Page 48 of How to Capture a Duke

Tristan threw open the door at the end of the hall.

The man lay in bed, a hand over his eyes. “I said to leave me alone!”

Tristan strode to the window and jerked open the heavy curtains. Bright sunlight flooded the bedchamber.

“I shall sack you!” Spencer moved his hand and squinted in the bright light to see Tristan, not his butler.

“Good morning, cousin.” Tristan folded his arms across his chest and leaned on the frame of the bed.

“Tristan, Christ!”

Spencer’s hair stuck up in different directions like straw. His eyes were bloodshot, and his complexion appeared sickly.

Tristan unfolded his arms and came close. “If you didn’t look like shit, I’d be tempted to bloody your nose.”

Spencer sat up in bed. “I know why you’re here. But you should know that I had no choice but to tell your wife.”

“You had a choice. You could have k…k-kept your mouth s…s-hut.”

“Maybe. But she has a right to know.”

“It was not your place to tell her.”

Spencer rubbed a hand down his face. “Not entirely true, is it? You keep reminding me that if you don’t have children, then I get the dukedom.”

“So?”

“I felt an obligation to inform her. If you had properly told her, then this would not have come to pass.”

“She is my wife,” Tristan growled. “My desire to beat sense into you is growing.”

Rather than take the warning, Spencer met his angry gaze. “If you do not want her, another will.”

“Like you?”

“There are plenty of other rogues in London, and you know it.”

Spencer’s crooked grin served to make Tristan’s gut clench tight. “Perhaps,” Tristan said, “but I expected better of you, cousin.”

…

Olivia woke with a pounding headache. Her maid entered and pushed back the curtains to reveal a bright morning. “You slept late, Your Grace.”

“Did I miss the morning meal?”

“Aye. You slept right through it. His Grace said not to disturb you.”

Last night’s heated encounter in the carriage returned in a rush. Tristan had been passionate and gentle, and she’d experienced wondrous feelings at his skillful lips and tongue.

“He is in his study, then?” Olivia asked.

“His Grace left early this morning to deal with some business.”

She knew better than to ask what business. It didn’t matter anyway. As soon as he returned, he’d head straight for his study.

After Spencer’s confession last night, she understood her husband better. Tristan’s distant behavior didn’t have to do with their hasty marriage or whether he still believed she’d tricked him to the altar. He had no intention of having anything other than a marriage of convenience.

She rose and dressed and made it to the morning room and asked for a steaming cup of coffee rather than tea. She drank and ate alone.