The Duke's Masked Wife

191 Date (5)

“Here,” Edgar held out his fork with bits and pieces of food for Alessandra to eat.

Alessandra stared at the fork then backed up at Edgar. “We ordered the same thing. There’s no need for me to eat from your fork.”

“The difference is you have eaten all of your food already while my plate is still halfway. Take it,” he pushed his plate towards her.

“No, you need to eat too,” Alessandra pushed the plate back towards him. It wasn’t like Edgar ate more food than her today for him to not be hungry.

“Alessandra, you’re not going to win this game against me. Eat it,” Edgar pushed back the plate. “There is still a long way for us to go to fatten you up.”

“Why does this sound like a wolf talking to the pig he wishes to eat?” Alessandra muttered. “You cannot force me to eat this, Edgar.”

Edgar leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “Then feed me,” he said.

“Certainly not. You have two capable hands and since you are so perfect at everything, you should be able to use your feet.”

Edgar decided the best way to win this argument would be to make Alessandra feel guilty. “If you do not feed me, I will have him take back the food and a lot of money will go to waste.”

.....

To his surprise, Alessandra did not fall for it. “You are a wealthy man, Edgar. Not eating what remains on your plate is not a waste.”

‘Now is the time she picks to know how much money we have,’ Edgar thought.

“One for me,” Alessandra stated her win out loud. She didn’t dare mention Edgar’s points as he had won against her many times. “You should hurry up and eat before the dessert is brought out.”

“No thank you. I am not in the mood to eat any more of this,” Edgar replied and placed his right hand in the air for Hayden to come and take the food away. “It’s not too late for you to eat the rest of it.”

“Give up. I am already full from my share. How much more weight do you intend for me to gain? My eating habits have changed and I am certain I am at a good weight now. Erin is making me a lot of dresses and I intend to fit in them,” said Alessandra.

“We can buy more as your size changes.”

“No. I am going to stick to this weight and no longer try to gain more. Alfred already sends me too many snacks throughout the day. I will say that if you do not want the rest of your wine, I can drink it for you,” Alessandra innocently smiled.

“I am honestly curious about what your limit is,” said Edgar. Given the number of glasses she had tonight during the many plates of food they were given so far, she appeared to be very much sober. “Should we buy a couple more bottles of wine and test out who will become drunk first? The winner gets the loser to do whatever they say for an hour.”

Alessandra considered joining in this game as she had a high tolerance when it came to drinking but just as she was not affected by the wine, so was Edgar. The man was too perfect at everything for her to even think of winning. Besides, she already had an idea of the things Edgar would make her do for an hour. “No, thank you,” she decided not to join in this game.

“Nothing sexual would be done in that hour,” Edgar added to pull her into the game. He saw the potential fun they could have and found it to be a waste to let the moment go. “We can enjoy drinking out in the backyard if there is no rain when we return.”

Alessandra tapped her fingers on the table, tempted to join in the game but there was still one issue. “The grass will still be damp from the heavy rain we had earlier.”

“Then we can have fun in our bedroom and open the window pointing out at the backyard. Don’t tell me you aren’t tempted to have control of me for an hour. I can do anything you desire. If you win of course,” said Edgar.

Alessandra started to consider that the night had been fun with the two of them leaving home and it would be fun to see each other trying to hold back becoming drunk. She wanted to know what Edgar was like when he felt the buzz of a drink. Even if she lost, he claimed nothing sexual would be used so there was nothing to worry about.

“Fine,” she finally gave in.

“Excellent.”

“You’ve opened up your heart to me and then proposed a drinking game. How romantic,” Alessandra shook her head.

“You should be glad you have a one-of-a-kind man who is creative with keeping the fire going between us,” said Edgar.

Hayden returned to the table with another worker by his side who took away the plates they were previously using while he placed two new plates with slices of cake. “These are popular among our customers. The first slice is a simple vanilla cake topped with cherries, then there’s the vanilla cake with lemon icing and a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Unlike many places, we have brought in someone from out the kingdom to specially make our chocolate. Enjoy.”

“Uhm,” Alessandra stared down at the three slices of cake and knew that at this moment she would not be able to take one bite.

“Please wrap these up for us and add two more bottles to the wine you are preparing for my wife. By the way, is it true you serve fireflies in the food?” Edgar asked, then forced a smile after the table shook.

Alessandra had kicked his foot under the table without thinking. After filling her stomach with so much food, the last thing she wanted to hear was she had eaten fireflies. If she was being honest, she did not feel sorry for kicking him. “Do not answer him. Please wrap these up for me. Everything else was so good that I became full so quickly. I can’t wait to go home and try the cakes.”

“Well, normally the food does not get wrapped up and taken outside. The owner does not want anyone to sit around and steal our signature taste but I suppose an exemption could be made for the two of you,” Hayden said as he took back up the two plates.

“Yes because it’s not like we came here in disguise as customers when we planned to steal your ideas and start a business like this back home,” Edgar looked up at Hayden and smiled.

Hayden became frozen and started to contemplate if it was such a good idea to let them take the cake outside or leave at all.

“He’s messing with you again. You know what, I think some room just opened up in my stomach,” Alessandra took her plate back from Hayden to ease his mind.

The poor soul might not have quit after dealing with Edgar for more than an hour but she was sure whenever he heard of Edgar visiting in the future, he would take the night off to save his body from the stress.

“Bless your heart Duchess,” Hayden told her not only because she had saved him before he could fall into the Duke’s trap but also due to the fact she had to live with such a man.