Page 43 of His Arranged Duchess
“Not aboutthatone!”
She elbowed him in the side, although it felt more playful than angry. She turned her head aside, the bonnet hiding her face, but Lucien was sure that she was smiling.
“If I do earn your trust,” Lucien murmured, leaning down until his lips brushed her ear, “you will have to give me one of your stories to read.”
He knew from experience how pleasurable a breath of warm air on the sensitive shell of one’s ear could be. Frances shivered, and he allowed himself a grin.
“Perhaps I will,” she murmured, still not turning her head to look up at him.
He wanted her to look up at him, wanted it so desperately that he ached deep inside. He wanted her to turn those glorious green eyes on him. He wanted to run his fingertip over the curve of her lip once again. He wanted to hear her shuddering gasp in his ear, fingers tightening on his bare shoulder.
I want her,he realized, to his chagrin. This was not a new thought, but it was recurring with a more powerful longing. Lucien did not consider himself a man to be easily swayed by a pretty face, but Frances wasmorethan that. She thrilled him, fascinated him, and he…
No. What am I thinking? This is a business transaction, no more and no less. She receives freedom, and I receive an heir. We share her money, which we both desperately need. I have no real hold on her, and she has none on me. That is what we decided, wasn’t it? This is not a game, and I had better not let my feelings run away from me.
He straightened up abruptly, turning away from her. Frances blinked, turning to look up at him as if she missed his proximity.
No, that could not be true. She eyed him with suspicion; he’d seen it. She did not trust him. She needed him to prove himself before she would let him near her, and Frances was not the sort of woman to let desire overrule her good, sensible thoughts.
“We should return home,” Lucien said, a little more brusquely than he had intended. “I believe it’s about to…”
Before he could finish the sentence, the first few fat drops of rain fell, spreading out on the pathway, dampening their shoulders.
Frances sighed.
“I think perhaps it is already too late for that.”
CHAPTER 16
My dear Benjamin, I am excessively grateful for your invitation to join you at your club tonight. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend. And before you try, I must tell you that your ‘temptation’ of Mrs. Black’s presence was, if anything, a deterrent. However, I do hope you’ll visit me soon, perhaps tomorrow. We have a great deal to catch up on. Yours Affectionately, Lucien
Lucien signed off the note with a flourish and handed it to Gray.
“I’ll have it delivered at once, Your Grace,” Gray said, bowing. “Shall I have tea sent up to the study?”
“No, thank you. I think I’ll just finish off my work here and take myself to bed.”
If Gray was surprised that Lucien had chosen a dull evening of work in his study instead of attending a club, he did not let on.
“Very good, Your Grace,” he answered smoothly, making a neat bow.
“Is her Grace in the drawing room?”
Lucien tried to ask the question coolly, as if it did not much matter. Even so, he was sure he caught a quick, knowing glance from Gray.
“Her Grace has gone up to bed, I believe. Do you wish to summon her?”
Lucien flinched. “Summon her? Heavens, no. She’d be furious. She wouldn’t come at any rate.”
Gray smiled agreeably. “I think you might be surprised, Your Grace.”
Before Lucien could demand to know just what he meant by that, Gray bowed again and shuffled out of the study. Sighing, Lucien leaned back in his seat and eyed the piles of work before him.
It was going to be a long night. Getting to his feet, he shrugged off his jacket and rolled up his shirt-sleeves to his elbows. His hair had come free of its careful brushing hours ago and hung untidily over his forehead. He didn’t much care; nobody would see him at this hour.
He hadn’t seen Frances at all that day, after their return from the Park. Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps—and this was more likely—she was avoiding him.
How on earth am I to extricate myself from this? What did I say incorrectly? What have I done to alienate her further?
