Page 47 of Matters of a Duke's Heart
There was a fern plant that rested on the windowsill, and he smelled faintly of that, too. She felt how he slowly eased the tension in his shoulders, as her face turned to press her cheek against his shoulder.
“Thank you,” Felicity said quietly. “I know it is not easy to speak with one another like this. And if you ever want to discuss Alexander’s mother, or anything at all, please know I am here to stand at your side in support. I promised it at the altar, and I will continue to uphold that promise. All I ask is that you always speak to me.”
“I cannot promise I am going to always be good at it,” he told her, but she already knew such things could be difficult.
So, she offered him a small smile and asked, “Who is ever good at marriage at first?”
He seemed eased by that. By the time they parted, Felicity felt as though the tension of the last three days had dissipated.
Her husband could have foul tempers, and she could be persistent, but they were on a terrace, sharing breakfast, and she thought it was the closest she had felt to him since meeting him.
“I think we could have some sort of way out of this,” Felicity suggested as they both sat down again. Wordlessly, Spencer took another Brioche and cut it open, eating it her way. She fought a smile but said nothing, finding herself eating her own his way. There was something about it that made her heart flutter. “I know I can be insistent. You have raised Alexander alone for so many years, and although you asked me to be a mother figure, giving up that independence and control must be difficult.”
“It is not so much about the control, but my—” He broke off, looking outward at the view. For a moment, his eyes turned vacant, and he sighed. “I am incredibly jealous that in only a short time you have managed to offer my son what I have never been able to. He enjoys your walks, and you make him laugh, and you show him patience I have often not afforded.”
“There is not a lot to it,” she said gently. “But at the same time, you are the duke, and he is your heir.”
“Yes, but he is my son first and foremost, and it has become clear to me that I have lost sight of that. He came to me last night, in my study, and he told me that he likes you. He said many other things, things that struck a very deep chord in me, but he has gotten through to me. I just need a way to practice being a father more than a duke.”
Felicity reached across the table and placed her hand over Spencer’s. It drew his attention back to her. “Then let me help. What is something you loved to do as a boy?”
“Horse riding,” he said. “But I also loved picnic days. When my father was in a good mood, he would take us all out for a coastal picnic, set up in a beach cove. They were some of my favorite days.”
“Then let us do that!” Felicity urged. “It is the perfect solution. You can share stories with him of your own childhood, doing the same thing, and Alexander can spend time with us both. I will be there if you struggle for conversation. I can encourage him, and support you. If I cross boundaries then… well, this is where we can practice discussing things.”
“Instead of me shouting, you mean.” He looked both embarrassed and bemused.
“Yes,” she told him boldly. “Exactly.”
“Felicity…” He paused. “I do my find myself enjoying the fact that you do not let my bad moments go without being pointed out. Everybody else is so quick to pander to me, to let me think I am always right just because I am a duke. But I am not always right. You, unlike everyone else, are quick to point that out.”
Felicity smirked and sipped her tea. “That is because I know I am right and believe I can get you to see my point of view.”
“Ah, is that right?”
“It is indeed.”
“And yet you have eaten your bread my way.”
His eyes dropped to the piece of bread pinched between her fingers. When they landed back on hers, the icy blue she had come to know melted into something much softer.
She, in turn, softened, and felt how her heart raced. Her mind strayed to those books that had occupied her last three days.
Aware of how hot her face had become, Felicity spluttered. “Yes—yes, well, it is tasty. It has nothing to do with you being right. You are being big-headed again.”
Yet she couldn’t quite tear her eyes off him in stubborn or mock annoyance. Instead, she let herself look shyly at him. She was discovering what made Spencer Dunne much more than just the Duke of Langdon.
And she found she was becoming quite smitten with the discoveries, even if he insisted on being so rigidly proper at other times.
Unmask yourself truly, Felicity thought. Show me fully what lies beneath.
Chapter 16
“There has to be something more than this,” Spencer muttered to himself, reading the report Rupert had sent. He had already read it five times, as if expecting something more to reveal itself. “Radcliffe cannot be this clean, not with the way he cornered Felicity.”
He took out a piece of paper, intending to write back to Rupert to keep digging, that the man could not get away with anything, not when it involved his wife or his wife’s family.
However, the door to his study burst open, and Spencer was ready to shout at whoever it was to leave, but all his irritation faded away at the sound of a boyish giggle.
