Page 74 of Unbound Duchess

“Well…what did you find then?” Solomon asked.

For a moment, Laurence did not answer. He knew Solomon would not say anything to anyone if he told the truth. He was a bigger man than that. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to speak on what he’d discovered, as if to do so would invade Ellen’s personal boundaries somehow.

“I will tell you later,” Laurence said as Geoff opened the carriage door for them as they approached it. “For now, I just want to get home.”

Though he did not say it aloud, for fear that Solomon would read far too much into it, he silently added to my wife.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“Why are you staring at her like that?”

Ellen felt her cheeks grow warm as Madalene questioned her brother. With their presence so vehemently requested at events now, the three of them had spent nearly every evening together at some sort of party or other; each one becoming easier to attend thanks to the comforting presence of Madalene. Laurence as well. He always acted a gentleman at those events. He’d escort her, dance with her, make sure she never grew thirsty or hungry. Yet there was now a coldness to his touch. A quietness to his presence.

It had surprised and delighted Ellen two nights ago when, of all people, she had seen Deborah and her new husband, Cedric, at a dinner party. They had spoken briefly about love, and it was in that conversation that Ellen had begun to contemplate if she perhaps was falling in love with Laurence, or if she’d been too abused by Benedict to be able to fully ever love a man again.

She’d loved Benedict. Never romantically, but she had loved him as family, and yet he had hurt her so badly. Not just in body, but in spirit. In this, she began to wonder if she was as Laurence saw himself—ruined because she would rather delve into a world of carnal pleasure and explore the line of pain and bliss than allow herself to feel love.

That evening, on the sole night there was no party or dinner to attend, and as she and Madalene shared the couch before the fire with their embroidery, she felt Laurence’s intense stare without even having to look up. Madalene’s question, however, confirmed her intuitive sensation that she was being stared at.

“Like what?” Laurence asked gruffly.

Madalene sat her embroidery down in her lap and glared at him.

“Like what?” she mimicked. “Like you are a wolf about to pounce on a lamb! What is going on with you two?”

“Nothing,” Ellen and Laurence replied in unison.

The heat in Ellen’s blushing cheeks grew intolerable as she locked eyes with Laurence and found him looking positively tortured. There was a hunger in his eyes, mixed with anger and a hint of sadness—and it was all directed at her.

“You are lying,” Madalene stated, giving them each a look that dared them to deny her. “Things have been amiss between you two of late, and you cannot convince me otherwise.”

Laurence snapped his book shut and rose from his cushioned chair as he forcefully yet quietly commanded, “Mind your business, Madalene.”

Of course, Madalene was not dissuaded as most people would be at such a tone, and as she rose from her seat in challenge, Ellen reached for her skirts, as if trying to stop her.

“You two are my business,” Madalene answered with the same sort of forcefulness as Laurence had used. “You are my family!”

Tension seethed into Ellen’s back and shoulders as she reached for Madalene again, this time successful in her endeavors to clutch her skirts and tug her back down to the couch.

“You are right,” Ellen soothed, looping her arm through Madalene’s. “We are family. But we are also fine.”

She tried to sound insistent, and instantly hated how meek and unsure her tone actually came out.

Ellen sent Laurence an imploring look, but his gaze had dropped to the floor as his tightened jaw ticked with annoyance. She held her breath, not sure what was about to happen next. Whatever it was, though, she was sure it was going to result in hurt feelings. The air in the room was growing thick with tension, and she could not figure out how to stop it.

“The Duke of Wynter and the Duke of Hungate are here to see you, Your Grace. Would you like to receive them?”

The butler’s words cut through the heavy silence; a distraction which was sorely needed.

“Excellent,” Laurence quipped as Ellen sighed. “I shall receive them in my study. Thank you, Percy.”

Laurence left the parlor without another word, the tension going with him. Ellen turned to Madalene the moment they were alone and swatted her lightly on the shoulder.

“Why must you accost him so?” Ellen asked, her tone desperate as Madalene scowled and rubbed her shoulder.

“Me accosting him?” Madalene countered, nodding toward the door. “It is his mood that now darkens every room. My brother has never been an overly cheery sort of fellow, but his attitude as of late has gotten even worse.”

Ellen opened her mouth to speak, but Madalene cut her off.