Page 21 of Seven Nights with the Wicked Duke
The man she was to meet came into the dining room dressed casually in a pristine white linen shirt, exposed at the neck and dark breeches that clung to his shapely legs. She eyed the smooth skin visible at his collar and swallowed, lowering her eyes.
"Good evening, Cecilia," he greeted, coming to her. "Shall we?"
He took her arm and he led her to one of the seats and helped her into it and she moved dazed by his attentiveness.
She had heard about his seductive ways that made even the most proper women lose their inhibitions but this charming gentleman before her surprised her.
She felt flustered and she didn't know why. She had known him for so long he should have been nothing more than a brother to her yet under his regard, she blushed like a girl before a gentleman she fancied.
She didn't fancy the duke, not in the least but he was starting to see him as a man and she didn't like that realization.
"Tell me about your list, Cecilia," he requested suddenly, surprising her. "What inspired you to make it? I can understand the last item on your list and I would love to see you do it, but the others I cannot understand. What would make an innocent debutante want to experience such scandalous things outside marriage and not inside it as she was taught?"
She forced herself to swallow the morsel she had been chewing, taking a sip of her wine.
"I am hardly a debutante, Your Grace," she said with a pointed look. "I have had two seasons."
"You're digressing," he tutted. "And you do not look much older than the debutantes."
"Still, it's no reason to treat me like a girl fresh from the school room. I am a woman capable of making her own decisions."
He eyed her, lingering at her cleavage and she felt as though she was back in that dark corridor with him. She didn't lower hereyes, noting he too remembered. He hadn't treated her as a little girl that night and he should remember that.
"You do not have to convince me of that," he conceded. “Still, you should tell me your motivations."
"It is not an interesting tale," she deferred, not knowing why she suddenly felt foolish telling him.
He gave her a blank stare that had her shaking her head.
She sighed and began her tale, being honest because she knew anything less wouldn't suffice with him. Somehow he would probe and point out any untruths and he could change his decision about helping her. He was just that insufferable.
"You know how my brother insists on finding me a husband himself," she said. "I can hardly trust him to find me someone who won't bore me to death and I do not want to be one of those wives who seek pleasure outside their marriage."
He nodded his understanding.
"After he threatened Lord Boxworth, who had been my beau, I was so angry and I decided I was tired of being sheltered by him," she said. "I have read a lot of books but I have never felt that burst of attraction or desire as they described with any of the men my brother has introduced me to and I do not expect to. I hope to find and experience the rush so it would give me memories for my lonely days of rebelling."
"This is still an extreme way of rebelling," he remarked.
"Indeed but I was really upset with him and I just… I'm tired of being good all the time yet not deserving of his trust."
He went silent and the food she had once been enjoying tasted like chalk as she remembered what had led her into this situation in the first place.
To think the reason for her upset would be lounging at home sleeping in peace.
"I have some ground rules we will observe if I am to help you with your list, Cecilia," he told her. "I am in as much danger as you and I will not be forced to marry you because of a scandal if anyone were to discover us."
She nodded, understanding his reservation but she thought he had already agreed to help her and told him as much.
"That does not mean we will be careless," he answered seriously. "There are too many eyes and ears looking for the next scandal."
She had never seen this side of the man and she was tempted to laugh to ease the tension but she didn't dare.
She nodded instead.
"You are only to come here at night. How you choose to do so concerns me not but you are to ensure you aren't followed," he started. "Also, I expect complete obedience from you. If you are uncomfortable when we begin, you can tell me to stop but when I tell you to leave, you are to do so without question. Am I understood?"
She scoffed unable to help herself.
