Page 12 of Her Duke By Accident
Alicia held her head away from him, watching the other members of the ton walk around the paths splayed across Walton Gardens. “Yes, Your Grace,” she replied.
“I heard that Lady Tollock will be throwing an outdoor soiree toward the end of the Season,” Matthew continued, seemingly not caring about her short responses. “I’m sure every exotic thing she can get her hands on will be there.”
“I’m sure you’re right, Your Grace,” she muttered, feeling a sort of edge to her words.
Matthew leaned closer to her so that his hushed words could be heard only between them. “I would expect you to at least try and put some effort in our conversation, my lady,” he said. “The tonis watching.”
Alicia rolled her eyes. “I am well aware of the ton’s steady gaze, Your Grace.”
“Then might you convince them we are not a fraud?”
“Nothing we say today will determine our future with society,” she said, though a part of her struggled to believe her own words.
Matthew scoffed. “I didn’t take you to be so ignorant.”
“I amnotignorant,” she snapped.
“You seem to want to believe we live in a different world,” he began, “where everyone, no matter their station, might one day fall in love.” Once he finished his sentence, Matthew looked over at her, eyebrows raised and lips pressed together.
Alicia sighed. “I know you refer to what I said in the parlor,” she said. “Am I wrong?”
The duke did not reply, but instead watched some birds fly overhead.
“It does not make me a fool to want to live a life inspired by love.”
“That, my lady,” he muttered, “is where you are wrong.”
“Enlighten me, Your Grace.”
A smirk crawled up Matthew’s face. “Do you truly believe your parents met and fell in love?”
“Why should I not believe what they have told me?”
Matthew laughed. “Parents tell of happy endings and sweet exchanges to prepare their daughters for their ultimate purpose,” he explained. “To uplift their status as well as the status of their future children through a beneficial marriage.”
“If you lived with parents like my own, you would speak differently,” Alicia said, finally sure of herself. She smiled. “You would fight this marriage.”
“I understand responsibility,” he coldly said.
“You believe I don’t?”
Matthew scoffed, shaking his head. “Tell me, my lady,” he said, “what responsibility has been laid on your shoulders?”
For a moment, she grew frightened of looking like a fool in front of the duke. If they were to merely have a contract between them, she at least wanted to hold her own in a conversation. She turned, looking over her shoulder at the trailing group of chaperones following close behind. Her eyes connected with Owen’s for a moment.
“I told you before,” she said.
He met her eyes for the first time since they arrived in Walton Gardens. “Have you?”
“In the library,” Alicia replied. “I explained the pressures set upon me by my brother.”
Matthew looked away, a harshness suddenly returning to his jaw. He clenched his teeth, and said, “Of course.”
She pressed her lips together as the conversation trailed off into an uneasy silence. It was obvious that any mention of how their ‘courtship’ began triggered an intense anger from the duke.
Suddenly something wet and rough swiped against Alicia’s palm, resulting in a yelp of surprise as she jumped away. Matthew made a noise of disapproval as she backed into him, her heel pressed into the top of his foot.
“My lady,”he seethed, an annoyed look in his eyes.
