The Day of the Duchess (Scandal & Scoundrel, #3)

by Sarah MacLean

“You ruined everything years ago, when you refused to acknowledge she existed beyond you.” He stilled at that. “I never refused that.” “Oh?” called Sesily from far above. “We must have missed all the times you came to luncheon and tea.” “And the time you asked our father for her hand,” Seleste said. “And the times you made your courtship public,” Sesily added. “And here we were, thinking you were ashamed of your toy.” Blood roared in his ears. “She was never my toy.” But Sera’s words echoed through him. You don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to have me, either. You never have. Christ. What had he done? He looked to his wife’s sisters. “I only ever loved her.” “But not all of her,” Seleste said. “Not enough,” Seline added. In another lifetime, Malcolm would have argued the point. He would have let his anger and frustration get the better of him. Instead, in that moment, he looked from one of her sisters to the next, and the next, and then said, firmly, “I love her. All of her. Duchess or Dove. With or without you harridans.” Seline watched him for an uncomfortable length of time before tossing her stone to the ground. “By all means, then. Go convince her of it.”