Page 65 of Her Duke By Accident
Danvers eyed him skeptically. “Married life isn’t what anyone said it might be, right?”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“So it isnotHer Grace that keeps you trapped in your mind?”
Matthew sighed as another brandy was placed in front of him. He sipped absentmindedly, trying to ignore the baron’s eager gaze. “My affairs are my own, Danvers.”
“Of course they are, Your Grace,” Danvers agreed. “But we are a society for a reason. There is always the option of sharing your affairs to better help oneself.” He leaned forward slightly, giving the duke a reassuring smile. “I have spoken too much about my own troubles to not share the load of your own.”
Matthew glanced at Danvers. Nothing about the gentlemen seemed ill-intentioned. He waited patiently, and Matthew remembered Alicia’s urge to hear more about him. He sighed.
“It is a… struggle to become used to a stranger living in the halls I can walk safely through with my eyes closed.”
“Nothing peculiar about that, Your Grace,” Danvers said with a shrug. “It is always odd.”
“She does not wish for it to be,” Matthew slowly spoke. “Her Grace yearns for more, and I do not believe I am capable of giving it to her.”
“More what?”
Matthew hesitated. The rowdiness of Lew’s and Crake’s had grown even more within the last half hour as aristocratic gentlemen gathered to play cards and smoke their cigars. He glanced around at the ton, and a few lords and ladies eyed him curiously.
“I am not a gossip, Your Grace,” Danvers suddenly said.
Matthew frowned. “I did not mean to offend you, Danvers, but?—”
He raised a hand. “No need for an explanation. Believe me,” he motioned towards the growing crowd, “these men could talk and talk for hours about the ongoings of their peers. I take pride in our conversations, Your Grace. You can trust in my integrity.”
“Her Grace wants to know more about Garvey,” Matthew finally said. He looked into his brandy.
“Curiosity is natural, Your Grace.”
“I understand,” he replied. “But they are my halls. They are my memories.”
Danvers leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms in thought. “You have spoken with Her Grace lots, then?”
“She is my wife, Danvers,” Matthew said with a bemused smirk. “We tend to speak lots with the ones we live with.”
“Well, of course, Your Grace,” Danvers chuckled. “I just meant?—”
“You were implying what the ton gossips about, I assume.”
Danvers pressed his lips together. “It has been speculated about.”
“What has?”
“The cause of your marriage.”
Matthew gripped his glass, struggling to keep his irritation at bay. “I thought I could trust your integrity, Danvers.”
“You can, Your Grace,” the baron floundered. “Just because I hear the ton's rantings doesn’t mean I participate in them. Everyone was surprised by the sudden wedding, and with only one promenade seen, they could only assume?—”
“They assume the duchess to be that of a trickster, is that right?” Matthew glared at him, eyebrows furrowed in anger. “A woman out to capture a man of higher station only for her family’s betterment? Is that right, Danvers?”
The baron sank in his seat, lowering his gaze till he stared at the table. “Yes, Your Grace,” he whispered defeatedly.
“I would take a man ofintegrityto better respect such a lady.”
Danvers raised his gaze, eyes narrowed skeptically. “Was it not you who so proudly proclaimed that the lady tricked you into a marriage?”
