Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
****
When Rathe came back home, it was to the sound of laughter. And the most striking thing about it, one which had him temporarily halting in his tracks, was the fact that the laughter came from the two most important women in his life.
Striding towards the sound, he paused at the open doorway when he found his mother and Mary seated facing each other on the sofa, doubled over in laughter.
His mother was dressed in another one of her favorite wrap dresses, her blond hair piled up in an elegant chignon. Like any other day, she appeared so much younger than her actual age, and next to Mary, she could have easily been mistaken as his mistress’ older sister.
His gaze slowly strayed to Mary.
His mistress.
His eighteen-year-old mistress, a girl who professed to love him – and the same girl he couldn’t seem to stop hurting.
In a daisy-yellow dress and with her hair held back by a band, she somehow reminded him of Thumbelina, a tiny pearl of femininity that belonged to him alone. Mary had tears of mirth sparkling in her eyes as she spoke with his mother, but even so, Rathe noticed the faint hint of strain on her lovely face.
Strain that he was the cause of, the duke acknowledged grimly.
Throughout the day, all he could see at work was her face with its fake smile. He had wanted to spend the night away from home, but in the end, he had found himself lured back to her side.
Looking at her now, he realized that it was his first time to see Mary’s face glow since their return. Its startling contrast to how sad she had looked in the past cut him to the quick, making Rathe feel ashamed of his selfishness.
When the sound of laughter trickled down, Rathe saw that the two had finally noticed his presence.
He swiftly strode forward, his heart thudding hard against his chest simply because he felt Mary’s blue eyes following his every move.
Bloody, bloody hell.
How his friends would laugh if they knew his heart was racing for such a reason.
Members of the opposite sex had been staring at Rathe since his cock made a prominent bulge in his pants. All his life, women had fawned over him, and through the years he had begun to view their attention with cynicism. Every bloody one of them had been the same. They had looked at him, and they had seen the Duke of Flanders.
But the way Mary was looking at him now?
His head pounded, his heart thudded, his cock twitched.
She affected every bloody part of his body just with the way love shone so dazzlingly bright in her eyes.
****
Mary watched with a mixture of wariness and anxiousness as the duke bent down to press a kiss on his mother’s cheek. His every movement was exquisite, like he had spent all his life taking waltz lessons. The thought had her mentally smiling. Considering that Rathe was a British nobleman and how very traditional his family was, that was more than possible.
Even though she saw him every day, even though she still hurt from his rejection, Mary couldn’t stop herself from catching her breath at the sight of Rathe.
Why was he so incredibly perfect? The way his hair shone under the light, the classic, chiseled angles of his face, the sculpted muscles of his body...
Too perfect.
So much so that she was scared the duke would one day wake up and realize he was too perfect for her.
Or maybe...it had already happened. Maybe, he already knew he deserved so much better than her?
Her heart stopped beating at the thought, the pain so agonizing she felt close to blacking out because of it.
“Mary?”
It took her a while to realize that Rathe was standing in front of her. Talking to her. No longer looking like he was willing to do anything to avoid spending time in her presence.
The change left her even more disoriented. Why? What had happened? Had he decided to tell her he was going to leave her for good?
Scrambling to her feet, she found herself dropping low for a curtsy. It wasn’t something she usually did for him, but she was so nervous right now, she just felt like she had to do something. Anything.
Rathe had no difficulty comprehending what was happening when Mary suddenly sank into a curtsy. He knew his little pearl well, more than she probably gave him credit for.
The sight of her anxiety slayed him because he could remember the times it had been different between them. Once, he had been the only one she could be uninhibited for, the only man she had the confidence to crack jokes with, make faces at, even do a striptease for.
Now, it was the opposite.
This was what he had wanted, wasn’t it? By distancing himself from her, he knew that this would be the end result, Mary no longer feeling safe with him.