Page 76 of How to Seduce a Duke this Autumn
David waved his comment aside. “Can we not let bygones be bygones?”
“No.”
“Well, I say yes.”
“Don’t toy with me.” Adam’s jaw tightened, his voice trembling under the force of his anger. “Return the tenants’ money, David. Tomorrow morning. No excuses. And get out of sight.”
“Or else?” David stepped closer, his body language all provocation. The crowd parted unconsciously around them, sensing the tension like a wolf scenting its prey.
Adam tensed as his brother’s hand clamped over his forearm in a bruising grip, squeezing with just enough force to be a threat. “Or else I’ll collect what you owe myself,” Adam growled, resisting the sharp urge to retaliate. A public altercation would only solidify the scandal David seemed so determined to stoke. And Charlene… Charlene would never forgive him.
“Feisty tonight, aren’t we?” David chuckled darkly, his other hand brushing down the lapel of his double-breasted coat. He leaned in, his smile venomous. “I see I’ve touched a nerve, brother. Could it be the lady herself? Have you grown fond of her?” His brow quirked, false sympathy painting his face. “Is she as good as I imagined she might be?”
Adam’s self-restraint frayed dangerously at the edges. He sucked in a sharp breath, his nostrils flaring, but David continued his taunts, relishing every moment.
“Tell me, Adam,” David drawled, leaning closer still. “When she screamed, was it your name or mine?”
Adam’s temper erupted. He struck David’s wrist, forcing his brother to release him, and stepped forward so quickly that his chest nearly collided with David’s. His voice dropped low, sharpas a blade. “If you so much as speak Charlene’s name again, I swear I will forget every last fiber of decency Father taught me. And I will disregard the fact that Mother wishes you well.”
David smirked, unfazed, even as Adam loomed above him. “Protecting her virtue, are we? How noble. How dull.”
Fury rolled through Adam, his hand tightening at his side. But when he spoke again, his voice was steadier, colder. “You will not drag her down into your mud. You will not sully her name. Not now, not ever.”
“She doesn’t belong with you,” David sneered. “She’ll come to her senses soon enough.”
Adam’s hand twitched, the urge to strike him nearly unbearable. But scandal would not make him a savior in Charlene’s eyes. No. He would fight him another day. Quietly. Efficiently. He stepped back with deliberate control.
“She belongs nowhere near you,” Adam said. His voice was hard, but he tipped his chin higher, staring down at his twin with an unflinching gaze. “Mark my words, David. You’ll return what’s owed. Stay out of my affairs and stay away from Charlene.”
David smirked again, but Adam had already turned, his eyes darting once more through the crowd. Had she seen David? Was that why she didn’t show up? His heart raced as he imagined Charlene lost out there alone.
*
Charlene pressed hergloved hand over her mouth, stifling the sob that clawed its way up her throat. Her vision blurred as tears spilled, warm and unwelcome, tracing cold paths down her cheeks in the late afternoon chill. The houses along the street cast uneven pools of light on the slick cobblestones as the sun went down and more and more lights came on, but her eyesdarted past them, unfocused. She stumbled as her satin slippers slipped on a loose stone, catching herself against the wrought-iron railing of a townhouse. For a moment, she clung to it, the cool metal biting against her palm, and gasped for breath.
Her chest heaved, every inhale tight and shallow, but the weight pressing on her ribs wasn’t the fabric; it was the betrayal, the lie. Her heart ached with the sheer force of it. She had trusted Adam. She had dared to believe in him, in his character, in those solemn words that had promised her nothing but honesty.
But he had lied, hadn’t he?
He would have known, wouldn’t he have?
And she had once again fallen for a blazing Cross.
The city seemed an endless maze of noise and movement, but Charlene felt completely alone. The clip-clop of horses, the rumble of carriage wheels, and the raised voices of passersby blurred into an indistinct hum as her surroundings grew distant and meaningless. A child’s laughter rang out somewhere nearby, shrill and carefree, and it only made her throat tighten further. She pulled the edges of her cloak tighter around her, feeling as though the chill in the air had seeped straight into her bones. Her fingers curled into the fabric, trembling with the effort to hold herself together when all she wanted to do was collapse onto the street like a castaway left behind.
Her steps quickened as she turned onto quieter streets, the cracks in the cobblestones snagging the hem of her gown. But she didn’t stop to free it, didn’t care. She needed the sanctuary of her home, the walls that would shield her from the world. Where she wouldn’t have to see Adam or the confusion that lingered in his eyes. That pain… Anger flickered in her again, reigniting where grief had softened her. How dare he! He had kept the truth from her, stood there with those sincere eyes, and withheld the one thing she had asked of him.
To not be his brother.
Not like David.
Never David again.
She wiped at her tears, but they welled again, hot and unrelenting, spilling over faster than she could wipe them away. She couldn’t help but remember that night… when David had lured her into the alcove.
He’d slipped his hands into her bodice, pressed his mouth against hers and more… cold dread washed over her at the embarrassment, humiliation, and disgust alone.
And what was worse, she couldn’t tell if it was David’s or Adam’s face just now. It was David, she knew that, and the hit she’d managed to deliver with a vase from the side table had broken his tooth. But that moment of uncertainty had been awful.
