Page 35 of Married to the Duke By Midnight

“Why would there be a rumor that the two of you…” he began, unable to finish the sentence. He swallowed thickly and not because of the food.

“The two of us what?” Jo asked, somehow managing to sound both tentative and annoyed.

Robert felt his nostrils flare when he took a deep breath to steady himself. Thornston beat him to the explanation though.

“Your cousin outright told your husband that you and I are having an affair.”

“What?!” Jo exclaimed loudly. Her obvious surprise and anger were the most soothing balm Robert had ever had. “But that is madness. He is mad, Robert. I have no idea why he even believes it. It just goes to show that he will stop at nothing to gain my money.”

Robert nodded and took another bite of his sandwich. The food was helping with both his headache and his temper.

“So, you have no idea where he would have heard such a rumor?”

“No,” Jo told him adamantly. “Thornston escorted me home yesterday evening, but that is all. We were in the carriage for no more than fifteen minutes, there was a driver and a footman right outside, I have no idea how…”

Thornston tried to cover a laugh with a cough but failed.

Jo’s eyes widened and her cheeks started going rosy, the color spreading down her neck in a very charming way as she seemed to gather from Thornston’s ill-concealed laugh that fifteen minutes alone was more than enough and a driver and a footman outside posed no hindrance. Robert willed his thoughts away from such a scenario.

“Oh,” she mumbled and looked down at her hands.

Robert sent his friend a hard glare.

Thornston cleared his throat several times as he visibly tried to wipe the grin off his face with a hand.

“I beg your pardon, Riddles. I had no idea my reputation was so poor that I could not escort your wife home without such a rumor occurring. Duchess,” he began as he looked at Jo, who was still looking at her hands, “I apologize for laughing. It was a blasted thing to do, and I can only offer my sincere apologies.”

“Thank you,” Jo muttered and briefly looked up. Her cheeks and neck were still flushed. The color was only emphasized by her light dress. Heavens, Robert longed to nuzzle his face against the crook of her neck and feel the flaming heat of her skin. All in due time, he reminded himself.

“Thank you, Thornston,” he told his friend.

Thornston nodded and sat perched on the edge of his seat as if he was a schoolboy waiting for permission from the headmaster to leave. Robert wanted him to squirm a little longer though and took a bite of his sandwich and a sip of his coffee. Jo was still looking flushed although not as red and at least she was not staring in mortification at her hands.

“Why did you blush when you saw Thornston this morning?” He did not want to add to her embarrassment but still needed answers to his questions.

The color flooded into Jo’s face again and she sent Thornston a horrified look.

“You better tell him, Duchess. Whatever he is thinking now is certainly worse,” Thornston told her in a mild voice.

“I… At your mother’s dinner, before the men joined the ladies in the drawing room, Lady Thistleworth said that she was pregnant again. Maggie taunted her about a house party in the fall where Lord Thistleworth had not been present, insinuating that he was not the father,” Jo told him as she drew circles on the dark polished wood of the table with one of her slender fingers. She was mostly focused on the circle she was drawing but would from time to time look up to gauge his reaction.

“I asked Thornston about it on the carriage ride home, since the topic ventured into secrets…”

Robert leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He hated that his wife spoke to other men about what happened in the privacy of the bedroom. Not even if it was someone else’s. Now was not the time to analyze the source of that hatred though.

“And what did you tell her exactly?” Robert demanded of Thornston after he had been studying Jo’s bent head.

“Come now, Riddles. Everyone knows. Perhaps not about the house party, I don’t know which kind of spy network your sister runs, but about their marriage in general.” Thornston had turned down his charm, although he was not using his most serious voice either. It seemed he still believed there was a chance for him to jest his way out of this predicament.

“And you thought it a fitting conversation when escorting my wife home?”

Thornston threw up his hands in exasperation and looked toward the ceiling.

“She asked me, Riddles. What was I supposed to do? Lie? Say that I didn’t know? Or play prudish and refuse to answer? That is not me.”

“I suppose not,” Robert muttered and looked briefly at Jo. She did not look flushed, a little amused in fact by his scolding of Thornston. “I will walk you out,” Robert said and rose. An eager Thornston jumped to his feet and bid Jo farewell. “I will be back in a moment,” Robert told Jo who nodded.

“I wanted to tell you myself. But you were very untalkative this morning and I figured it was best to wait until you had had breakfast,” Thornston explained as they walked down the hallway.