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“My father was not so forward-thinking, shall I say,” he said, a hint of bitterness creeping into his voice. “He had a penchant for gambling away whatever he had. By the time he passed, I inherited only several of his debts and the one establishment that he cared to preserve.”

“The gentleman's club,” Penelope completed for him. “Was that all he left you?”

“Left implies that he had any consideration of me when he was alive. The gentleman’s club was his only asset that remained intact because he frequented it till the day he died.”

“He was a gambler,” Penelope breathed out.

“Oh, that would be putting it kindly,” he replied. “The club was more like his personal haven where he was free to squander his fortunes.”

Penelope’s lips parted slightly. “How did you recover from that?”

“I didn’t. Not immediately,” Alexander admitted. “After he died, I was left with the debts, and the disgrace. He was not a well-liked man. But I fought for years to rebuild what he had lost. If I incurred a few scars along the way, I suppose I cannot complain much.”

Penelope shuddered to think about what he meant by scars. Her intuition told her that it was not just the physical scars that he was referencing.

“But it is still quite a remarkable feat to buy back whatever he lost,” she admitted. “Was it through...”

Penelope did not finish her sentence, but the implication was clear. It was only a natural connection – a man who owns a gentleman’s club and had a father who had a penchant for gambling. Could it be the case that Alexander had learned to out- gamble him and won back what he had lost?

A grim expression settled on his features, one that was so dark that it startled her.

“Do not ever insinuate that I am anything like the late duke,” he reprimanded. “I have not gambled once. Everything I have, I earned back with only my hard work and the connections that I made along the way. My title helped me, but I would have been fine even without it.”

“I did not mean to offend you,” Penelope’s tone softened, realizing that this was a difficult topic for him. “I was only trying to know more.”

“And now you do,” he cut in, “so do not ever make the mistake of assuming that I inherited his habits. If anything, I have fought all my life to avoid them.”

Penelope blinked, struck by the rawness in his tone.

“Because you didn’t want to become him?”

“Because I refused to become him,” Alexander corrected. “Keeping the club was my way of proving that. That I could stand in the very same room he did and walk out with my dignity intact. I found that I can look at temptation in the eye, and still walk away from it.”

She studied him, feeling the depth of that confession settle in her chest like a weight.

“This explains a great deal,” she muttered, nodding to herself.

Alexander’s eyebrow shot up, and he looked at her to elaborate.

“What I mean to say is,” Penelope scrambled to collect her words. “Well, I suppose I understand a bit better now why you are so careful about everything. The rules, all of it. They are all in place so that you do not step out of the boundaries that you have created for yourself.”

Alexander did not deny it.

“You seem to be wholly interested in understanding people,” he commented.

“I am interested in understanding you,” Penelope corrected. “There is a difference.”

Alexander searched her face for any signs of insincerity. But he would find none. Penelope had meant her words.

“If you keep this up,” he muttered , reaching out to touch her hand. “I might just grow used to it.”

Suddenly, Penelope was all too aware of the heat emanating from his skin onto her. Her breath hitched and for a dizzying moment, she did not know what room she was in anymore.

Nor did any words fall out from her lips. All she could focus on was the way he was too close to her.

“Is that a bad thing?” she managed to squeak out after a moment. Heaven knows it took everything she had.

“I have not decided yet,” he muttered, still not taking his hand off her. “Perhaps we will find out.”

“It’s better to be optimistic,” she said, a slight shiver to her voice.

“Is it, really?” he demanded. “Experience has told me otherwise.”

“You have never experienced me before,” Penelope did not know where the boldness in her words came from, only that it felt like the natural thing to say. Alexander’s eyes flitted over to her lips, and for a maddening moment, she wondered if he was thinking of kissing her, too.

Stop. She blushed profusely at the thought alone. What business did she have thinking these things? There was no room for intimacy in their arrangement.

And yet, her heart was still beating wildly in her chest, refusing to slow down for even a moment.

“What are you thinking, Duchess?” Alexander demanded, noticing the way that she had started to blush.

Penelope gulped loudly, and then jolted away from him.

“Nothing,” she said quickly, folding her arms out in front of her, almost chaining them to herself for she was worried that she would be the one to reach out next. “I just… it is rather late, isn’t it?”

An amused smile formed on his lips. “You just noticed?”

“I was too busy tending to your wounds,” she said, standing up now. “Forgive me if I lost track of time.”

“Forgiven,” he smirked. “Besides, as far as company goes, yours is not the worst.”

“That might just be the highest compliment you have paid me thus far,” she said, shaking her head. But heat returned to her cheeks, betraying her.

“Then I should hope that you cherish it well,” he said. “Shall I walk you to your chambers?”

“I can find my own way there,” she said, and started to walk towards the door.

This little interaction had solidified in her mind that it was dangerous being alone with him. Her mind took a direction of its own, and she entertained all manners of stray thoughts that she would not dare think otherwise.

No, she had to ensure that they would not meet alone again together.

“Tomorrow,” she blurted out just as she reached the door. “Tomorrow, I shall go with Odette for horse riding. You are welcome to join us, and I encourage you to do so.”

Even though she did not turn around to face him, she could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

“I shall try.”

“Goodnight, Your Grace.”

She did not wait for a response, and hurried down the hallway. It was only when she reached the privacy of her own chambers that she let herself relax, sliding down the door.

“What are you getting yourself into?” she said, not able to wipe the smile that had formed on her face.