Page 18 of Her Wolf of a Duke

And so he remained in Miss Kendall’s proximity for the rest of the night. He did not mention it, nor did she, and they also did not say a word to one another, but she never left his sight and he had to admit that he quite enjoyed it that way. He liked the quiet connection that he swore was beginning to form between the two of them.

Which, he reckoned, could be very dangerous indeed.

CHAPTER 6

“Emma, how much longer are you going to play pretend for?”

As she was on her way to bed, Cecilia had cornered her, following her all the way to her room and going so far as to enter it behind her.

“Cecilia, I am exhausted. Can we discuss this in the morning?”

“It is no surprise to me that you are tired after all of the walking you did this evening, by the Duke’s side at that. I thought you hated him?”

“I do! Well, I do nothatehim, but it isn’t as though I searched for him deliberately. He was escaping Gretchen, you see.”

“Emma, for all of your intellect you certainly seem to forget the way things are. If he wanted to be rid of her, he would do so. He only asked that you stay with him because he wantedyou around, and unless I mistake myself, you wanted that very same thing. Otherwise you would have fled as soon as you were decently able..”

“Then perhaps he considers me a friend. It is not a crime to enjoy the company of a gentleman but nothing more. You have enough gentlemen friends yourself.”

“Yes, but I do not then claim that I cannot stand them. Emma, I am not scolding you for befriending the Duke, but you must be honest with us, and with yourself.”

“I am,” she lied.

Cecilia raised an eyebrow at her, and Emma knew that she was not being very convincing at all.

“Well,” Emma sighed, “I am trying to be. I do not know how to feel. He is nice to me, and I am trying to tell myself that it is simply because he is a rake but I cannot make myself believe that.”

“Then it may well be that he is not the villain you thought he was. That is perfectly fine, but you cannot pretend that it is anything more than you wanting to know him.”

Emma nodded in defeat. She wanted to be angry with the Duke, resent him completely, but she didn’t have enough proof to satisfy herself as to whether he was or was not a hopeless rake.

Cecilia left the room, and Emma tried to sleep. Her day had been a confusing one, and it made for a fitful night.

She had found herself warming to the Duke of Lupton, but that did not mean she liked him at all. No matter what Cecilia said.

Granted, he was not the worst person that she had ever met, but he remained insufferable. He was nice to her, but she did not know why that was, especially when she had been so unkind to him in return until dinner the night prior. She had assumed it to be his rakish ways, but the way he had tried to avoid Gretchen had made her question that.

They were all spending the day near the nearby lake for a picnic, and in the quiet on one of the banks Emma had allowed herself to think. She did not like that she had done that, for her thoughts at once had turned to the very Duke that she did not wish to think about.

“Emma?” Sarah asked, sitting beside her. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, thank you,” she replied. “My apologies. I believe it is the heat that has me rather out of sorts.”

“And it had nothing to do with the gentleman that keeps stealing glances at you?”

“What do you mean?”

But she had already looked up and seen him. He was standing in a group of gentlemen that were playing Pall Mall, coincidentally including Lord Rosendale, and the pair of them glanced their way at that very moment.

“I see,” Emma nodded. “Perhaps they are looking at that streak of butter on your cheek?”

“What?” Sarah yelped, raising a hand to her cheek as Emma laughed.

“Fear not, you look lovely. I do not know why they are doing that, though. I can understand the Baron, but the Duke is another matter entirely.”

Emma reconsidered as Gretchen approached the gentlemen and seemed to speak with them. Had that been a pleading look she’d received from the Duke? She wished they were closer so that she could hear them, but as it was she had no idea at all.

What she could see, though, was the lack of enthusiasm in his eyes. He did not seem at all interested in her, and that made Emma feel quite at peace. If he was indeed being honest with her, and he had no interest in Gretchen, then perhaps she had ambushed him after all.

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