Page 19 of The Virgin Duchess (Unwanted Brides #2)

Chapter Sixteen

“ W hat on earth does the man think he’s doing?!” Charlotte paced back and forth across her room, hollering to no one but herself. “It is preposterous.”

The floorboards creaked under her feet as she took another turn across her room. Frederick was spreading the worst rumors imaginable about the Baron of Halfacre, and word had indeed spread through everyone at the party detailing the slights he’d gushed about.

Why would Frederick be spreading all these terrible things about the man? God, all I can see in my head is how he shoved the Baron against the wall. He’s not…like that with me, and I haven’t seen it with others, but…

“Ugh!”

Charlotte’s circular thoughts weren’t going anywhere. Still, it was impossible to stop the reeling of her mind from everything she was seeing at the balls. Frederick had spoken to nearly every single eligible woman in the city tonight, spewing his distressing words about Halfacre.

It was such a dichotomy that Charlotte’s stomach had thoroughly tied itself into knots. Frederick had been largely good to her. They had their spats, but he provided her with anything she might need, kept her secret about Cordelia, and had seemed… interested in her—quite a lot.

And still, when she saw him in thought when the Baron was the subject of the conversation, all she could see on his face was the same enraged expression he’d worn when she stumbled upon him that night.

And where did Rose fit into all this? Clearly, it all had something to do with her, but they had both been obsessively tight-lipped. Frederick had told her nothing of the situation, not a single word. It infuriated Charlotte to no end, even if she managed to hold onto a semblance of reason, understanding that she didn’t truly have a call to demand all of Frederick’s secrets.

They were a marriage of convenience, after all, not one of love.

Perhaps that was what irked her so much. She wished for a union of love, had felt the inklings of connection with Frederick, and had then been terribly faced with reality. He did not see her that way, and Charlotte was a fool for ever allowing herself to believe that it might be different.

They hadn’t spoken a word in the carriage on the trip back to the estate, and Charlotte had gone straight up to her room. She’d been pacing there for the better part of ten minutes now, arguing with herself when she should really be getting her rest.

Knock, knock, knock.

There was no one else in the house that would be looking for her right now. It had to be Frederick. Why did he seek her out now? He could have said something in the carriage, but there had been nothing. If he were looking for some bit of sympathy or apology for snapping at him at the ball, Frederick was sorely out of luck.

Stepping up to her door, Charlotte flung it open briskly, her temper getting the best of her.

“What?”

Frederick looked momentarily shocked before he let out a tiny scoff and shook his head.

“I had thought this would be our fourth night together—an opportunity for us to…talk.”

Charlotte was already through with the conversation, and it hadn’t even begun. She walked away from the door, letting Frederick enter if he so chose. He was agreeable to it apparently because she could hear his footsteps behind her and then the sound of the door closing once more.

There was no sound of it locking, however.

“Charlotte,” his voice was pleading, but she didn’t turn around, “I needed to speak to the ton tonight about…the Baron. It was a necessary evil.”

She could hear the disdain in Frederick’s voice as his tongue fought to make the words. It was impossible to miss the disgust in Frederick’s tone, as it was impossible to miss the flat delivery he offered her.

Heat spread through Charlotte’s veins, and she spun around on her heel, glaring across the room at him.

“Why? Why was it a necessity? You had told me nothing that might explain your behavior. Behavior, I might add, that affects me now. You are married. Your actions do not solely affect yourself.”

He sighed, and Charlotte could see the exhaustion clinging to Frederick’s eyes. The man could never be anything but beautiful, but the shadows beneath his eyes spoke to the tiredness dogging his steps. He still had his walking stick with him, and Frederick set it next to her dresser before swiping a hand through his hair.

When he met her stare once more, all Charlotte could see was disappointment and pain. “I wish that I could explain further, but I…I cannot. I can only say that it is of the utmost importance that I find that man. He…there are debts to be settled.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes at Frederick, scoffing as she shook her head. It was instinct to fold her arms across herself when she was especially frustrated and now was no different.

“That is quite enough for a single evening, I should think. I will not entertain these excuses of yours a moment longer. If you truly wished to tell me, if you indeed hated being so secretive, you would do something to change it.”

Frederick stepped forward, his brows pinching together as he took a turn at shaking his head. “It’s not like that. This does not only concern me. I would be risking others should I reveal too much. It could very well put you in danger of harm as well.”

Sighing, Charlotte didn’t back down. She was through putting up with this effort of Frederick’s to distance himself from her. It was maddening. At one moment, he was pulling her close, and then the next, he was shoving her away again. She wasn’t a pup to play fetch with.

“I am a grown woman, Frederick. I can choose what risks I’m willing to take myself. Ugh,” she turned away, starting up a miniature pace again, “you’re just like my brother. Neither of you believes that I’m capable of making my own decisions, and I’m sick of it.”

Frederick surged forward, his eyes blazing into Charlotte’s. “I have never said that, and I do not think it. I have seen what you’ve done with Cordelia, assisting her even though her discovery could threaten your standing. It’s incredibly selfless of you. That’s what I’m trying to do now. I’m trying to put someone else’s fate ahead of my own.”

“Then why on earth are you unwilling to discuss it?” Charlotte’s volume shot up, her tone biting. “I, of all people would understand the need for discretion, could be trusted with the truth. But you don’t, do you? You don’t trust me. Because as you’ve made so very clear, I am not family, nor am I your proper wife. This was merely a business arrangement.”

The abrupt noise of Frederick’s steps across the floor was a shock, each one a clap of thunder that brought him inches from her face. He gripped each of her shoulders, his grey eyes shining with icy fire.

“Can you truly think that? After everything I’ve shown you?” His fingers dug into her flesh. “Your presence has been impossible for me to ignore since the moment I saw you, and I don’t me in the alley.”

The blazing intensity of Frederick’s stare forced Charlotte to hold his eyes even as she was aching to look away. It was too much, too much of a confession without words that she wasn’t prepared for. She’d wanted to understand why he was spreading grisly details about Halfacre. This? This was not that.

“Richard’s wife invited guests for dinner, and then there you were. Keeping my eyes off of you…I am so painfully torn, Charlotte. I have a duty that I need to uphold. I am called to it every day, seeing in my mind the devastation that that man could wreak on my family. Any you …”

Anger, confusion, blistering fire, it all swirled through Frederick’s expression, and Charlotte could feel it reflected inside her. Did he hate her? Was all this fury being directed at her ?

“You, Charlotte, distract me. Your image ekes out even the worry of destruction. Concentration when you are around me is an insurmountable task. I had thought it a simple fix.” Frederick’s stare consumed her, his eyes taking every inch of her in, leaving Charlotte a moth to his unbearable flame. “I need only taste you for myself, claim you. And I would be free of this obsession. But I fear now that there is nothing in this world that could keep me from being ensorcelled by your very essence.”

Her mouth dropped open, and Charlotte let out a shaky breath, fumbling as she sought more air. Frederick was so close, everywhere around her and all she could see. His grey eyes were delirious with some unknown emotion that she didn’t understand.

An emotion that she would not allow herself to understand.

She shook her head, this significant part of her screaming a silent warning. The situation was wild, raw, and unpredictable in a way that terrified her. Still, it was an exhilarating fear that wormed through her core like potent wine.

What is happening? What…what is he…

“Frederick, I don’t…what are you saying to me?”

He studied her face, his gaze primal and hungry. Charlotte’s blood roared with molten rock, the intoxicating pull of his rough grip and searing stare not letting her go. But he was silent.

“You can’t just?—”

His lips were on hers before she could finish, taking hers so thoroughly, so wantonly, that Charlotte was out of breath in moments. Frederick yanked her against his body, the firmness of his shape pressing against her and making her thighs clench together.

After a moment, Frederick pulled back, his lidded gaze pinned on her mouth as they caught their breath.

“I need you, Charlotte. I need to feel you against me.”

Her mind reeled, and focusing became ever harder as Frederick danced his lips along her neck, trailing downward toward her breast. Panic gripped her at once, and she hissed in a breath, leaning away from him.

“Frederick, I…” His ministrations along her neck never ceased, and Charlotte’s eyes rolled back. “…please, I’m not ready for…”

She couldn’t finish the words, but then Frederick’s lips were at the shell of her ear, and he whispered low.

“There are far more things that I can do for you besides sex, sweet Charlotte.” He nibbled at the delicate skin behind her ear. “Let me show you.”

Facing him, Charlotte stared into those lidded eyes, unable to deny the fact that she wanted something from him as well. Her heartbeat was a thunderous pound in her ears, and Charlotte—who’d yet to experience anything more than a simple kiss—was at a loss for what her husband might mean.

“I don’t…What are you speaking of?”

Frederick’s gaze at her up, his smirk lifting on the right side of his mouth. Running his stare down the length of her neck, hovering it at the hem of her dress where it covered her chest, he hummed low once more, dragging a finger down the side of her neck.

“God, that lovely innocence, the way your cheeks burn pink…I can touch you, Charlotte, taste you…Would you like that?”