Her face was red with rage, but Alaric met her anger with his own. “If you insult my wife one more time, I will make sure you regret it. I will ruin everything you hold dear.” Every word held a promise of pain, and Alaric let the threat sit between them, watching as Lady Danford recoiled away. “If you cannot be civil, then be silent. Do not test me.”
He sensed Catherine tense behind him and turned to face her. He let his anger fade away as he canted his head in her direction, his eyes asking the question his mouth could not.
Are you all right?She bit her lip, and Alaric saw the answer in her eyes.
Without thinking, he wrapped his arm around her. He felt her body’s warmth against his as she moved to his side. He held her, shifting slightly to stay between Catherine and her mother as he turned to face the marchioness.
“Let us be clear, Lady Danford. Catherine may be your daughter, but she is a duchess. More to the point, she ismyduchess, and as far as I am concerned, she has been more than patient with you.” Alaric stared down his nose at the woman. Alaric’s words were hard as steel. “You arrive on our doorstep without invitation, you raise your voice to my wife in her own home.” Alaric narrowed his eyes, watching as Lady Danford opened and closed her mouth several times, but said nothing. “Then you seek to deny the evidence of my own senses, and think me foolish enough to believe your lies.”
“I—”
“These alone would be bad enough, but it is your final transgression that is unforgivable.” Alaric met Lady Danford’s gaze, his voice like a judge sentencing a criminal. “You insulted my wife. That will not stand.”
Lady Danford’s eyes flashed even as she flinched away from him, and Alaric saw the same anger he had seen so often in Catherine’s eyes. He met that anger and let his face become a mask of cold indifference. Everything about his expression was calculated to convey that she was not even an insect worth his notice.
“I... I was only trying to help her.” Lady Danford tilted her chin toward him.
Alaric’s voice was calm yet menacing, like a snare hidden beneath leaves. “Did she ask for it?”
“No, but she needs it.” Lady Danford met his gaze, and Alaric could see the echo of Catherine’s fire in her mother.
“I doubt that.” Alaric stepped away from Catherine and moved toward her mother, ignoring the cold that crept over him as her body left his. “You just wanted to control her, to bend her will to yours, to be the puppet master and turn my wife into your pretty marionette. You had such success with arranging our scandal, after all, why stop there?”
His words had the effect he had hoped for. Lady Danford stumbled back, her eyes wide.
“Did you think I would not discover your machinations? I am the Duke of Coldmere, Lady Danford. I know everything I need to.” He took another step toward her, the smirk falling from his face, knowing his words skirted the edge of truth. “You were too blind to see just what you were giving away. Blinded by poweror greed, I do not care, but your mistake has only made my life better.”
Lady Danford shook her head.
Alaric gestured between himself and Lady Danford. “If you truly knew your daughter, if you really saw her, you would not treat her the way you do. You would not have forced her hand; you would have trusted in her judgment. Your daughter is remarkably brilliant, Lady Danford. She has a mind unlike any I have ever known. Her heart is good and pure. She is fiercely loyal and unafraid to speak her mind. She is beautiful both inside and out, and yet you see her as something to be tamed, to be controlled.”
Alaric took another step toward the Marchioness, letting his size fill the space between them. “To do that is to diminish her, and I will not allow anyone to do that.”
The silence between them was so thick he could have cut it with a knife. Alaric looked down at Lady Danford, his jaw clenched and eyes steel. Lady Danford looked up at him, anger and some other emotion Alaric could not quite identify flickering on her face.
“For your sake, I hope in time you see the truth of her.” His voice was little more than a whisper, but it filled the room nonetheless. “But until you do, you do not deserve her in your life.”
He straightened the lapels of his coat and stepped away. “In the future, you will contact us requesting permission to visit. Do I make myself clear?”
Lady Danford looked at him, let out a long breath, her jaw tight with barely contained rage as she curtsied.
“Good. Now, leave.” He gestured toward the door, and Catherine’s mother turned tail and fled.
Her footsteps quickened as she moved farther from the door, and Alaric felt a wave of satisfaction wash over him. The sound of shuffling behind him drew him back into the room.
His heart sped up as he turned to face Catherine, every shred of his righteous anger fading as his eyes searched her face. There was no smile, nor any anger.
“I apologize if I scared you.” Alaric took a step toward her, realized that his hand was moving to touch her arm, and hastily ran it through his hair instead.
“You did not.” Catherine’s voice quivered slightly, and her eyes were fixed on his face with such intensity it felt like a physical touch.
“Good.” Alaric swallowed and clasped his hands behind his back.
He wanted to go to her again, to pull her to him as he had done earlier, but the rules flooded into his mind.
“About earlier, I apologize. I should not have?—”
“Thank you,” Catherine said at the same moment.
