Page 52 of Raising the Duke’s Unexpected Twins

At the door, they were greeted by a footman and were ushered toward the ballroom, listening to the hubbub of voices and music and clinking of glass. They were to enter at the top of the stairs, and Cordelia and Nicholas handed off their cloak and gloves to another waiting footman. Nicholas tensed as her beautiful gown was once more revealed to him.

He whispered, “While you look devastatingly lovely, my dear, I would rather like to keep that cloak on you if I could.”

“Whatever do you mean?” she whispered back as they waited in line to be announced.

He glanced at her, his eyes moving down her face and neck until they settled on her lovely chest and the swell of her breasts.

“I mean that I don’t wish any man’s thoughts to be of you and those…” his voice lowered, and Cordelia’s eyes widened, covering her mouth with a gloved hand.

“You are even a rake to your own wife,” she hissed, making him grin.

It was finally their turn. The butler at the head of the stairs announced them to the crowd below.

“The Duke and Duchess of Meinster.”

Nicholas was smiling, but he tensed at the quiet that settled over the crowd at the sound of their names. He could feel Cordelia’s tension too.

Slowly, they descended, and he whispered to her, “All is well. We are simply a novelty.”

She nodded but said nothing, and as they made their way to the bottom of the stairs, people returned to their conversations, and a new song began. “I will get you a drink,” he said, turning to go when the cat-eyed Lady Rosemere rushed up to him as if out of nowhere, pressing a hand to his chest and leaning in close.

Damn it.

Even without seeing her, Nicholas could sense Cordelia’s tension at the sudden arrival of his former mistress come to stand so close to him.

“Your Grace! What a relief to finally find you here at last. When I heard you were coming, I was all atwitter with excitement.”

She unfolded her fan and waved it in front of her face, smiling at him, not even looking at Cordelia who stood only a foot away. Slowly, Nicholas removed the lady’s hand from his chest, and she looked horrified.

“My lady, how kind of you to greet an old friend after such a long time.” He spoke in a monotone.

“An old friend?” she asked dubiously with a perfectly sculpted lifted brow.

“Yes.” He gave her his politest smile. “I am a married man now, my lady.”

“Ha! And when has that ever stopped any of us before?” she asked, far too loudly, and he knew it was purposeful.

Nicholas tensed, and his gaze grew stormy as he looked at the woman. “Lady Rosemere, I suggest you keep your distance from me from now on, and that you find yourself another paramour. There are plenty waiting in line, I’m sure. But you will not find any satisfaction from me any longer.” He spoke in clipped tones, and with each word, he saw her eyes darken and her cheeks flush with anger.

“Well, I never,” she replied, opening her fan to flutter it furiously in front of her face before storming off.

Relieved, but annoyed that Cordelia had had to witness that, turned back to her only to see that she was gone. He spun around, searching for her, worried she’d run off when he spied her on the dance floor, in the arms of another man.

What in the hell?

Nicholas had never felt such rage. He knew the man, a Lord Dempshaw, another rake, who was happy to flirt and more with any willing young lady. He was handsome enough with his dark hair and dark eyes, but Nicholas had always found him irksome. And now, with that man’s arms around Cordelia, Nicholas saw red.

Thinking of nothing else, he stomped onto the ballroom floor, ignoring the gasps of other dancers, and he approach Lord Dempshaw and Cordelia. Cordelia’s mouth fell open as he stood in front of them, his hand on the young man’s shoulder.

“Do be so good as to allow me to dance with my wife, Dempshaw. It is our first ball together and all that.”

His words sounded quite kind, but the way he said them made a flash of challenge light in Lord Dempshaw’s eyes.

“Very well, Your Grace.” Dempshaw turned to Cordelia, bowed, and then let her go.

Instantly, Nicholas took his place and swung them both back into the rhythm of the dance. Cordelia was looking around them at the other couples.

“And just what are you doing, Nicholas?” she asked.