Page 9 of A Duchess Untouched

A spitfire?

He questioned whether his instincts were actually dying.

“Get in the carriage,” he ordered, each word sounding forced out of his mouth. “You have a lot of explaining to do, but we cannot hold our conversation here in the alley.”

Matthew gestured at the waiting carriage. Instead of obeying, Selina folded her arms across her chest and stood with her feet apart as if to keep herself in place. Matthew did not know whether to be annoyed or amused.

“Who do you think you are? Do you think that you can show up after so many years and command me like this? I will not do what you tell me,” she said defiantly. “I am not your dog. You can whistle and command, but do not expect me to heel.”

Matthew was not used to being disobeyed. Women used to come to him, and he never had to tell them what to do. He thought that his mother had picked Selina as his wife four years before simply because she appeared to be quiet, pleasant, and easy to manage. Yet here she was, completely unaffected by the shouts which were still coming from the gaming hell behind them, as though The Red Lion could be completely destroyed and she would still not care about it. The woman who, as far as Matthew remembered, had never had any opinions of her own apparently had a lot of them and was by no means lacking in courage when expressing them.

There was also much to see. Matthew had always known he had married a beautiful wife, but he had not realized how rich her chestnut hair was. Her cheeks were flushed bright with indignation, and her eyes burned with a fire he had not known she possessed. Her cloak had slipped from one shoulder in the scuffle, and beneath it her gown clung to a figure far more womanly than the girl he remembered marrying, curves that filled it out in ways that made his mouth go dry. Four years had changed her. Or perhaps he had simply never bothered to look. It irked him and even sparked an unexpected surge of pride that this formidable, beautiful woman was his.

His wife.

The Duchess of Wentley, who had supposedly died. The woman was more alive than many of the people he had encountered through his self-exile.

“All I am saying is that we can continue the conversation away from here. Don’t you hear that? That is coming from The Red Lion. Do you want one of your would-be attackers coming outside and running after us?”

“I will not leave this place until I find my papa,” Selina grumbled stubbornly. “If I leave now, without him, it is as if I wasted my time coming here at all.”

Matthew could tell that his wife was in no way intimidated by his size or by the way his shadow fell over her. No, she was only focused on her own goal. Her eyes darted back to The Red Lion as if nothing terrible had almost happened to her there. Matthew could not imagine what would have gone wrong if he had not been nearby.

“Do you often do reckless things like this?” he asked her.

“No, but I had to find my papa. I know he is in there,” she said. “Or somewhere nearby. I cannot leave him here, knowing he is in trouble.”

“I do not care why you foolishly came here. You will get in the carriage right now,” Matthew ordered, keeping his voice soft and low. It was clear, however, that he would not accept any refusal. “Do it before I carry you there myself.”

“You would not dare do that.” Selina gave a mocking laugh.

“Would I not?” Matthew asked, his lips curving into a humorless smile. She blinked at that. Ah. She was not so unaffected after all. “You may have forgotten, Duchess, but you are my wife.”

“In name only!” she cried. Matthew could hear the resentment in her voice. He could not blame her. She looked him up and down before saying, “And not for long, either, so I will not do what you say.”

Then, Selina turned on her heel as if she were ready to face all the demons of the gaming hell on her own. Her shoulder brushed against his chest briefly, and it was all that Matthew could handle. With a swift and easy movement, he bent low to catch her around the waist. Then, he hoisted her off her feet and threw her over one broad shoulder as if he were carrying a sack of potatoes.

“What are you doing? Let me down! Let me down this very instant!” Selina screamed, her little hands thrashing against his coat. “How. Dare. You!”

Matthew almost laughed at the fact that he could hardly feel her hands hitting his back. He walked down the alley toward the carriage, Maximus trotting beside them and wagging his tail joyfully.

To say that Selina was indignant would be an understatement. How dare the Duke pick her up like that? She could feel her face burning with humiliation at being hung upside down.

That is no way to treat a lady. That brute!

Yet, a different feeling simmered under the outrage. She felt awe. Yes, awe. The man had lifted her with such ease that she could not help but marvel at his brutish strength. She did not remember him as a man with this raw masculine power. Again, she had barely known him.

On reaching the carriage, the Duke opened the door with one hand while using the other to keep her steady on his shoulder. He then placed her onto the soft velvet seat… almost gently. Before she had any chance to move, he climbed in right after her. His large frame filled the entire space. Selina found it difficult to breathe at all. Even though she had not been the one to carry a body to the carriage, she was panting. The carriage was soon put into motion as the coachman drove the horses away from the dark alley.

Selina quickly straightened up and vigorously smoothed her skirts. She looked angrily at the Duke, who was sitting directly opposite her, and he put his big forearms on his knees before leaning forward in order to take up more of her space.

“Begin explaining, wife,” he ordered.

She noticed once more that he did not need to raise his voice in order to get her attention.

“My papa lost his house while gambling. The Red Lion, perhaps, is one of his frequent haunts,” she explained, her voice small and tight. “He has nowhere to go, and both of my married sisters cannot or will not take him in for various reasons. Meanwhile, I refuse to let my papa, delinquent as he may be, freeze in dark alleys while I live in a house with several empty rooms. That is why I am here. I intended to find him and bring him home with me.”

Matthew’s face stayed hard and difficult to read, but there was a certain thing in his eyes which flashed at particular moments.