Page 36 of The Duke's Indecent Match

This had to be a dream.

Though it felt very real.

Voices were already coming from down the hall, raised in alarm.Out of the corner of her eye, she could see movement as her doorway filled, people staring in.

“What the— Your Grace!”Her father’s voice thundered from the doorway as he strode in, scowling furiously.“What have you done?”

“Oh my God…” someone said from the door.One of the women.

“I…” Hereford’s eyes were opening.

She stared, fascinated, too horrified to move as it felt like time slowed all around her.

Hereford’s gaze met hers, and he blinked.“Where… am I?”

“You are in my daughter’s bed!”Her father was standing over them now, hands on his hips, black and grey dressing robe coming undone around his neck, scowling furiously.“You have ruined her!”

“Oh my God, he has to marry her!”That was Lady Kari, Kalina was sure of it, sounding caught between being scandalized and disappointed.

Kalina’s stomach sank, right into a pit of shocked despair.

She was not dreaming.

She was awake.

Hereford was in her bed.

He’s going to have to marry me.

The duke stared at her father for another long moment before suddenly throwing the covers back and falling off the bed.There were more scandalized squeals from the ladies in the doorway as they realized he was nearly naked.Kalina got a flash of his bare back; the sturdy muscles and broad shoulders that filled out his jackets so nicely, clearly had no need of padding.He looked like one of the carved marble statues come to life and in the flesh… not that she could truly appreciate the view in such a moment.The duke barely made it to the chamber pot before he began to heave and vomit.

Still sitting exactly where she had been since the moment she’d sat up, Kalina stared at her father.At Margaret, who was standing plastered to the wardrobe, eyes wide and her mouth hanging open in shock.At the cluster of people in her doorway, including her mother, who was staring at her father with narrowed eyes and a tight mouth.

Her heart kept beating faster and faster as the sound of Hereford emptying his stomach made her own turn over uneasily.

And her father would not meet her eyes.

“Everyone out.There is no need to linger and stare.”Lady Astrid’s sharp voice cut through the din.

Relief fluttered through Kalina at the sound of someone sensible coming through.Lady Astrid shooed the others away, including a disgruntled Tiffany and Gregory, before coming partway into the room herself.Her gaze traveled over everyone still inside—Kalina’s parents, her maid, and the Duke of Hereford, who had finally regained control of his faculties.

He knelt on the rug, still holding onto the chamber pot, panting and looking at absolutely no one.

Lady Astrid studied him for a long moment before her hard-eyed gaze moved on to look at Kalina.The usual warmth was not in her gaze.Instead, her eyes were full of suspicion.

She knew I wanted to marry a duke.And there is something very clearly wrong with Hereford.

Freezing in place, it wasn’t Kalina’s stomach that sank.It was her heart.

Oh God.

She thinks I deliberately trapped him.

Not knowing what to do, what to say, Kalina found that she could not move.Could not think.

“John, help the Duke of Hereford back to his proper room,” Lady Astrid commanded, moving to the side to admit one of the footmen.A rather tall, burly footman who had no difficulty in helping the duke to his feet, his head still hanging in front of him.

It might have been from physical exertion.Or it might be something else.