Page 86 of Corrupting his Duchess

“What are you here for?”

He took a step closer. “To tell you that I understand.”

Her brow lifted.

“I understand what it is to want more than you’re allowed. To look at someone like him and imagine…just for a moment…that you might be the exception. That he’ll choose you.”

She opened her mouth, but he cut her off.

“He won’t.”

Her stomach dropped. “You don’t know him.”

“Oh,” he scoffed.

Anna’s spine stiffened. “Henry isn’t like that.”

Matthew’s smile deepened. “You say his name so easily now.”

“I don’t think this conversation is appropriate.”

“Oh, but it is.” He stepped further into the room. “You need to hear it, Anna. Because the story doesn’t end the way you think it will.”

She stood very still, her breath measured.

“I know his kind,” Matthew said calmly. “They chase the feeling until it stops being novel. Then they return to what they were born for. And you, Anna… you are not what he was born for.”

She turned away, but he stepped further in.

He studied her. “Let me remind you that it won’t last. That men like him don’t marry women like you, not when the party ends. And when it does, when the carriages are gone and his attention drift elsewhere... you’ll be left with little but the memory and the ruin.”

Her eyes prickled.

“Yes, he’ll leave,” Matthew said. “Whether in three days or three weeks, he’ll go. He’s a duke, after all. He’ll return to his estate, to Parliament, to every woman of status waiting in line. And when he does, you’ll be the sorry one.”

She froze.

“I’m not here to shame you,” he went on, “when he leaves– and he will– you’ll see the truth. It won’t be all at once. It’ll be quiet. A letter unanswered. A conversation that never finds its time. One day you’ll realize he’s already gone.”

Her jaw tightened, “That’s not your concern.”

“It is,” he said. “Because I’ll be the one left behind to clean up the scandal. To offer you what comfort remains after your reputation has frayed.”

Her lips parted, but no words came.

“You don’t have to love me,” he added. “You only have to understand that, in the end, I’m the only one who will stay.”

She turned sharply. “You think I need saving?”

“I think you’ve mistaken indulgence for protection,” he said, voice low. “You’ve mistaken a look for a promise.”

Her stomach turned, but she kept her expression flat.

“I’ve watched you,” Matthew said. “Not just this week. From the beginning. And what I see is a woman who’s trying very hard not to fall apart.”

Anna felt her fingers go numb around the edge of the book. She didn’t flinch. She didn’t show it. But inside, something twisted, rage or shame, she wasn’t sure.

“You’re afraid,” he said. “Not of me. Of what happens when it ends. When you’re no longer useful. When he doesn’t look at you like that anymore.”