Madly Yours (Nora Reed) novel Chapter 39

Nora blinked, completely taken aback.

Before she could correct her, Seraphina was already sizing up Arthur with a critical eye.

"He looks quite young. What exactly does he do?"

Arthur frowned at the group of women. Seeing Nora remain silent, his face hardened into an emotionless mask. "I'm a driver."

A driver?

Seraphina froze for a second before bursting into a loud, mocking laugh.

The rest of her entourage immediately joined in, not even bothering to hide their disdain.

"A driver!" Seraphina giggled, covering her mouth. "You always did have such unique taste."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with a driver," one of her friends chimed in sarcastically. "It's a stable job, and he's not bad looking."

"Exactly. These days, you can't just look at a man's wealth. Personality is what counts. After all, finding a successful executive like Harrison is like winning the lottery."

They took turns firing thinly veiled insults, pretending to defend her while absolutely tearing her down.

Nora's expression remained perfectly composed, acting as if she couldn't care less about their pathetic bullying.

Arthur, however, finally realized what was happening. His jaw clenched in anger.

He opened his mouth to put them in their place, but Seraphina waved her hand dismissively.

"Well, we won't keep you from your fitting. We wish you... all the happiness in the world."

She dragged out the last word with maximum sarcasm.

The group turned and walked away, their obnoxious laughter echoing down the hallway.

Arthur was furious. "Mrs. Lancaster, they completely misunderstood. Do you want me to go set them straight?"

"No need," Nora smiled and shook her head.

Her biggest secret right now was that she was a replacement bride. If Arthur went over and bragged about her real identity, it could expose everything.

Arthur wanted to argue, but a cold, dangerously low voice drifted from behind. "What happened?"

"Nothing. Just ran into some old classmates."

Hudson raised an eyebrow, sensing the lie, but decided not to press the issue. He wrapped an arm around her waist. "Tired?"

"Yeah."

Back at Cloudwater Estate.

As soon as the car pulled into the driveway, Bane charged toward them. The massive German Shepherd was wagging his tail so hard his entire body shook, letting out pathetic, high-pitched whines for attention.

Nora laughed, crouching down to rub his ears.

Bane instantly melted, leaning his heavy frame against her legs and acting like a total pushover.

Arthur watched the scene in utter disbelief.

He was the one who usually fed and trained Bane. The dog was a vicious, highly aggressive predator. Aside from him and Hudson, no one dared get near the beast.

There were dozens of attack dogs on the estate, and none of them dared to even look at Bane the wrong way.

Yet here was the undisputed king of the pack, acting like an absolute lapdog.

He seriously wondered if Nora possessed some kind of dark magic.

It wasn't just people falling for her; it was the guard dogs, too.

"Where did you adopt Bane?" Nora asked, looking up at Hudson. "He reminds me so much of a dog I used to have."