Page 63 of Duke of Rath

“I was surprised by his sudden announcement of the wedding, too. All his adult life, he’s resisted our aunt’s insistence on him finding a wife and continuing the Rath line. Then from one day to the next, he announced he would marry. It was all very quick.”

“Do you have any idea why it was so sudden?” asked Patience, her hands shaking a little as they walked.

“As far as I heard, he wanted to help your papa. Forgive me, but Mr. Rose was in a dire situation, was he not?”

“Indeed,” said Patience, her stomach dropping with disappointment at the lack of new insight. “He was.”

“Perhaps my brother is the best person to answer your questions,” suggested Chastity. “I wish I could help, but I’m afraid I simply do not know.”

Patience nodded, putting a smile on her face. It wasn’t Lady Chastity’s fault, but Patience’s throat tightened, and she struggled to keep up a cheerful conversation with Chastity.

But, as always, she managed to cling to her happy smile.

20

“Good boy,” Patience whispered to Titan, who raised his head and stood up as she closed Dorian’s door behind her with as little sound as she could.

Titan’s tall, shaggy body was a visible silhouette against the darkness of the room. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if every time she’d come here, Titan would have thrown himself at her the way he had that first night.

She’d managed to befriend the beast by bringing him treats and scraps from the kitchen each night she visited Dorian.

This time, she had a large piece of a boiled chicken breast that she had gone to the kitchen for herself. She could have, of course, asked her chambermaid or Mrs. Knight, but she still did not feel right asking servants to do tasks she could perform very easily.

She patted Titan’s wiry head as he ate in large, satisfied bites. Goodness, she wouldn’t have wanted to be that piece of chicken in his huge jaws. His giant tail thumped quickly and loudly from side to side, his ears pressed to his head. Both of his eyes, the black one and the white one, held an expression of utter worship as he chewed looking at her.

“Aw,” she whispered with a grin. “I love you, too, Titan.”

She opened the door so that he would walk out of the room. “And now, be a good boy and guard your master and me in the corridor, would you?”

Titan walked out of the room, for which she gave him another strategically saved treat and patted his head through the gap between the door and the frame before shutting it.

With Titan gone, Patience gave a long sigh and looked at Dorian’s bed. In the moonlight falling through three large windows into the vast room, she could see him lying on his back with one arm flung over his head on the pillow. He looked so peaceful.

Without his habitual scowl, he was so handsome. He looked much younger, even with the patch of white hair at his temple.

Not wanting to wake him, she tiptoed her way towards her husband.

Her talk earlier today with Chastity had left her out of sorts. At first, she’d felt they could be friends, sisters like she and Anne. But Chastity’s critique of Patience’s method left her feeling misunderstood and discouraged. How could she have been so stupid and not thought of recording the progress of her original bushes more thoroughly? Chastity was older than her, and more experienced in scientific circles. She knew better what was required.

Patience had never needed Dorian’s warm, strong, reassuring arms around her as much as she needed them now. She climbed under his warm blanket, relishing his heat. Like always, she slid along the length of his body and laid her head in the crease between his shoulder and his hard chest.

He smelled so good. Like quite a sinner, she pressed her nose against his smooth skin and inhaled deeply several times. No one should ever know about this. If she could, she would wrap herself in his scent and wear it like a warm shawl on sad, cold days.

His scent melted something in her and made her think of bare parts of her body against bare parts of his body, and pleasure. So much pleasure.

She wriggled her head to find the best place, and sighed out when she did. His chest rose and fell evenly and deeply.

Finally, she could close her eyes. Much better. She didn’t think of her failure over the last six years at all.

She was just drifting into sleep when she became aware of a disturbance. Muffled sounds of distress filled the air. Dorian’s chest rose unevenly and rapidly.

She raised her head.

“No…” he mumbled, his eyes still closed. “No!” he repeated.

“Dorian?” she whispered.

His face in the moonlight was anguished, the crease of a frown marring his forehead. “No, let me go!”