Page 61 of Dukes Are Forever
How things had changed.
He felt slightly off-kilter, as if the world had shifted on its axis while he wasn't looking.
"As will you, no doubt?" she murmured, searching his gaze.
"As will I."
It was a lie.
But she clearly believed it, for the light in her eyes died. "As you wish."
Chapter 13
Fury rode her well into the next day.
Adele rose early, and for the first time in days she didn't bother to ask if her husband was at home.
No. He'd be about saving the world and searching for a dangerous blue blood mastermind who wanted to destroy London. And while she respected that he knew the sort of dangers involved, she couldn't help resenting his instructions.
Go home. Forget everything. Be a good little duchess.
For a moment yesterday, when he'd explained what he was involved in, she'd almost felt as though her husband was treating her as an equal.
For a moment she'd hovered on the verge of something more than this weary life.
She'd been ablaze with excitement—until Malloryn quite firmly set her back in her place.
All her life, her father had cursed her for not being born a son—or ignored her as unimportant because she lacked the necessary physical requirements. It wasn't until she turned fourteen and started drawing attention from young men that Sir George Hamilton had begun to realize he had an asset on his hands.
Prized for her beauty, and not her brains. Stuffed and shoved into gasp-inducing corsets, her hair heated into torturous curls, and her manners critiqued at every turn, she'd become his most valued possession.
Her father didn't want to hear what she thought. He wanted her to capture attention. He would point out a young fellow in society and tell her to make her introductions. Adele would smile and flirt, and lead said target back to her father, where suddenly she was forgotten again.
In hindsight, she longed for those days when her father had forgotten her. It might have been better than when he realized what value she truly had. Or her body, rather.
But yesterday, as she'd sat in Malloryn's study, her body aching with the aftermath of all that had occurred, she'd felt something new blossom within her.
He hadn't merely told her to mind her business, or ignored her questions. He'd revealed quite dangerous secrets, and she'd begun to believe he might see some value in her.
And then, the second her heart started beating faster at the thought that she could help, he'd swiftly disabused her of that notion.
She'd been told not to get involved.
She wasn'tgoingto get involved.
But the second Adele finished breakfast, she sent for her writing set and locked herself away in the library.
The SOG had been a group of disgruntled blue bloods longing for a return to the old days, according to Malloryn.
She'd heard them speaking, of course, but she'd never known there was a name for them. Or a group. She'd thought it merely a gathering of fat old windbags who'd whine into their blud-wein about how they weren't allowed to molest and take what they wanted from young society ladies anymore.
Or the many younger blue bloods who had never had a chance to be such predators and resented the stolen opportunities.
"Poor devils," Adele mocked, as her nib moved across the paper and she listed every single lord she'd learned to avoid over the years.
Who were Devoncourt's cronies again?
Not the older blue bloods that'd once been in power, but the younger set that'd been the most dangerous of all. She hadn't liked that about him, but he'd assured her they were harmless.
