Page 45 of Trapped with her Cruel Duke

The kitten wondered about the room, sniffing everything in its path. A few maids eventually entered with buckets of steaming hot water and began to fill the tub. Then, one of them placed a small bowl on Louise’s dressing table.

“You are not going to enjoy this very much,” she said to the cat as she picked it up and brought it over to the dressing table. “But it is better than the rain, I assure you, and you will at least be warm.”

Without further ado, she sank the kitten up to its neck in the water, which was gently steaming, but it quickly darkened with grime. With a flannel cloth, she began to clean the mud and filth of London from the kitten’s body, slowly revealing a tabby cat with beautiful markings down its back.

The kitten mewed pitifully, but Louise was determined to ensure that it was entirely clean. As she wiped the crusty gunk from the creature’s eyes, it started to look less like a goblin and morelike an animal. Louise smiled as the kitten stopped shivering and relaxed in the water.

“Your bath is ready, Your Grace,” her maid called.

Louise nodded and stepped back so they could undress her. She watched the kitten play with the cloth she was now wrapped in.

Once she was submerged in the water, Louise closed her eyes, letting her head rest against the tub’s edge. She opened them to find the kitten tucking into a little plate of white fish, looking much livelier.

“I’ll have to give you a name,” she mused as her maid returned with the soap and proceeded to wash her.

As she relaxed in the water, the cloth moving gently over her back, she couldn’t stop thinking about Christian.

He had shown a great lack of restraint in the club, given how close he had come to breaking his promise. Louise was ashamed that she had longed for him to take her right then and there, the consequences be damned.

The magnetic pull she felt toward him was ever-present. Even when she had seen him in a wolf mask, he had fascinated her—before she even knew who he was. The way he had pinned her wrists above her head, making her utterly helpless, had shocked her.

For such a ruthless man, he can certainly be seductive. Whenever he touches me, I cannot help but melt into him. It is infuriating!

Eventually, the hot water warmed her muscles, and she was not as chilled as she had been. As she stepped out of the tub, her maid draped her robe around her, and she pulled it tighter around herself before walking over to a chair at the side of the room.

Pulling her shawl off the back, she tied it in a loop and placed it on the floor. She beckoned to the kitten, who immediately came over and settled on the soft fabric. It was so tired its eyes closed immediately, and she watched it drift off to sleep, happy that she had done something good that night.

As the maid approached with a towel to dry her hair, the door swung open and Christian walked in.

“Thank you, I will take it from here,” he said sharply.

The maid glanced at Louise and then at him hesitantly. Christian held out his hand for the towel, which she dutifully gave him, and waited for her to leave. He then closed the door behind her and turned to Louise, raising his eyebrows.

“It is still alive, I see,” he remarked, glancing down at the kitten with some disdain.

“You will be appalled to learn that your butler loves cats and has sent up some fish for it to eat,” Louise said primly.

Christian furrowed his brow as he approached them. He seemed enormous compared to the tiny animal, but the kitten was content to nestle in its new warm bed.

Louise started as Christian began to dry her hair with the towel, taking the full length of it and squeezing the water out of the long strands.

She remained perfectly still, watching the look of concentration on his face as he saw to the task.

With a gentle touch to her shoulder, he turned her around so her back was facing him. She drew in a shallow breath as he gently pulled her robe down and proceeded to dry her neck and shoulders.

“Did you wish to speak to me?” she asked, her voice a little hoarse.

The movements of the towel paused briefly and then resumed. “I did. I met a man tonight in my club who I wish to introduce you to. He is a botanist and was most intrigued by your encyclopedia.”

Louise’s excitement grew as she imagined Christian seeking out an academic for her to speak to.

“Did you know he was a botanist when you introduced yourself?”

“I may have,” he answered playfully. “He is an odd sort of fellow. But people who enjoy plants generally are.”

Louise could not help laughing at that. “People who enjoy plants are far cleverer than those who enjoypeople.Plants are beautiful companions.”

“Until they die,” Christian said wryly, “or poison you.”

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