Page 114 of Ironvine

“No. I have an agent who knows exactly what I like. He found it for me. One day, I hope to go myself.”

“Although this piece is beautifully displayed in Your Grace’s magnificent gallery,” said Georgina. “It is, I find, a shame that it was taken from its native land where it surely has much historical significance.”

A gasp, a scoff, a murmur.

Ah fuck.Charles clenched his jaw.

Silence reigned as the Duke turned to Georgina once more as if he were seeing her anew. Her body tightened under his grim scrutiny. “You are a curious creature. I’ve saved it. The Greeks are not a nation as you and I may know, but a people enslaved by the Ottomans who rule all of the Levant. These conquerors do not appreciate these slivers of ancient Greek history as art, they are but rubble to them and sell them most willingly. But I appreciate them, and I am willing to pay to liberate them, to preserve them, not only for my private pleasure but for future generations.”

“Indeed, Your Grace,” said Georgina. “Yet perhaps one day the Greeks shall win their freedom and then—”

Muffled voices rose in the distance. “You are spectacular.” Desperate voices. Grunts. Groans. A cry.“Here—ah yes. Kiss me.”

Charles recognised both voices. Clamping down his jaw even harder in order to not grin as he wished to, he noticed movement in a dark alcove at the end of the hall. His aunt was frozen to the spot. Alice her lips parted, her face pale just as when she’d first laid eyes on Apollo chasing Daphne. Georgina’s hand slid around his arm.

“What do we have here?” The Duke let out a dark chuckle as he turned toward the alcove.

At the end of the dark alleyway of sculptures, a man and a woman clutched at each other, his one hand clasped around her bottom, keeping her close as they kissed urgently, their bodies grinding into each other. The woman’s blonde hair caught the dim light. The angles of the man’s face were made visible. There was no mistaking them.

Amanda clung to Matthew. Matthew gripped Amanda. Hungry kisses, roving hands.

“Oh,” Alice gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.

“There’s a fine tableau,” one of the Duke’s friends remarked on a hard laugh.

“Damn me, look at her,” murmured another. “Oh, I’d like to…yes, he’s got it…”

With much haste, Aunt Vivian steered Alice out of the sculpture gallery. Charles and Georgina remained rooted to the spot. Georgina pressed her body against his.

“My collection always inspires, don’t you know?” The Duke laughed and his friends joined him.

Amanda and Matthew stilled, the two of them turning. Freezing. Her eyes were wide as saucers. “No!” she cried out.

“What a magical gallery you have, Your Grace,” said Charles. “I do believe Apollo caught his Daphne this evening, eh?”

The Duke roared with laughter, a dark, sharp laugh that had Georgina’s fingers tightening around his.

ChapterFifty

Charles

Matthew and Amanda had vanished.

As the Duke and his friends left the sculpture gallery, Charles led his wife to the next aisle of sculptures, deeper into the dark corridor. He squeezed her hand. “Georgie, you cannot speak to His Grace in that manner.”

“I wanted to know why he—”

“There’s only one reason. Ever. He’s incredibly wealthy and has a very healthy sense of entitlement. And this encompasses all things. Not only sculptures.”

“And people?”

“Yes.”

“He did tell me ‘once I find something I like, it must be mine.’”

“Yes, he did,” Charles muttered as their footsteps made clear, clipped noises on the polished marble floor. “Did you enjoy watching Matthew?”

“I do not care about Matthew.”

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