Page 21 of Married to the Icy Duke (Duke Wars #3)
Then, equally bewildering, she realized that she had spoken the truth. She was grateful to be marrying Isaac. She was glad to have such a good chance. He might not be the hero of a romance novel, coming to save a beleaguered, swooning heroine, but he had saved her even so.
Isaac slightly tightened his fingers on her shoulder. If she hadn’t known better, she might have thought that the gesture meant thank you .
Lord Bentley sniffed loudly.
“How pleasant to hear, Lady Charlotte. Let us only hope that he remains worthy of that admiration.”
The atmosphere at the table chilled a little further. Tommy made a quiet little whimper, and Mary hauled him up into her lap. Isaac breathed out, long and slow.
“Whatever do you mean?” Charlotte managed at last. “Why should he not remain worthy of my admiration?”
Lord Bentley pursed his lips. “Well, you see, often in our deceptive modern age, people are simply not what they seem. The duke here is a man with many secrets. Let us hope that the worst of those secrets do not surface. Why, one or two of them might destroy your admiration of him forever. And the admiration of everybody else.”
Charlotte bristled. Was this a threat?
“You should not speak of the Duke of Arkley like that,” she snapped. Why was Isaac not coming to his own defense? Why was he staying silent?
Lord Bentley chuckled. “Or what? Tell me, my dear Lady Charlotte. What will you do if I keep on speaking?”
“That is enough,” Isaac said sharply. He removed his hand from Charlotte’s shoulder and advanced. “We will talk outside.”
She had expected Lord Bentley to protest, or perhaps to struggle.
Instead, he said nothing, only staring at Isaac with an unreadable look in his eyes.
Isaac grabbed his shoulder, knuckles standing out white, and began to push the man towards the exit.
Glancing over his shoulder, he caught Charlotte’s eye and gave her a quick smile that was likely supposed to be reassuring.
It was not reassuring. She sat in uneasy silence, watching Isaac and the mysterious Lord Bentley disappear out of the shop.
What on earth is going on?
Isaac pushed Matthew outside, harder than he should. The man stumbled over the doorstep, only just regaining his balance. He did not complain, and Isaac felt a twinge of guilt.
“This must stop,” Isaac stated, before Matthew even turned to face him. It was hardly a private conversation, on account of the crowds flowing along the London street, but it was better than discussing the matter inside, where the others might hear.
Matthew straightened himself slowly, smoothing down his waistcoat before turning to face Isaac. Holding Isaac’s gaze, he brushed off his sleeve where Isaac’s hand had been.
“Stop?” he said at last. “Why, I’ve barely begun.”
Isaac clenched his jaw. “Matthew, believe me, I feel the pain of your grief. Your loss must be …”
“Unimaginable,” Matthew interrupted. “Don’t pretend that you understand. I’m sure you loved your brother, and you care for Sybella, but it is not the same. It is not the same. Jasper and I were …” he paused, voice trembling. “We were inseparable. We were brothers in the truest sense of the word.”
“Then perhaps you should have gone to war with him.”
Isaac regretted the words the instant they left his mouth. They were cruel and useless, and he saw agony flash across Matthew’s face. The expression only lasted an instant before Matthew composed himself.
“How kind of you to remind me,” he whispered, almost too quietly for Isaac to hear.
Clenching his jaw, Isaac took a step forward.
“You are putting your blame in the wrong place, Matthew.”
“Am I? I disagree.”
“Then listen to me and listen well: Stay away from Lady Charlotte. We were friends once, Matthew, and I mean you no harm, truly, I do not. But if you continue to act this way towards my family, the people I am bound to protect, I shall have to do something. I will set matters straight. I will come forward with the truth, and you might find that people are not quite as sympathetic to you as you thought. Do not test me, old friend.”
“Friends once, were we? No,” Matthew responded thoughtfully, “I’m not sure you were ever a friend.
I thought you were, but I was mistaken. You are no one’s friend, Isaac, because you cannot love.
You cannot empathize. I pity that poor bride of yours, truly I do.
She seems pleasant enough and does not deserve any of this.
If you really did care for her, you’d never marry her.
But, of course, you will. After all, I imagine that this arrangement suits you well, and in the end, that is all you consider. ”
Isaac flinched. “That is not true.”
“Isn’t it? Keep your inelegant threats to yourself. Goodbye, Isaac. Goodbye for now, that is.”
He turned on his heel and strode away, vanishing into the crowd without a backward glance, leaving Isaac standing there, staring after him.
Heaven help me, he thought with a shiver, passing his hand over his face. He dared only to take a moment to compose himself—the others would be waiting for him back in the teashop. Drawing in a breath, he turned and plunged back inside.