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Chapter Ten

T he moment they arrived at the estate, the Duke flew out of the carriage and hurried away toward his room.

Selina would not have it. He wasn’t retiring for the evening without so much as a word exchanged between them.

She would give him a piece of her mind, and Selina would be ever so pleased if he managed to choke on it.

“How could you? You were incredibly rude to Duke Aldsworth, and I was merely attempting to obey you. He is looking for a bride.”

The Duke stopped just before his door in the hallway. Selina walked right up to him, having followed him up the stairs, and jabbed her finger in his direction.

“You are mad, shoving yourself into the middle of a conversation and being so awful to one of my closest friends. Were you trying to make an enemy out of him?

Scowling, the Duke set his jaw tightly, the muscles around them flexing as he sucked in a deep breath through his nose. He waited several seconds before he crossed his hands over his chest and exhaled.

“It is not I who is the problem, Selina, but the pompous aristocrats who filled that blasted house to the brim. None of them speaks their minds like men. They discuss everything in half-truths and riddles. I won’t lower myself to that.”

Selina sighed, dropping her head as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She nearly felt bad for the man, having no understanding of how life worked in the upper echelons of society and particularly in the ton. He needed to learn quickly.

“This is a new world for you, I understand that. But you must adapt if you wish to remain in it. This is the way things are done here, and you’re going to wind up losing any sense of credibility or favor if you continue to aggravate everyone you speak to.”

The Duke pinned Selina with a stare, trying as much as his eyes could to force her to leave him be. But she would not budge. This affected her own standing, affected that damned marriage he demanded of her, and the man needed to recognize that.

“I have managed perfectly well for this long, Selina. I have survived the world at large and been quite successful with my business. I hardly think I need to take advice from a widow.”

He began to turn away from her, putting his fist around the doorknob, but this was far from over.

“You completely misunderstand what I’m?—”

“I will not bow to anyone, Selina.”

The Duke spun around, his glare landing on her with a force Selina had not seen from him before, and that was truly saying something considering their established dynamic. He looked more stern than ever, crowding her as he towered like an overgrown oak.

“I have not, and I will not. Ever .”

Growling out the words, the Duke took two more steps toward her, invading more of Selina’s space so that she was forced to pull into herself. A trill of fear sang in her ears, making her thoughts chaotic from the gravity of the Duke’s mood.

It was so odd to see him like this over what Selina had assumed was a relatively tame comment. What was it about the ton and the aristocracy that upset the man so much? There was a wildness—a pure rage—to the Duke’s eyes, but again, that lingering interest in her remained just beyond the obvious.

She would not back down from him. She would not allow him to bully her into submission. Because, as he would learn soon enough, Selina was as right about her assessment of the situation as she was about practically everything regarding the ton.

Decades of study had made her an adept student, and though he might not appreciate it in the slightest, Selina simply knew more than the Duke did when it came to formal behavior and the ways of the upper class.

“It is not bowing , Your Grace.” She raised her brows at him, straightening her spine and looking him dead in the eye.

“It is quite the opposite in fact. Do you wish to be successful here? To leverage your new title to your benefit? Then this is a play you must learn, a dance whose steps you must commit to memory.”

“A dance?” he scowled, his tone as biting as ever. Still, Selina would not relent. The Duke would understand. She knew it.

“Indeed.” She nodded at him, a smile lifting the corner of her mouth. “One of manipulation and negotiation.”

With that, Selina saw the change in the man’s stare. He considered her. He slowed, his temper receding, as he took in what she was saying for once. Taking a step back from her, the Duke folded his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Explain.”

Selina sighed, but at least she was getting somewhere with him.

“A good businessman, like yourself, has certainly played a part in keeping a client satisfied with their work. They will gather facts about a situation and competitors and use them to encourage a potential or current customer to follow the path they want them to take. Yes?”

The Duke nodded but said nothing else.

“It is the same in the ton. A Duke must know how to play the game, how to sell himself to the ‘customers’ among the ton. Particularly,” Selina eyed him, leaning forward and encouraging her point with the flare of intensity she conjured in her stare, “if he wants to marry off three ladies at breakneck speed. You are ‘selling’ our hand, looking for a good ‘buyer.’ And any snake oil salesman or aristocrat can tell you that when someone considers an offer, it is you they are considering more than anything.”

“You openly discuss yourself like a commodity? I had thought you would dislike such a thing, Selina.”

“I do. But I am not a fool. I have learned how to play this game. I have been dealt a hand of cards, and I will do the best that I can with them. End of story.”

She spun on her heel, her head held high and her spine straight as a whip, before calling out over her shoulder.

“I suggest you do the same.”

From behind her, Selina could make out the sound of the Duke’s light chuckle then the sound of his door opening and closing. That would certainly give him something to think about.

Selina was lying across her bed, having stripped off the clothes she wore to the garden party to prepare for bed. She’d dismissed her maid, and alone in the comfort of her room, she should be falling asleep, but her mind circled over today’s events endlessly.

What is underneath all that stoicism the Duke wears? There is something going on there .

Turning onto her side, Selina cast her glance at the dimly flickering flames that warmed her hearth.

It wasn’t a strong fire, and the chances of it going out completely were rather profound.

She could exit the bed and tend to it as she had numerous times, but she could not pull herself from the covers.

There was so much going through her head, her mind running over the events of the garden party at Amelia’s estate and the conversation with the Duke when they arrived home.

She did not regret standing up to the man in the slightest, but Selina could not help but wonder what it was about his perceived “bowing” to the men of the ton that upset him so.

It was clear she’d hit a nerve there.

Selina recalled what she had heard from Lydia about the man, the rumors her sisters and mother had been discussing after their ball.

The only child of a solicitor. He has no siblings, and from what I recall, he did not speak to his father before the man’s death.

It was clear with just that understanding that the Duke had likely grown up relying entirely on himself. Was that what it was? His rigidity was centered around the fact that he could not accept asking for help or even appearing to do so.

Using people’s titles and reputations to your own benefit was standard practice among the ton.

Gaining an inch in your life was all about who you knew and where they could take you.

Selina could understand that that might upset a man who had been so focused—and very likely forced to be—on being self-reliant.

“This is ridiculous. I need… I need to talk this out with someone.”

Selina sat upright in her bed, flinging the covers aside and heading straight to the door. Stealing herself down the hallway, she took it to Myra’s room and knocked gently. It was only a moment before her sister answered.

“Selina?” Myra rubbed her eyes, clearly drawn from her sleep. “What are you doing here?”

“Forgive me, Myra. I… Could we step inside to talk?”

Selina held her clenched hands in front of her chest, pleading with her sister to let her into the room. Myra sighed, a slight grin touching her lips, and then stepped aside, gesturing into her bed chambers.

“All right. Come in then. But you will not keep me up all night. I get enough of that from Lydia.”

Chuckling lightly, Selina stepped inside and joined Myra on her bed, facing her sister like they’d done when they were young girls.

“Thank you.” Selina smiled, squeezing Myra’s hand. “I am just… I am trying to figure out the Duke. Why is he so awful to the people we must interact with and appeal to if we are all going to be wed? He’s making the prospect so much more difficult than it needs to be, and there must be a reason.”

“You wish to gossip about the Duke?” Myra looked at her in shock. “Why have you not gone to Lydia then?”

Scoffing, Selina eyed Myra, her expression undoubtedly grumpy. “I am not looking to gossip but strategize. Surely, you must understand why this is important?”

With a heavy sigh, Myra nodded. “Yes. I-Well, I have heard only a bit more from Lydia after her latest information gathering.”

“Which is?” Selina perked up, leaning closer to her sister.

“That he was once engaged. When he was very young. It was just as he was about to enter the world as a man apparently. His father had arranged for him to marry a young girl, and…”

Myra did not finish her sentences, and Selina bounced forward on the bed, grabbing her sister’s hands and squeezing.

“And what?” she practically shouted, realizing the volume of her voice too late.

A slight laugh left Myra, and she shook her head. “Truly, it is hilarious how that always works. Pausing has the exact same effect on Mother and Lydia.”

“Myra,” Selina scolded, her brows angrily knit together, “I will throttle you within an inch of your life if you do not have out with it. This is important.”

She laughed a bit more, but after a moment, Myra calmed and nodded.

“Of course, of course. Important. Very well, then. The Duke turned her down. He was only set to marry the girl for a few days, it is said, and then he abruptly ended the engagement without cause and stole away to begin work under another businessman who’d been quite successful on his own.”

Selina gaped, her mouth hanging open. “He ended it without reason? To pursue business? Why on earth would he do such a thing?”

“I do not know. Your guess is as good as mine. Lydia heard that his father did not speak to him after that. There was no formal disowning, but apparently, it was quite close. The man died only a few months before the Duke was called here to receive his title.”

Leaning back, Selina’s stare fell to the bed, her mind churning.

This information did prove useful, answering questions in her mind and giving her own theory more credence.

If the Duke had been so set on avoiding marriage and instead pursuing business, then this call to become Duke must have infuriated him.

It was no wonder that the man took so long to come to the estate and receive the title formally.

He didn’t want it.

“The Duke’s title, it being bestowed on him, was a surprise to us all, was it not?” Selina asked.

When she looked up, Myra nodded. “Yes, he is only very distantly related to Easton. I can imagine that he assumed it would never come up.”

And it wouldn’t have if Selina had delivered an heir.

“Thank you, Myra. I am sorry for disrupting your sleep. Rest. I will speak with you in the morning.”

She took her sister into her arms, embraced her, and then quickly left the room to return to her own bed.

Myra was happy enough to resume sleeping, but she had given Selina a look of worry before she left.

It had not been the time to discuss her concerns, not without further proof of her hypothesis.

The Duke had not wanted his title, and it was likely easy for anyone with the information to assume as much. But he also would not have been forced to carry it should there have been a proper heir.

While that might have been public knowledge, the reason there had not been a child was not. Selina was still a virgin, and the only two people who knew that were herself and the Duke.

So, indeed, the second part of the hypothesis Selina had formulated was that the Duke had even more of a reason to dislike her with that knowledge. Her inability to do her duty had stolen the Duke from his life.

Hugh did not want his title, and he hated her forcing it upon him.