“Yes.” Hector scraped his chair back. “I want to take a walk.”
The noise of the wooden legs scratching against the marble floor caused the guests to wince. Without waiting for a servant to escort him, he strode down the corridor and pushed the front door open. As he marched down the pavement, the coal-smelling air didn’t improve his mood.
“Hector.”
Quick footsteps pounded behind him. He screeched to a stop on the pavement.
Maddie reached him, breathless. “Goodness me. You’re fast.”
“I’m sorry.” He couldn’t meet her gaze.
“Don’t worry. I caught you.” She took his arm.
“I mean, I’m sorry for raising my voice.” He stared at her small hand in the crook of his arm, feeling calmer.
“You had a valid point.” She resumed walking with him. “I understand your frustration. Throwing food away is shameful, although I agree with Mrs. Landon. The pastries were too tangy.” She pursed her lips in a tight‘O’, puckering them. “I think my lips will never be normal again.”
He laughed, releasing all the suppressed anger. “I didn’t mind.”
“Where are we going?”
“The park. I need to touch the trees.” He shook his head. “Throwing away good food. I can’t believe it. I dreamt of eating delicacies, cream, custard, butter, and strawberries. I forgot how they tasted. And people throw them away?”
“You’re right to be outraged.” She shifted closer to him. Her dark-green velvet dress matched her lovely eyes and exalted her figure. The more time he spent with her, the more her presence calmed him. “Did you spend many days in hunger?”
“Before I became an efficient berry gatherer, hunter, and fisherman, yes. Thanks to my knowledge of plants, I survived by eating fruit, but at first, I didn’t trust my judgement, worried I might stumble upon a poisonous plant. There were species I didn’t recognise. Only later did I start to eat more. The choice was between dying of starvation or of poison.”
She closed her hands around his arm, her delicate eyebrows drawing closer. “I’m so sorry for all the suffering you had to endure.”
“Still, I shouldn’t have yelled, should I?”
“Alas. Lord Quentin will use today’s incident to spread the rumour you are a savage, and Lady Naylor is one of the queen’s court ladies. She won’t be generous towards you. She seemed frightened you might kill us all. Did you see how she clutched her son? And even Frances looked terrified.”
He inched closer. “I didn’t tell you something that happened a while ago. One night, a helped a young woman getting away from a rather drunk Quentin. She was terrified by him, her dress torn. Frances is the young lady I found in Quentin’s bedroom.”
“Goodness me.” She placed a hand on her chest, coming to a stop.
“I thought about using the incident to convince Quentin to renounce the title, but exposing Quentin means exposing her.”
“She’d be ruined forever.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “Yes.”
His chest rose more easily once they entered Hyde Park. Finally, a piece of nature. The park was too well kept, the bushes too neatly trimmed, and the path too clean to be similar to the wild nature he needed, but it was better than being surrounded by bricks and metal. Even the snow had been set aside and piled up at the border. It was a shame he couldn’t crunch it with his feet.
The weight of what he’d done weighed down his shoulders. He hated having disappointed Maddie, and the more beastly he behaved, the less those workers would be paid. Honestly, he should control himself.
“Hector, don’t be sad.” She rested her head against his shoulder. “You didn’t ruin anything.”
“I have responsibilities, and responsibilities are the meaning of life.”
“What do you mean?”
He paused under a majestic, sweet chestnut tree. The branches were bare but formed an intricate pattern overhead he found soothing. “A father would tell you his children give meaning to his life. A doctor would tell you his patients are the reason he wakes up every morning. When we care about someone else, that responsibility becomes the meaning of our lives.”
“That’s very noble, but those workers...they aren’t the only meaning of your life.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way. They do matter, but you have a life. Your responsibility as a duke is a part of it. There are other things in your life you’ll enjoy and that aren’t responsibilities. You love nature. You enjoy walking in a forest. One day, you might find a wife too,” she said the last words in a whisper.
A wife? He’d already found one. He caressed her cheek. Every time he touched her, even with a small caress, a fire started in his abdomen. He wanted to remove the layers of clothes between them and hold her, just hold her, to feel their naked bodies touch.
