Ice Cold Duke (Frigid Dukes #2)

Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

“ T hat was wrong!” Emery said, stamping her foot on the ground as hard as she could. “We have to try again.”

“Are you sure?” Lucien asked, peering down at her from where he stood in front of her, his arms raised, as they once more practiced the waltz. “I thought that was very good.”

His wife scowled up at him. “That wasn’t very good , and if you thought that was very good, then you’re coddling me or aren’t as good a dancer as you boast to be.”

Lucien blinked, a little taken aback by his wife’s aggressive tone of voice. She had been in a bad mood for the past two days, and he had no idea why. Ever since she’d gone out to meet Miss Holloway after the bouquet of flowers had arrived, she’d been snapping at everyone, correcting Leah whenever she did or said anything wrong at the dining table, and generally behaving like…

Well, like Lucien. When he was still a perfectionist.

Narrowing his eyes, he gazed down at his wife. Why has she suddenly become the perfectionist, obsessed with getting all the rules right? She never cared about any of that.

“I’m sorry if I offended you, Emery,” he said, dropping his hands to his side. “But you really did a very good job during that last waltz. I’m not coddling you.”

“It wasn’t perfect, though,” she insisted, not quite meeting his eyes.

“Since when do you want to be perfect? I thought you saw dancing as something joyful, not something to perfect over and over again until it loses all its joy?”

“And when did you become so disinterested in perfection?” she shot back at him. “There was a time not that long ago when you would have given anything for me to care this much about doing everything perfectly.”

Lucien didn’t answer right away. There was a furrow in his wife’s brow that had been there for days, as if she were carrying around a great deal of tension. And while she was right, that even a few days ago he would have done anything to see her take her duty seriously, now all he wanted was to relieve that tension and ensure her happiness.

“What happened?” he asked gently. “Is the ton getting to you already?”

She set her jaw and narrowed her eyes, but he also saw that they had filled with tears at his words. “I just don’t want to bring shame upon the family,” she muttered.

“Oh Emery…” A powerful longing overcame him to reach out and take her in his arms, to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be alright, but he had a feeling that an emotional display of that nature would embarrass her. “That isn’t going to happen. Did someone say something to you?”

She hesitated, then relented. “You were right,” she said, staring down at her feet. “The ton can be brutal. Especially the ladies. I didn’t realize that when we started our etiquette lessons, nor how willing they would be to make up stories and twist facts to create vicious rumors.”

“What happened?” he asked more urgently. “Did you overhear someone spreading a rumor about you?”

“Lady Charleston,” she muttered. “Do you know her?”

“A viper if there ever was one,” Lucien said calmly. He had never liked Lady Charleston, and he wasn’t surprised that she was already trying to ruin his, Emery’s, and Leah’s reputations. “People will see through her lies.”

“I hope so.” Emery glanced up at him. Tears were now filling her eyes, and the urge to hug her became even more powerful. “I just don’t want to be the reason that things don’t work out for Leah this Season.”

“You won’t be,” Lucien insisted. “You are helping Leah be more confident with everything you do to encourage her and make her feel loved. And that is more important than any rumor the worst gossip mongers of the ton might try to spread about you.”

“I did say something,” Emery said, a small smile creasing her lips. “I didn’t let Lady Charleston get away with it.”

“Of course you did,” Lucien said, laughing at the thought of his wife giving Lady Charleston a piece of her mind. “I’m sure you made her regret gossiping about you!”

“I implied that it wasn’t a good idea to get on the bad side of a Duchess,” she said, smiling more brightly. “I must say, it was worth it to see the look on her face. She was stunned, but she backed down.”

“Well, if the worst thing she can say about you now is that you are a duchess who believes herself better than others, there are worse things. Most people will admire that, in fact.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Emery said with a reluctant smile.

“The ton is full of snobs, Emery,” Lucien said, and he brought his hand to her chin and tilted her face up so that she was looking directly into his eyes. “They don’t mind a little snobbishness from a duchess. It is far worse a sin to be uncouth.”

“Were you lying to me when you told me it wasn’t a big deal that I stepped on your foot during the dance?” she asked after a moment. “And when you said no one would mind that I accidentally called Lady Crane ‘miss’?”

Lucien hesitated. “I wouldn’t say that I was lying. I just didn’t want you to linger on little mistakes that would hurt your confidence. But yes, I suppose that I was downplaying the fact that some of the more rule-following--and judgmental--members of the ton would feel about such mistakes.”

“Lady Charleston said that Lady Crane was crying because I had snubbed her.” It sounded as if it were hard for Emery to even say these words. They were rushed and quiet, and she couldn’t quite meet his eyes as she said them.

Lucien, however, shook his head. “I have known Lady Crane a long time, and I can assure you, she was not crying. Perhaps she was thrown at first, but I know that she was soon reassured that your mistake was innocent, and not an attempt to put her down.”

“I hope so,” Emery murmured.

“I know so. The Duke of Nottington would have told her. He is my closest friend and he knows all the particulars of our marriage.”

“All of them?” Emery asked, looking back at him with a startled expression.

“Yes,” Lucien said, smiling softly. “He is helping run any damage control that may have been done by the disaster that was our wedding.”

Emery smiled now, and she looked truly relieved. “It’s good to know there are people on our side.”

“The best of the ton is on our side,” Lucien assured her, “but I’m sorry you had to run into the worst of the ton . They are cruel and will use any weakness against you. Where did you hear this anyway?”

“At the tea room at the Plaza. Georgina and I were having tea when I overheard Lady Charleston and Miss Theodora Reed.”

“I see. Well, they might be trying to spread specious rumors, but from what Henry has heard, things are actually looking up for us.”

“Really?” Emery’s eyes lit up. “What has he heard?”

“Apparently, you were impressive at the Andersons’ Ball,” Lucien said, smiling to see the happiness on her face. “People found you charming and refreshingly down-to-earth. Leah was also a success. You saw the number of flowers she received! Henry says that several of the young men are taken by her and that she is sure to secure an invitation to Almack’s.”

“That is excellent news!” Emery sobered slightly. “Do you think I will receive an invitation as well?”

“I don’t know, but I imagine so,” Lucien said. When she looked disappointed, he spoke even more gently. “You are doing very well for a young lady who was never schooled in how to deal with the ton . These people, the ones who gossip, are not worth your time. I don’t want to see you making yourself sick with worry--or beating yourself up over imperfections--just for the approval of such people. Alright?”

“Alright,” she said reluctantly.

His hand was still on her chin, and he allowed himself a moment to brush his thumb along her jawbone. As he did, her cheeks grew pinker, and the look in her eyes softened.

“I’m sorry to have been so irritable these last few days,” she murmured. “The truth is, I was actually in an excellent mood after the ball. I wish that the gossip I heard hadn’t put me into such ill humor.”

“Don’t worry,” Lucien said softly. “You are allowed a few days of irritability after all the good you have done for our family.”

A cheeky smile curled Emery’s lips, and she took half a step toward him. “Do you know why I was in such a good mood after the ball?”

“Because you got to dance the waltz?” Lucien had a feeling, however, that this wasn’t what she meant.

“No,” she said, and her eyes blazed suddenly. “It was because of the flowers you got me afterward.”

Suddenly, Lucien found it difficult to breathe. She was closer now, and his hand was still on her chin. And then, without even thinking about it, he had moved his hand down along her throat, and then to the back of her neck, cradling her.

“You deserved those flowers,” he heard himself say. “You did so well, despite how nervous I knew you were.”

“Georgina said that the flowers meant something,” Emery said. Her eyes were locked on his. He couldn’t have looked away even if he’d wanted to.

“What did she say they meant?” he breathed.

“She said they meant you have feelings for me.”

Lucien’s throat had gone completely dry. He swallowed and tried to lick his lips, but couldn’t.

“I told her you don’t believe in that kind of thing,” Emery continued. Her voice was so soft and so low that he had to lean forward to hear her.

“I don’t,” he murmured, and his nose touched the tip of hers; his lips brushed against hers.

“Then why,” he heard her whisper, “are you holding the back of my neck?”

He had no answer to this except to kiss her.

And it was as if he forgot his own name. Nothing mattered except to feel her lips on his, to run his hands along the back of her head, her neck, and her shoulders, to pull her close to him until he was completely lost in her.

Give into this. The words blazed through him, more powerful a call than anything he had ever felt or thought. Don’t pull away from this. See where it could lead. It might be the best thing that ever happens to you.

So he didn’t. He continued to kiss her, until she was sighing against him, and he wondered, as he held her in his arms and allowed his hand to trace the side of her face, allowed himself to gaze down into her eyes as she smiled up at him with adoration, if perhaps his parents had simply done love wrong. Perhaps it was possible to take care of Leah, Eve, Celeste, and Henry, to run his estate responsibly, and still feel this way for his wife. Surely it was possible.