Page 99 of Claiming his Cursed Duchess

“What the devil?” a male voice bellowed as Adam thrust his weight against the first door he came across, stumbling into the drawing room at Ravenshire like a madman.

He could hear the rapid footsteps of servants running up to restrain him.

“Where is Rosaline?” he demanded.

Travel-worn and soaked from the mud of the roads, he must have looked a sight.

A tall man, who could only be the Duke of Ravenshire, huge and imposing with thick brown hair and sharp green eyes, advanced on him, his face like thunder.

“What is the meaning of this, sir? How dare you barge into my house in this way?”

“Where is Rosaline?” Adam demanded again, straightening his clothing a bit but ensuring that he did not take a step back.

These people have my wife, and I am not leaving until I have spoken with her.

A movement caught his eye behind the duke. A young brown-haired woman stood where she had been seated on the settee. She had a book of poetry in her hand and appeared entirely unfazed by his abrupt arrival.

Adam attempted to catch his breath, her blue eyes assessing him with interest.

“I take it that you are Adam Fitzwilliam, the Duke of Oldstone?” she asked in an impossibly calm voice.

Her husband, for it could only be he, stepped back, glancing at his wife reproachfully as she came toward Adam.

“I am the Duke of Oldstone,” Adam managed finally, still breathing heavily from his frantic ride. “I would like to speak with my wife.”

“I am Genevieve Addington, and this is my husband Wilhelm, and you are trespassing on Ravenshire land.” A touch of steel entered her voice at that.

Adam cleared his throat. “Please. I am sorry for my conduct. I will leave as soon as I have seen her. There is no guarantee shewill not throw me from the house herself, and you will have your wish.”

“What makes you think I will not do so?” asked the duke, his stance screaming that he would enjoy nothing better.

Genevieve rested a hand on her husband’s arm. “Rosaline is not here,” she stated simply.

“What?” Adam said frantically. “She wrote to me not two days ago telling me she had arrived safely.”

“Shewashere. She left this morning. She is headed to your country estate.”

“That is miles away.”

“She is stopping at an inn on the way through,” Genevieve said with deliberate calm. “I imagine she will have arrived there by now.”

Adam tried hard not to raise his voice in his desperation. “Duchess, I beg you to tell me which inn she is staying at.”

“Are you going to make her happy or unhappy when you find her?”

The lady’s eyes were all fire now.

“I am going to beg her to forgive me. On my knees if I have to. Will that do?”

The duchess glanced at her duke, and they shared a little smile of satisfaction at his words.

“Well then, I can tell you she is stopping at The Black Heart. But if I hear that you have not done as you say, I will send Wilhelm to fight you.”

“Will you indeed, darling wife?” her husband asked with an amused edge to his voice.

“I cannot go myself, I have the baby to think of.”

“Then it would be my pleasure,” the Duke of Ravenshire replied, his eyes serpent-like as he glanced at Adam.