Page 55 of The Duke and His Cinderella
And yet, she couldn’t help feeling a deep desire to be near him. She cared for him mightily. She was so happy that he knew who she was. She was so pleased that he seemed to desire her company every bit as much as she desired his—even if it was something that needed to be stolen in the dead of night. Even if they couldn’t be together like this when the sun was up.
“I’d like to court you, Lady Eleanor,” the duke said.
Eleanor's eyes went wide. “You’d like tocourtme?” She had never imagined this. “How can you ask me such a thing, when Lady Hannah believes that you and she have an arrangement?”
“She doesn’t believe that. Not really. I’ve told her that it isn’t so countless times,” the duke said.
“She still doesn’t seem to know.”
“If she did know,” the duke pressed, “would that change your answer? Would you be willing to consider a courtship with me under those circumstances? If you felt confident that she had no expectations of me?”
What could she say to that? The true answer was that of course she would consider his offer. It was all she wanted. A courtship with the duke—yes, she would have accepted that without second thought. Certainly an arrangement with this man, whom she liked very much, would be better than anything her parents would find for her.
But she couldn’t remove Lady Hannah from the picture—could she?
Before she could answer the question, she heard the sound of something moving in the trees.
“We shouldn’t talk about this here,” she said. “We don’t want to be overheard.” She jumped to her feet. “I’d better get back inside before my absence is discovered.”
She turned and hurried away, her heart beating madly, unable to believe what the duke had told her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Eleanor remained in her room the next morning, unable to bring herself to go out and face the day. The moment she left, she knew, she was going to have to come face to face with the duke and with everyone else who would cause her to feel doubt and concern about her status in society. Even looking at Marina this morning would be upsetting. Would her actions of the night before create a scandal that would cast a pall over her sister’s wedding? She hoped not, but she couldn’t help feeling anxious.
Someonehad been out there. The sound she’d heard in the trees had been too large to have come from the wind or an animal. Someone had been there, and someone might have overheard the conversation she’d had with the duke. And if they had, what might the consequences be? What would they say?
How would it be to come face-to-face with Lady Hannah, knowing that the gentleman she wanted and claimed for herself had asked to court Eleanor? How would she be able to face her parents after everything that had happened?
Little though she liked it, and as much as she knew that it was going to cause her trouble, there was only one thing she could think of to do, and that was to stay in her room as long as she possibly could. She had to avoid facing anyone until she absolutely had to. Once that moment came, she would do what needed to be done, but until then, she would stay in the security of her private space. Perhaps someone would bring her some breakfast if she waited up here long enough.
But no breakfast came. Eventually she began to wonder whether she had been forgotten altogether. It wouldn’t be unlike her parents to be so focused on Marina that that had simply forgotten they had another daughter, she thought. It was odd—a week ago, she would have given anything to be forgotten and overlooked by then, but for some reason that wasn’t what she wanted anymore. For some reason, she now longed for someone to come up and talk to her. Maybe she simply wanted someone to reassure her that she had done nothing wrong last night—but, of course, her parents would hardly be the ones to comfort her about that. They would have no tolerance for the way she had behaved, going out in the middle of the night, meeting alone with a gentleman on three separate occasions. If they knew what she had done, she wouldn’t be allowed out of the house until the day she said her vows.
With a sigh, she got up and headed toward the door of her bedroom. There was nothing to be gained by staying up here all day. She would be better served by getting out of the room and going downstairs, dealing with whatever the day had in store for her. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be helped by hiding.
She had spent hours in her room, she realized as she descended the stairs, and it was almost time for lunch. That was a good thing, because she was intensely hungry thanks to having missed the morning meal. She went to the dining room, hoping that lunch had already been served.
Sure enough, food was being arranged on the table. “Make sure you bring out a few extra desserts,” her mother said to the staff. “This is a special meal, after all. We’re celebrating—and we don’t want this celebration to overtake any of the bridal celebrations.”
“What are we celebrating?” Eleanor asked her mother.
Her mother turned. “There you are,” she said crossly. “We’ve been looking for you all morning.”
“I was just in my bedroom,” Eleanor said. “Anyone could have found me if they were looking hard enough.”
“Well, no one should have to chase all over the house trying to find you,” her mother said. “I can’t understand why you wouldn’t simply come downstairs when you must have known that we would be trying to find you.”
“I was tired,” Eleanor said.
“No doubt you were up all night, as you so often are,” her mother sighed. “I really don’t know what I’m going to do with you, Eleanor.”
“You’re going to arrange a marriage for me, and then you won’t have to worry about me at all anymore,” Eleanor said. “It ought to be easy.”
“You would think so,” her mother agreed. “Of course, you’re not going to be particularly easy to arrange a marriage for, what with your wayward behavior and that scar on your hand.”
“There are plenty of gentlemen,” Eleanor said, feeling frustrated. “I’m sure you can find someone who will have me, Mother.”
How she would have loved to tell her mother what had happened with the duke just last night! It would have shocked her mother to learn that not only did someone find her appealing, someone had actually requested permission to court her. Eleanor’s mother wouldn’t have known what to make ofthat. And Eleanor would have enjoyed the shock on her face when she heard the news. But she knew she couldn’t say anything about it.
