Page 10 of Good Duke Gone Far

“I’m not easy.”

“I didn’t say you were…easy. I just–” He pinched his nose again. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get some sleep.” He moved as if to grab for his bags and then realized they were still tied to Muffin. “Damn it, Muffin,” he muttered, trusting she had found some shelter in the trees. He pushed back the curtains to try to see, but darkness now dominated the skies.

“What are you cursing about now?”

“You say that as if I curse a lot.”

“You do.”

“I do not.”

“Well, you sure fooled me.”

Even though he mumbled, “And you, me,” she somehow heard it.

“And that too. Quit mumbling. If you want to say something, just say it.”

“Like you?”

“Yes. Exactly. So happy to serve as a role model for you.”

“A role model? Is that what you call it?”

“Surely everyone would agree that it’s better to speak your mind than to hold it in.”

He shook his head.

“Spit it out.”

“I think for the first time today, I’ll actually choose my default response which is to hold my tongue.”

“That is entirely no fun.”

Did he detect a coy smile? Could she perhaps be alluding to the mouth to mouth combat from earlier?

“It may be no fun. But it is one thousand times safer. And speaking about safety, this is perfect.” He slapped his hand on his thigh. “This is the perfect time to teach you something about doing something safely.”

Her cheeks reddened, or so he thought he perceived in the now darkened confines. “I know how to do it safely.”

He gawked at her. So she was thinking about their kiss? Not that he was. No, he had to shove that incendiary kiss from all his present and future thoughts. That kiss had no place in his mind or on his lips.

“Notthat.” He dropped to his knees on the carriage floor and placed his hands on the ground. Slowly, he felt around. “This.” A shimmer from the knife’s blade caught some moonlight.

Another woman might have gasped at the danger it presented. Kat merely mocked him, “What about it?”

“I’ll show you how to wield it properly.”

She shimmied closer to him. He was now on his knees in front of her. She need only part her thighs and his head could fit nicely between them…

“Ahem,” he jumped up and banged his head on the carriage ceiling. The knife clattered back to the floor. “Umph!”

Good God, he was a mess. In all his years on the battlefield, he had never once injured himself in a clumsy act like this.

He sat and rubbed his head.

“You were looking for this?”

“Perhaps not, actually.”

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