Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

“ Y ou like the gardens.”

The acknowledgement came from Alexander several days later. Madeleine whirled around, pausing just before the hedge maze entrance.

“I do. Have you noticed anything else?”

“Yes,” he told her, a smirk playing on his lips as he looked over her as intently as he had that very first night. “That you look delectable in blue.”

His eyes dropped to the lower neckline of her dress, and she flushed.

Her walls slammed up immediately. “And you look terrible in red. It is not your color.”

She gazed pointedly at the red cravat he wore, like a thick slash of blood around his neck. In truth, he looked dangerous—and Madeleine did not trust herself around him when he posed so much danger.

“Ah, but you have looked long enough to reach a conclusion.” He laughed quietly. “You are right, though. You will look far better in it than I. Shall I drape it over you, Duchess? Tie those hands together? Maybe you simply like the feel of silk running down your spine.”

She blanched, stalling. “The day is pleasant, is it not?” Repressing a shiver as she imagined that very thing. Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel, and entered the hedge maze, delighting in the notion of getting lost in there.

“Do you know why they built this hedge maze?” Alexander asked, looking up at the high green walls.

He strolled lazily, while she, smaller than him, had to walk quicker to keep up.

“Entertainment, was it not?” she asked. “It is to entertain your guests.”

“Yes but Silverton did not entertain guests a great deal. It did, however, serve another purpose.”

“And what is that?”

Suddenly, her wrists were caught and she was spun to be pressed against the hedge behind her. The prickles stung her skin, and she only struggled for a moment, meeting her husband’s gaze.

“The other purpose was to conceal couples having secret rendezvous.”

Her breath came short as he leaned in close to her. She knew the taste and shape of those lips, and swallowed.

“We—we would not need to be secretive.”

“So you do wish we would be something?”

“Do—do not fluster me.”

“You fluster me.”

The admittance came unexpectedly. Madeleine gazed at Alexander, surprised, and even he looked it as well, as if he had not expected it.

“You have still not come to my chambers,” Madeleine whispered.

“Are you asking me to, Duchess?” His gaze was so intense on hers, searing her through, as though he burned off her skin with his own fire.

He leaned ever closer, his hand raised, as if to touch her. “All it would take is a small push of that door. But I will not come if not invited.”

“You are powerful,” she retorted. “Why would you not simply take ?”

“When I take you, Madeleine, I will have you begging for me, or not at all. I do not force, or take; I answer pleas.”

Her breath was quick and thin now, and it was all she could do to pull away from the hedge where he’d pinned her with only his stare at one hand on her wrist.

Her mind was tumultuous without him adding more images into her mind. But it was there: the thought of being pinned beneath him, his mouth on her throat, kissing his way down, down, down?—

“Madeleine.”

Alexander stood behind her, not deep enough to get lost in the maze but enough that he might follow her if he decided to.

“What?” she asked.

“Is this because of the gossip sheets? Say the word and I will have the writer ruined beyond measure. I will silence every mouth that dares form your name. Your name should be only mine to speak, not theirs, and certainly not for reasons such as idle gossip.”

“It does not affect me.”

“You do not have to pretend with me.”

“I am not.”

But her throat was closing, and emotion rose in her. She should not have left the gossip sheet lying around in the library.

The gardens offered a reprieve—all until the master of the house had turned up to tease her.

She had gone from a respected lady of the ton , to the target of gossip after Donald’s fall into debauchery. Now, she had only made matters worse by remarrying so quickly.

“Nobody knows your circumstances,” Alexander told her now. “They should not judge you for surviving.”

“I do not wish to discuss it,” she whispered tightly.

“Very well.” Alexander conceded easily, and that surprised her enough to turn around. “But remember my offer. I will have them all destroyed. I know enough.”

“How?” she asked, curious, eager to take the spotlight off herself.

“Do not worry yourself with those things.”

She glared up at him before shaking her head and turning away.

I barely know anything about my husband , she thought. He is honoring my virtue until I choose it to be taken, but how can I trust him to do that when I cannot even trust him to tell me what his business is ?

She shoved the questions from her mind before she moved deeper into the hedge maze, alone.

If she could get lost in there instead of her mind’s questions Madeleine would be far more content. Still, her thoughts lingered on one thought.

When I take you, Madeleine, I will have you begging for me.

His teasing continued after that, and Alexander took every moment he could to rile her up.

“Your blushing is incredibly pretty, Madeleine,” he told her one night after he had cornered her against her chamber’s door, right as they retired for the night. “Shall I take you to bed tonight to see what other parts of you I might turn red?”

Her mouth tightened as she flushed, turning away from him. “It is the wine. Do not flatter yourself, Your Grace.”

He would only laugh as he walked into his own rooms. He goaded her but never pressured her. She bit her lip every time he riled her up, teased her in such scandalous ways.

In the drawing room, when they had a moment before a footman called Alexander away for business, he would trail his touch over her shoulder. He would meet her gaze when they read together in the library, his fingers teasing through the spine of the book, dipping the tips into the gap left between the binding and the pages.

“Do you always defile your books, or only the ones you truly like?” she asked several days after he had pinned her in the hedge maze. “If you cannot read the books you do not need to—to do such…”

Her voice trailed off when he saw how he looked at her.

“So pretty,” he muttered to himself before turning his attention. “This book, I mean. It has pretty verses.”

“Your ears have turned red. You wish to undo me, but perhaps you are closer to such a state than I am.”

He scowled at her, and Madeleine continued reading, feeling victorious.

“Madeleine?” Alexander asked after a moment.

“Yes?”

“You are beautiful in this light.”

And she did not know what to say to that; he had rendered her speechless. Women like her, trapped in marriages to men like Lord Kinsfeld, were not complimented in such ways. But the duke… he looked at her as though he truly looked at her. As though she was the only thing worth looking at.

It twisted her heart, and she did not know what to do with such behavior.

He is only doing it to cause a reaction in me , she thought. I will not satisfy that .

“And you are handsome in darkness.”

Much to her annoyance, Alexander only laughed loudly. “My, do I enjoy your tongue.”