Page 7 of Dukes Are Forever
She'd wait though, until his disinterest in her was really beginning to prickle....
The taste of coal smog thickened the air, and she hurried to her carriage, clapping a hand to her black-feathered hat as the footman handed her up into it.
In the gloom of the interior, it took her a moment to realize she wasn't alone as the door slammed shut.
Chapter 3
Speak of the devil and he shall appear....
Adele clapped a hand to her chest in surprise as a pair of long legs stretched out in front of her, leading up to an opened newspaper.
She would have gasped, but the golden signet ring on the man's finger was very familiar. She watched it every morning as her husband idly tapped the breakfast table whilst he flicked through the daily news, much as he was now.
"Your Grace," she blurted. "What are you doing here?"
The newspaper lowered, a pair of cool gray eyes assessing her.
"I was in the area," Malloryn announced in the clipped tones he usually owned when speaking with her. "The coachman assured me you wouldn't be long."
"Did you wish to speak with me?"
"Not particularly." He rapped his cane on the roof. "Carry on, James."
It shouldn't have stung as much as it did. She looked out the window as the carriage lurched into action. "I'm sorry I took the coach then."
Malloryn leaned back in his seat, carefully folding his newspaper. "Do you make a habit of visiting the verwulfen ambassador's wife?"
Oddly enough, he seemed more curious than anything. That would be a first. "She's my dearest friend. I come here most Wednesdays."
"It's Friday."
I was lonely. Instead she smoothed her skirts.Pull yourself together. It's just your husband.
"Lena's planning a ball," she said with a noncommittal shrug. "She wanted my opinion on something."
She'd never felt more uncomfortable in her life than she was trapped in a carriage with him. At least the dining table was over twenty feet long. Much easier to deal with him when they engaged but briefly over twenty feet of polished walnut, with the saltcellars and cutlery arranged between them, arrayed like soldiers in the field.
Especially with the heat of Lena's foolish declarations echoing in her ears.
Seduce him, indeed.
"Going somewhere?" he asked.
"I was on my way home."
Her husband tapped the roof with his cane. "Malloryn Court."
"You were going home too?"
It was the middle of the day. He was rarely out of bed by now, his blue blood nature more prone to haunting the moonlit hours. Fashionable London didn't come alive until at least midafternoon, when the bloodthirsty aristocrats of the Echelon awoke and squinted fiercely at the glare of sunlight.
Malloryn studied her before dropping his attention to where he began to tug at his gloves, one finger at a time. "I lied. We need to speak, Adele."
The words froze her.Divorce?It wasn't unheard of, and Malloryn had made it quite clear this marriage wasn't to his satisfaction. An unpopular precedent, but he had the queen's ear. It could be arranged. And he wouldn't be affected by the scandal as badly as she would be.
Maybe this was revenge.
Maybe this was what he'd intended all along.
