Authors: Gloria Harchar
The Duke smiled.
"
You entertain us, Falcon.
"
"
I aim to please.
"
Clarence laughed.
"
And Napoleon is a man of peace.
"
With a pointed look, he used the jibe to direct the subject back to his purpose.
"
Speaking of Napoleon
…"
"
The color is
brighter than
past uniforms,
"
Clarence murmured.
"
However, you must admit the
Clockwork
Blue
is rich.
"
Nicola
motioned to her new ball gown, drenched with the color. No pearls or diamonds decorated her bodice. She hadn
'
t wanted to detract from the shade.
The Duke looked at her skirts.
"
Perhaps too rich.
"
"
Not too rich for the 47th Regiment,
"
Malcolm
said. The Duke was partial to that special
fighting force.
"
True,
"
the Duke murmured. He fingered his cravat, his
eyes
narrowed.
"
They deserve to stand apart from the others. But I guarantee you one thing.
"
"
What is that, Your Grace?
"
Malcolm
inquired.
"
The 47th Regiment could never display their uniforms in such a pretty manner.
"
The Duke stared at
Nicola
'
s low neckline. The mounds of her breasts rose above the cloth—golden skin so soft and creamy that
Malcolm
was struck with
yearning
. He wanted to wrap her in his waistcoat, to hide her from the attention she was getting. Why it should bother him, he didn
'
t know. Her attire was in vogue, not much different from all the other women at the soiree. But somehow the other swooping necklines didn
'
t affect him in the manner that
Nicola
'
s did.
He managed a strained smile, ignoring the sudden tightness in his breeches, hoping nobody else noticed his reaction.
"
If you would enlist women in the wars, I think they could distract the enemy into forgetting what they wanted to fight about in the first place.
"
The Duke chuckled, then fondled his cravat, his expression thoughtful.
"
I believe you
'
re on to something, my man. All right, Falcon, we
'
ll use your
dye
. I think it will buoy our soldiers
'
spirits.
"
Deep satisfaction swept over
Malcolm
, and he discovered himself glancing at
Nicola
, wanting to see her reaction. The warmth of her brilliant smile radiated to the bottom of his Hessians. Damnatio
n, but he was attracted to her—
fiercely so. But the appeal was all wrong. Couldn
'
t she see that he was bad for her, that he could be her downfall, her destruction, her demise? Everyone else saw it. He thought of the day of the accident, when William had fallen. His father had recog
nized the evilness in his soul. W
hy couldn
'
t
Nicola
see it? Like a moth, she would flutter into the fiery evil of him and die. Suffocation engulfed him, pressing down so hard that he knew he had to escape.
"
If you will excuse me,
"
he murmured.
"
I must leave, my dear.
"
"
What?
"
Nicola
looked at him, her
eyes
wide.
Although it was difficult, damned difficult, he resisted that look of vulnerability.
"
Lady Celeste will make certain you arrive at the town house safely.
"
Ignoring the quiver of her lower lip, he bowed to the Duke and murmured appreciation for the business arrangement.
Clarence clapped him on the shoulder.
"
I
'
ll send my man of affairs around to you in a few days to work out the details.
"
"
I shall expect him.
"
Nicola
smiled brightly at their host.
"
I, too, must be leaving, Your Grace
. Your soiree was quite lovely; but …
"
She glanced demurely at
Malcolm
.
"
My husband and I retire early every night. You know how newly married couples are.
"
The Duke gave a bawdy laugh.
"
Indeed I do, Lady
Nicola
. Go on, Falcon. Take your bride home.
"
And with that, he gave
Malcolm
a hearty slap on the back.
She
'
d crossed
Malcolm
, and he obviously wasn
'
t used to being defied. Well, too bad.
Nicola
gritted her teeth, determined to keep him near her because that was the only way to chip away
the frosty indifference he tried
to maintain. There was fire under that block of ice—a heat she was very close to revealing. And she wasn
'
t about to let him run from her again, a warning she
hoped
to imply with the innocent fluttering of her lashes.
Clarence sighed.
"
I envy you, Falcon. Not many gentlemen can claim such luck when
they wed.
"
"
Yes
, Your Grace.
"
Malcolm
took
Nicola
by the arm and escorted her out of the ballroom. At the front entrance, they stepped outside and hailed the coachman. His grip wasn
'
t harsh, but she could feel the way
Malcolm
'
s fingers trembled as if he were restraining himself. For the first time, a frisson of doubt flitted through her. Had she pushed too far? Would she be able to survive the furnace of emotions that would erupt once they were alone?
As he handed her up into the town coach, she braced herself for his anger. The dark interior encompassed her, then he lowered himself onto the squabs next to her before the coach jerked into motion. She couldn
'
t read his expression, but she could see the brief glitter of his
eyes
as they passed a gaslight.
"
Isn
'
t that amazing that the Duke can have modem lights out here in the country? And to live so close to London that he can throw such a nice ball. I think it
'
s marvelous.
"
"
Nicola
.
"
"
What do you know about Lady Teresa that sent her scurrying away?
"
"
She goes to Madam Electra
'
s on a regular basis.
"
"
You mean the mesmerizer who communicates with the dead?
"
"
Yes
. You are trying to distract me.
"
"
From what?
"
"
From your actions just now. You deliberately defied me. You refuse to learn your place.
"
Like everything else, she decided to meet his fury head- on.
"
Just where
is
my place?
"
Anger rolled in waves from him.
"
Not in this carriage with me. Madam, you haven
'
t learned when to stop pushing yourself on me.
"
To be unwanted: It was the worst situation
Nicola
could dream of in marriage. For her husband to resent her insistence to be with him made her throat ache with unshed tears.
Following
on the heels of
humiliation came anger, righteous anger.
"
You
'
re good at business deals, my lord,
ye
t you fail to fulfill the contract you have with me, something I should have warned the Duke against. The matter of making babes, remember?
"
she added when he gave her a blank stare.
For a moment he was quite still. A cloud covered the moon, throwing the coach into inky darkness, causing the tension in him to intensify.
"
Bloody hell, woman, you are a hazard to yourself. Don
'
t you know the danger of taunting me when I
'
m in this black mood? Instead of baiting me with demands for conjugal rights, you should realize how insane it was to go against my wishes.
"