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So now it was his fault?

"She would warm up to you when you get married and she gets to know you better."

Anthony suppressed the discourteous urge to snort. The young lady was more likely to run screaming on their wedding night when she gets a full view of the true extent of his injuries.

An expression on his face must have alerted his mother to his true thoughts and her eyes narrowed in annoyance

"Devlin, it seems you are not treating this matter with the seriousness it deserves. Do remember that you owe a duty to this title to marry a suitable young woman and provide heirs."

The fact that she called him by his title was enough to tell him she was getting to the end of her tolerance

"I could marry another lady or better still, leave the title to be inherited by a distant cousin or so. It just might save me the stress of attending all these tiresome affairs and dancing attendance to a woman who clearly despises me," he said, frustrated.

His comment seemed to anger the duchess because he watched her expression change from frustrated to implacable.

In a single moment she transitioned flawlessly from his mother to the Dowager Duchess of Devlin revered and feared in the whole of England.

"You will marry, Devlin. There is no distant cousin to inherit. I had a private investigator look into it while you were missing from battle. So if you do not produce an heir, the title will revert back to the crown. Your father, bless his soul would roll over in his grave should you allow that to happen."

He already knew that, but didn't bother interrupting her. It was best to let her lecture take its course.

"Furthermore, " she continued, "normally I would leave the choice of who to marry up to you. But you more than anyone know that our reputation as a family has taken a severe hit in previous years. As much as it grieves me to admit it, we need Miss Charity if we are to regain our good name back. She is the belle of the season, from a well-respected family of theton. She is the perfect candidate for a duchess in my opinion "

With a few choice words, his mother had managed to guilt trip him.

Standing up, she righted the sash of her robe. "I will leave you to gather your thoughts. Good night, my son," she said, patting his cheek like she did when he was a child.

There was a lot of sense in what she had said but was it fair to marry a lady knowing he harbored volatile feelings for her sister? Feelings that were growing uncomfortably every day.

If he were to marry Miss Charity, what was he to do with his feelings for her elder sister? How long could he hold our before his iron clad self-control collapsed?

* * *

A few days later, he was sitting in his carriage, on his way to yet another ball. This time though a faint feeling of excitement assaulted him and it wasn't difficult to associate the feeling to the hope of seeing Victoria again

He had spent the last few days in deep thoughts about his proposed marriage to Miss Charity. While his mind agreed that she was a perfect match that fit his needs, his emotions did not seem to agree with the idea.

Whenever he tried to imagine what married life with the amiable Miss Charity would be like, he became distracted by images of Victoria that seemed to be stamped at the back of his eyelids.

His obsession with Victoria was now that terrible that it could be a disease. Even now when he should be making plans on how best to woo Miss Charity, he was more preoccupied fantasizing about her delectable elder sister.

When they arrived at the ballroom. While he was being announced. His eyes searched the crowd eagerly for any sign of the object of his obsession. In moments he found her, standing surrounded by several aristocrats, gowned in a beautiful dark blue creation that highlighted her dark complexion. She held them in thrall with her bright smile and expressive hands as she explained some unknown concept to them.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was walking a direct path towards her.

It seemed they were attuned to each other's presence at an elemental level because before he reached them, she raised her hand and granted him a bright smile that he could not help but return.

There was instant silence from her previous companions. It seemed they had been surprised to see him smile.

The beast duke did not smile, he was well known to be brooding. Anthony was also astonished that he still possessed the ability to smile. After witnessing the horrors of war, he had found smiling and happiness to be a luxury.

" Good evening my lady. Can I have this dance?"

He could hear the strings of a waltz beginning and he thought it was just perfect for how close he wanted to be with her, a tiny voice warned him that he was also signing up for torture, because such proximity would stoke the flames of the passion he had been trying to put a lid on in recent times.

But then roses were known for their thorns and to his mind, the discomfort that was sure to come was a small price to pay for the honor of holding her close.

Smiling up to him the beautiful goddess in front of him replied