The Duke's Masked Wife

"Eat more," Edgar said then placed more scrambled eggs onto Alessandra's plate. He was still working on bringing her body up to a healthy weight. There was some process as he noticed the fat she was gaining in some places though it was not much.

"No more," Alessandra rejected the eggs and tried to scoop them back unto his plate. Everyone else was almost finished with their food but Edgar was trying to make her eat another plate full. "A man like yourself needs to eat more so you should eat it."

"No," Edgar slide his plate away to prevent her from giving him back the eggs. "There are vegetables cooked up in the eggs. You have been enjoying it so eat this last set and I will not put anything else on your plate."

"Okay," Alessandra replied. She did like the eggs prepared but did not want to eat too much in front of the others.

Rose smiled, quietly finishing her food and listening to the couple at the same time. She was amused by Edgar's behavior. She watched him place the food on Alessandra's plate and was more concerned about his wife eating than himself. 'Oh it won't be long before I have a young child to play with,' she thought.

"What the hell. Why on earth are you feeding her so much? Is she already pregnant? Just tell us if she is," Daniel spoke up. It was the strangest thing to see Edgar acting this way with a wife. It was strange starting from the fact Edgar had a wife.

"Mind your business," Dominic told his younger brother.

"I am not pregnant," Alessandra placed her fork down on her plate now that Daniel thought her eating too much meant she had to be pregnant. "I am not eating anymore," she said to Edgar.

Edgar glared at the man who stopped her from eating the last little bit on her plate. What was so hard about not questioning everything? "I recall at the last winter party, you had three plates of food. Did you eat that much because you were pregnant? Congratulations."

"Here we go," Rose sighed. She wished to turn back time to send Daniel away from having breakfast with her.

"Haha, you're so hilarious," Daniel faked a laugh and pretended to wipe away a tear. "My wife does not eat a lot unless she is pregnant. She watches her figure. That is why I assumed your wife is pregnant."

"Right. That was why she starved herself at the last winter party and collapsed in the middle of the party, ending it right then and there. Yes, that seems like something my wife should indulge in," Edgar sarcastically replied.

He had no need for a thin woman starving herself to look like the rest of the crowd. He cared more about Alessandra being at the right weight.

Daniel's wife, Crystal Carson, blushed at the unfortunate event being brought back up again. It was something she wanted everyone to forget about. That night, she was only trying to fit into a dress she loved but it had gotten smaller after she ate a bit too much.

Seeing that Crystal looked embarrassed, Alessandra placed her hand under the table to tap Edgar's leg as a sign to stop.

Alessandra jumped in her chair when she felt a hand on her thigh but it wasn't noticeable to others. She looked to her left at the culprit and pinched his hand to make it go away but Edgar remained unphased by the pain. She had only touched him to secretly get him to stop.

Trying not to bring attention to Edgar having his hand on her leg, Alessandra carefully tried pushing his hand away without looking suspicious. This caused Edgar to grip her thigh. 'What the hell?' She thought and felt like stabbing his hand with a fork after he cheekily smiled at her.

Edgar leaned over to where she sat and whispered in her ear, "You started it last night. I wonder how long you can keep a straight face for." He slid his hand to her inner thigh.

'You!' Alessandra could not believe what he was doing with his grandmother so close to them. She looked around the table and saw that everyone was occupied with something but it wouldn't be long before someone noticed that Edgar was touching her.

"What do you want in exchange to stop?" She whispered back as softly as she could. Alessandra smiled when Rose looked up at them for a moment but then went back to eating.

"There are many things I want but you are not ready to give them to me yet. I am enjoying where my hand is and the expression on your face. I think I will stay here," Edgar said then leaned back over to his side to end the conversation. This was the beginning of his revenge for what she did last night.

Alessandra closed her eyes for a moment as Edgar moved his hand upward. She could not have the first time she was meeting his grandmother go like this. She did not want anyone to think she was fooling around with Edgar with others present. She was not that kind of person.

This time, Alessandra leaned over to Edgar's chair. "Whatever you want, I will do it so please remove your hand."

Edgar smiled but did not remove his hand as she requested. He did not need any promises from her as there was plenty of time on this trip to do whatever he wanted to either tease her or pleasure her. Her promises were empty right about now.

"Are you two fooling around under the table? Why is Edgar's hand over there and her face looks flustered?"

Alessandra felt her heart skip a beat upon hearing Daniel's words. Edgar was right that the man talked too much. Why couldn't he have minded his business instead of bringing attention to her and her situation? She felt the need to stuff his mouth with the bread on the table to shut him up.

She wanted to quickly deny the claim and said, "We are not-"

"Yes, you are," Daniel stood firm on his accusation. To take things further, he started to move to look under the table.

"She's too embarrassed to hold my hand with everyone present so she's holding it under the table," Edgar quickly moved his hand from under the table and showed him holding Alessandra's hand. He grabbed her hand the moment Daniel started talking, "She is quite shy when it comes to things like this. Look how much her face is turning red now that you have pointed this out, Daniel."

"Well done brother," Dominic sighed. Would it kill his brother to not mention everything he saw?

Rose did not believe Edgar was simply holding Alessandra's hand which was why she ignored when the two were whispering to each other. Still, she was glad whatever they were doing was stopped as she was present and did not need to be around for those kinds of things.

Meanwhile, Alessandra was blushing not because of holding Edgar's hand but because this could have been embarrassing had he not come up with a lie quickly. Forget teasing Edgar, she now felt like strangling him for putting her in this position.