“It is, but—” She swallowed the remainder of the sentence. How did he know? And more importantly, did he really care enough to remember?
Lady Hannah was left to fill the silence on her own with some light news that entirely escaped May’s notice. She was working up the courage to say something coherent this time when the duke stood up. “I still have some business to attend to. Please excuse me.”
May watched him leave. When the door closed behind him, she dropped her gaze to her tightened hands, where half-moons reddened across her palms. She did not know what caused her to bid her own excuses and trail into the corridor after him. Only that she couldn’t just let this awkward silence become their new normal. Surely, she could fix it, somehow.
She rushed to his study. Though he was mere moments ahead of her, he was already leaning over his desk, his cravat loosened slightly, a steely focus settled over his features.
“Might you have a moment?”
He frowned at her. “What is the matter?”
It felt wrong to stand before his desk like some awkward schoolgirl, so May drifted to his side, willing herself to be natural. “It is just that I wanted to apologize.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
That might have been true, but her regret demanded release. She waved her hand. “I didn’t—” She accidentally knocked the closest stack of papers onto the floor behind the desk. “No, I’ll do it.” She bent down to pick the papers up.
“Just leave it.” He was at her side, exasperated and so very close, when a servant knocked on the door.
“Milord, Lord Frenwick is here to see you. I do apologize, but he’s been most insistent…”
“Do not try to manage me, pup. Where is the duke?” Lord Frenwick’s voice boomed from the corridor.
Elias rose up at once. Mortified, May moved to stand after him, but Elias’s fingers found her shoulder and kept her down. She stilled, concealed behind his enormous oak desk as he walked away to his unexpected guest.
“I have been trying to secure a meeting with you for weeks now, Southam. You were not at the club, nor to be seen anywhere in society. What is going on?”
“I have been right here, Lord Frenwick. What is it that brings you here today?”
“Need you ask? The shareholders are most unhappy. You’ve made this decision all alone, without consulting us!”
The man’s booming voice made May flinch. She peered from under the table as the duke moved forward, posture relaxed yet firm.
“I have the majority control, My Lord. I do not owe you or anyone else an explanation.”
“Listen here, you milksop, this goes against everything your father stood for. You’ve retired his people—”
“My father is dead, Lord Frenwick,” Elias’s chilly voice cut him off, “if I could bring him back to handle you and your vultures’ shite, trust that I would. Unfortunate as it is, you’ll just have me to deal with, like the rest of London. If you do not wish to do so, I am more than willing to buy you out. After all, we’ve seen the biggest return on investment since my father installed his overseers. Perhaps that change is simply too much for you to stomach. That is most understandable, since you seem more focused on keeping your family employed rather than people of actual enterprise.”
“I will not stand here and watch the old duke’s legacy be squandered by a cork-brained cuck! If not for your father preventing your engagement, you would have lost the family fortune to that wily swindler of a wench!”
Wench…?
The duke got dangerously close to the spitting man. “A very good point, My Lord. My amorous affairs have certainly been a learning experience. Perhaps you could share your advice on how to tell a swindler from a man of quality? Seeing as you seem quite approving of your daughter’s tryst with her footman?”
“What?”
“I am certain he only has the best intentions. Tell you what. Were you to vouch for him, I could make an exception and offer him a post at the company? We have the positions to fill, after all.” Elias locked his hands behind his back.
Lord Frenwick stumbled away without a farewell, sputtering. The room sank into a silence that went unbroken for what felt like an age. Then Elias was at her side once more, offering his hand to help her up. She took it.
“Will you be all right?” She was not sure he could even hear her, but the purse of his lips told her he did.
“Perfectly so.”
That he stood there, unflinching, in the face of hurled insults too personal to withstand from a peer, was shocking. But it was the way he handled it that reminded May of who she was dealing with. The man before her wielded his power knowingly, thoughtfully. He was the consummate duke, meticulous and calculating.
That thought alone should have sent her running for the hills.
