so full of interest... interest inhim.
He remembered the feel of her soft lips on his, asking him without words to be let into his heart, into his life. But he couldn’t do it.Thiswas the reality of his life. How could he afford softness when he was constantly on the offensive,battling his domineering mother or compensating for his worthless brother? And when they were not trying his patience at every turn, he had a dukedom to run.
Hold it together. The center must always hold.
No, anything soft in James had been chipped away long ago. Burke might believe there was something left, but he was wrong. James was all hardness now. Walls and walls and walls of cold, hard stone.
He met and held his mother’s cold gaze. “I’ve been your puppet, Mother. You’ve manipulated me. You threaten me and belittle me when every day I am fighting for this family. But you don’t see me—”
“Of course, I see you—”
“You don’t see me,” he said louder. “You claim everything I do as your own—”
“I birthed you and I raised you,” she cried, stepping closer until her jasmine perfume filled his nose. “Whatever your successes, they aremine. You are my creature, James!”
Before another word could be spoken, George strolled into the room. “Look who I found,” he called in a sing-song voice. “Oh dear... are we quarreling?” He glanced from one to the other. “Shall we come back later?”
“Of course not.” Their mother waved her hand for him to enter.
James glanced away from the door, needing a moment to school his features, knowing exactly who trailed behind his brother.
His mother was ready with an admonishment. “Miss Harrow, why did you not come to me the moment I arrived?”
“I’m sorry, Your Grace, I didn’t know,” came Rosalie’s soft voice. It touched James like the stroke of a feather down hisspine. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from groaning, his face still turned away. He moved over to the sofa and sat down heavily.
George sank onto the sofa across from him, a little smile on his face. “Yes, I found her in the library... on her knees.”
James glanced from George to Rosalie, a tightness coiling in his chest. Her cheeks now matched the soft pinkish purple of her gown.
“George, don’t be crass,” their mother snapped.
“How is it crass to say she was on her knees?” he replied with a chuckle.
“I was retrieving a book,” Rosalie added. “I didn’t hear any commotion in the house until His Grace found me.”
She was working very hard not to look at James, for which he was grateful... and annoyed. They’d yet to speak alone since that moment on the stairs. He’d been avoiding her. If he was hurting her with his distance, he didn’t care. It was better this way.
“Well?” his mother huffed. “Is someone going to start talking? I think I deserve an explanation.”
“Hmm... I think we all do,” George added, his tone mockingly somber.
James was going to add a punch to the ribs to the shin-kick George had already earned. “Miss Harrow, you can go. This is a family matter—”
“I will say when my ward is dismissed,” his mother snapped.
“She had nothing to do with this. She was dragged into my plans against her will—”
“Are you saying you kidnapped her?” George asked. “A midnight kidnapping from a duke’s ball, a carriage escapeto London—heavens, what an event. Your life is the stuff of novels, Cabbage.”
“Don’t call her that,” James snapped.
His mother turned. “And what do you call her, James? Tell me plainly: Do you intend to marry her?”
