Page 39 of My Cruel Duke

“Uh– I would like for you to prepare a pot of tea, some biscuits and a book for me. I suddenly feel like having some out in the gardens.” All the while she spoke, not once did her eyes leave Rhysand’s naked back.

“Would you prefer it if I brought the book first, to keep you, uh– occupied, Your Grace?” Penny snapped her head to the older woman with her lips between her teeth and after watching her for a few seconds, she nodded.

“I would like that very much. Thank you.” Besty left, only to return with a book Penny never knew existed in the house. She knew Thornbury House had a massive library with multiple books on all topics, but she had not had the time to visit it yet.

The Allure of Mankindthe book was titled.

Penny did not care for the allure of mankind. She only cared for the allure of the man in front of her, the one who had taken hostage of her thoughts. But she found a suitable place to sit that gave her a perfect view of her working husband, opened the small book, and watched him. His muscles tightened with every raise of his arms and glistened beautifully under the sunlight. His breeches hung low from his waist, exposing his lean torso. She could not help but imagine the fabric falling from his waist, completely exposing the rest of him, the part of him she longed to see again.

Penny bit her lower lip as a way to bottle up her attraction toward the man, but it did nothing to help. Hours had passed during which Penny was mesmerized by the sight of her husband working in the gardens.

“Why are you reading under the sun? It is bad for your eyesight,” his deep voice pulled her out of her wanton thoughts. Penny cleared her throat.

“I am not under the sun, am I?” She tried to seem aloof, but Rhysand only smiled dangerously at her. Did the man not know that everything he now did haunted her? How could he smile so beautifully and leisurely at her?

“You are not, but you are outside. It is bad for you to read out in the open with so much sunlight. Go to the library if you want to read.”

“I prefer the view here. It allows proper imagination.”

Rhysand’s smile only increased.

“Proper imagination? Of all my years in the academy, I never knew reading a book upside down allowed for proper imagination. I should try it sometime.”

Penny wished the ground could open up and swallow her whole. How was he to believe she had been reading when she held her book upside down? She pushed herself up from the chair.

“Thanks to you, I have no interest whatsoever in reading anymore.” She would save face, no matter what.

Rhysand watched his wife scuttle away like there was a hot flame on her dress. He chuckled.

“There you are, Your Grace,” a familiar voice called it to him.

“Angleton? Why are you here again?”

The man pouted his lips with a pane over his heart. “It breaks my heart whenever I hear you ask that, my friend.”

“I am asking why you are out in the garden, and not waiting in my study.”

Angleton shrugged. “I was told I would find you out here, gardening. I do not know if I am pleased your butler was not lying. Since when do you clear your garden yourself?”

Rhysand narrowed his eyes at the man. “I do not give a rat’s arse for the gardens but I needed a distraction, and nothing I have done before seemed to help.”

Angleton smiled.Shite!I should not have said a word.

“Why are you here, Angleton?”

“Do you need a distraction because you cannot get your pretty wife out of your mind? I saw her leaving with a blush on her face, you know…”

Hell!Why did he keep letting this man into his life and space? All Angleton ever did was tease him. It was as though his role in his life was to tease him where Penelope was concerned.

“I never said I needed a distraction from my wife.” Rhysand was fighting a losing battle. He knew the man would not listen to him no matter what he said. “Is your beloved not home? Has she refused to see you? Is that why you are here and making my life difficult?”

Angleton smiled. “My beloved is preparing to see me as we speak. I only thought it courteous to come see you, my friend. I imagined you were going through a hard time when your butler informed me you were out here, but I see you need not any help.”

“Do not make me throw you out of my house, Angleton.”

“I doubt the duchess and my beloved would like that, Your Grace. They are quite fond of me, you see.”

Rhysand stared at the man with disbelief. All the excitement from seeing Penelope flustered had dissipated, all because of this man.