Page 47 of Duke with a Deception
The cheek of the girl.
He was about to scold her again, but Verity was faster.
“You must not speak of others as if they aren’t there, Emma dear,” she cautioned. “Now run along with Grace, if you please. I will come and check on you in a bit.”
The girl curtsied. “Yes, Lady Vitty.”
“Forgive me, Your Graces,” the maid apologized. “I promise Miss Emma won’t get away from me again.”
The maid excused herself along with the child, and the two of them took their leave. King waited until the pair were out of earshot to turn to his wife and offer her a bow.
“Good morning.”
“Goodafternoon,” she returned with a cool politeness that was unlike her customary warm enthusiasm.
Blast.So it was afternoon. Pierpont had already told him as much.
“The child requires lessons in manners and comportment,” he told her. “She bowled into me in her haste to run away a second day in a row.”
“Emma wasn’t running away,” his wife quibbled. “She was exploring. She’s a curious child, and as she has only just arrived, I do think a bit of wandering is to be expected. I trust you survived the impact?”
“Quite.”
How novel a sensation it was to feel so awkward standing before her in yesterday’s clothes. King was painfully aware that he must look as if he were in utter ruins. And that he had sent her away from him the evening before, only to disappear until now.
As if she were privy to his thoughts, she swept her gaze over his form. “Where were you last night?”
It was the sort of question a bride of only two days should not have to ask her husband, and he knew it. Shame crept over him.
“At another house of mine,” he explained, deliberately keeping the former use of that house from her. “I knew I wouldn’t be fit company.”
“Were you alone?”
“God yes,” he bit out. “Is that what you think of me? That I spent our second night as husband and wife with another woman?”
“I’m not sure I know what to think of you just now,” she said quietly. “You said not a word of your intention to leave when we spoke. I had no notion you had even left until this morning. I waited for you at breakfast, and you never arrived. I only learned that you had gone from Mrs. Sendall.”
He winced. That had been badly done of him.
“I’m sorry.”
Her face softened. “I know it was a painful reminder to you, returning to the nursery last night. But it is my hope that, in the future, you will unburden yourself to me instead of keeping your pain from me.”
She was not wrong. And he had never felt more like an ass than he did now, reeking of stale gin and looking as slovenly as a chimney sweep after having spent the night drowning himself in drink instead of losing himself in her arms. Verity deserved better from him, and it was his duty to do his utmost to give her that.
He had failed her, two days into their marriage.
He had failed Daphne too.
And he had spent the last ten years trying to forget it. Trying to chase the demons that were never far from his heels. They were ready and waiting to catch him now, to tear him apart.
He must not let them.
“I will endeavor to try,” he said hesitantly. “I have been alone for so long that I suspect it will take time.”
She reached for his hand, giving it a tender squeeze. “We have the rest of our lives, King. Just remember that I love you. I love you more than I ever believed possible, and all I want is your happiness.”
His gut clenched, threatening to mutiny again. She was too good, too kind, too sweet. And she believed she was in love with him. Here was his chance to unburden himself in truth, just as she had asked of him. To tell her he wasn’t the man she loved.
