Page 24 of Her Seven Nights with the Duke

His boldness should’ve calmed her, but it made her all the more nervous. Boldness often led to errors, no matter how smart one was, and she did not want to have to pay for his errors.

“I must confess, Your Grace, that I do not trust you,” she said. She hastened to explain what she meant when his eyebrows rose. “I trust no one but myself and what I can do for myself.”

The Duke hummed, regarding her quietly. She wrung her hands nervously as she waited for him to stop.

“You will have to trust me if we are to continue meeting like this, Lady Nora. That is the only way that this will work,” he said finally, his tone leaving no room for argument.

“What are you doing?” she asked as her cheeks heated up.

The Duke grabbed his cravat, slipping it from around his neck and wrapping it around his hand.

“Should you wish to continue this meeting, turn around. Otherwise, you are free to walk away, and our agreement will come to an end.”

Nora stood where she was. On the one hand, she didn’t wish to continue taking any more of these risks, and trusting him seemed like such a far leap of faith, seeing as she hadn’t knownhim for long. However, she was here for a reason, and at the moment, the Duke seemed like the only one who could get her what she wanted.

He’d paid her the money for the first night they spent together, and at the end of this night, he would pay her for this as well. She couldn’t walk away from any of it now.

What other options do I have? I cannot give up my plan.

She let out a deep breath, and without a word, she turned around. Her breath caught in her throat as the Duke stood behind her until there was very little space between them.

Stay still, Nora. Trust him.

Her

She willed herself, her hands tightened into fists as she fought the urge to turn around and see what he was doing.

A gasp escaped her lips as the cold fabric of the black linen cravat touched her skin. He hummed once more as his hands tied the fabric behind her head. She lifted a hand to touch it, letting out a shuddery breath through parted lips as she struggled against the dark.

“Now, you don’t have to worry about being seen by anyone,” he whispered in her ear.

“But I can’t see either. Shouldn’t that make me worry more about my surroundings?” she asked honestly, biting her lip.

She’d never had a blindfold over her eyes before. She hadn’t played much as a child, since she was an only child, and after her father died, her mother had withdrawn into herself until she met the Viscount.

She frowned as she remembered her stepfather.

I have to do this if I ever plan to escape his clutches.

She would put up with whatever strange requests the Duke had, as long as it guaranteed her a means of making some money so she could have a better life with her mother without worrying about how they would fare away from her stepfather’s influence.

“You have to let me worry about that, Lady Nora,” he said, chuckling. “No one will recognize you now, with half of your face covered as it is. Besides, we do have the advantage of the dark on our side. Moreover, anyone out by this time is likely up to more scandalous behavior and might seek to avoid us instead.”

She nodded. He was right, of course. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Her voice was small, like a silent whisper that could easily be carried off by the cold night breeze.

Nora wrung her fingers, something that she noticed she did whenever she was around him. There was very little that made her nervous, save for her stepfather and thoughts of her future.The Duke, however, did not evoke the same feelings that her stepfather did whenever he was near her. It was a different kind of nervousness, one she wasn’t certain what to label.

“I do hope you were not much disturbed by how long it took me to send you a letter for this meeting,” the Duke said, taking her hand in his.

She allowed him to direct her, trusting him despite the deep urge to rip the blindfold off her face. She glowered at the question as she willed her feet to follow his directions.

His deep chuckle made it obvious that he’d noticed, and she bit her lip as her cheeks flushed. She listened in curiously as she heard his footsteps moving around her.

What is he doing?

“I checked morning, afternoon, and night,” she said, her voice holding a note of chastisement.

Do I seem pathetic by telling him that?

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