Page 84 of Her Duke By Accident
Tears gathered in the governess’s eyes.
Matthew’s nostrils flared in disgust at the sight of her. He released his hold, practically dropping her into one of the dining table chairs. She collapsed against it, sniffing and swiping a delicate hand below her eye.
“I am a married man, Miss Ayles,” Matthew finally said, not even bothering to look down upon her. “Be my guest and dig yourself a deeper hole in this mess you’ve made. It won’t change anything.”
Crossing the room to the door, Matthew grabbed the knob. “Pack your bags before my return, Miss Ayles,” he called over his shoulder.
Crash!
A teacup smashed against the door, directly beside where Matthew stood. He flinched, jolting backwards as the pieces splattered against his arm. Spinning around, he laid eyes on the governess.
Miss Ayles looked like a wild beast who had just broken free of its cage. She breathed in loud gulps, hands clenching and relaxing repeatedly. With wide, enveloping eyes, the governess stared at him with an aggressive intensity.
“You can’t leave,” she spat. “Youcan’t!”
“You have overstepped, Miss Ayles!”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “Do not be a fool!”
Matthew gaped at her.
“Do you not see, Matthew?”
His lips curled into a disgusted frown. “Youdareto use my name?”
“All those years ago, when you needed a governess,” she began, her voice shaking, “I answered your call. Whether you knew it or not, I was here, haunting the halls of Garvey. I have seen you at your lowest and highest. I have raised your poor bastard sister. I am the shadow that clings to you, I am the missing piece that will fix you. Everything you have craved lies within me. Don’t you see?”
“You’ve lost your mind,” he muttered, astonished.
“No,” she whispered. “I can finally think clearly. If there was anything that today has proven, with the fleeing of your fraudulent wife, it is that I am to be your rightful duchess.”
Matthew reached for the doorknob again, throwing the door open quickly before the governess could think to throw something else. With barely a look over his shoulder, Matthew spoke quietly, so softly that he assumed she wouldn’t have heard.
“I already have a duchess.”
“Not for long.”
Matthew froze as his blood ran cold. “Wh–What did you just say?”
Miss Ayles stood there, swaying slightly as if music played, with her hands twisted behind her back. A delicate smile spread across her lips, showing teeth. “Nothing,” she whispered, the smile growing into something sinister.
A chill ran down Matthew’s spine.
For as long as he could remember, fear was not something he had to deal with often. There was not much around that might forcibly bring him to his knees in an unbridled panic. But in that moment, with the governess dressed in a foreboding blood–red, Matthew felt a quiver in his legs, a quick stutter in his heartbeat.
Fear, however, quickly became replaced with rage.
Matthew took only a few long strides till he stood upon the governess, snatching onto her shoulders in a way he knew hurt. He shook her for a moment, watching as Miss Ayles rattled within his grasp. Despite it all, she remained smug, her lips perked up in a way that made his blood boil.
“What did you say?”
“Not — for — long.”
Matthew shoved her, hearing her back slam against the wall. He didn’t bother to wait for her to rise, or to see if any real harm had been inflicted. All decorum left him.
Running from the dining room, Matthew left behind the halls of Garvey, ignoring the eyes that watched with curiosity. Emotions rang so brightly within him that there was no way to see where he went, to remember saddling a horse or beginning to race through the woods.
There was only Alicia.
