Page 67 of The Last Duke She'd Marry
Juliet had been staring out the window with a pensive expression. She must wonder if she’d ever travel these familiar roads again. Now she turned to him with her characteristic solemnity. “I went along with everything you did.”
That prodded his rusty conscience. She wasn’t the guilty one. He was. But as usual, the woman bore the brunt of the punishment. His hands closed into fists on his lap, as he yet again wished that he’d given her father a good shake.
“Yes, but everything I did drew you further along the path to destruction.”
“You didn’t tie me up and force me.” She bit her lip and avoided his gaze for the first time since they’d set out. “In fact, you could have taken me when you came to my bedroom. It didn’t even occur to me to stop you. At least one of us kept a grip on reality. And that wasn’t the proper lady, but the unrepentant rake.”
“You’d never forgive me if I’d gone ahead.”
She was back to looking like a sphinx. A tired and rather downhearted sphinx, but nevertheless beautiful. A beautiful enigma. “Perhaps.”
Not perhaps. Certainly. “I don’t want you to despise me.”
“I don’t. I never have, although I tried.”
Evesham didn’t deserve to bask in her answer. But he did. “I know you tried. Every night at dinner, I checked my soup.”
As he’d hoped, that produced another glimmer of a smile. Since they’d left Afton, she’d lapsed back into looking doomed. Now she appeared a little more lively. “I’m glad I didn’t poison you. This journey would be much lonelier without you.”
“I live to serve you.” That was no lie, although he spoke as if he was in jest. She wouldn’t believe him, however he said it.
“It’s thanks to you that I’m still a virgin.”
He closed his eyes and stifled a groan. “Please don’t say that.”
“Thank you?”
“No, the other bit.” He shifted on the seat to ease his discomfort. If he had to listen to her wittering on about her untouched state all the way to Town, he wouldn’t survive the trip.
“The bit about being a virgin?”
“Yes.” He opened his eyes, expecting her to look offended. Instead, he could see that she was curious. “It reminds me how much I want you, and how I have no right to have you, and how when I had my chance, I damn well let my scruples prevail.”
Juliet’s glance was warmer than usual. And she’d paid him a compliment or two without choking on the words. He had no idea why. After all, because of him, she’d been banished from her home and family. “Those scruples become you.”
Another compliment? What on earth was going on? “They’re an infernal nuisance. I swear today all I intend to do is to get you safely to London, and you keep talking about beds and kisses and being a deuced virgin. You make it tough on a fellow who hasn’t had a lot of practice in doing the right thing.”
“I think you’re a better man than you want to be. At least sometimes,” she said thoughtfully. “You’re not who I thought you were when we met. I expected a leering Lothario, but you’re more complicated than that.”
Was complicated a compliment? To his shame, he wasn’t brave enough to find out.
He made himself smile, although right now he felt like there wasn’t enough air in the carriage. “And I expected to meet a woman as cozy as an ice cave.”
Another exhalation that might have been a laugh. “All disapproval and moral messages and no sense of humor at all?”
“Exactly. A walking biblical sampler, scolding me about the dangers of following the primrose path.”
“Instead, you’ve shown her the primrose path, and she’s realized how much she’s missed out on.”
Not what he needed to hear. He struggled to keep things light. “You can thank me later,” he said with an airy wave worthy of her father.
“I loved kissing you.” Sincerity deepened her voice.
Heaven help him. It seemed his trials weren’t over. What in blazes was he meant to say to that?
This time his groan was audible. “Juliet, you might feel like I’m your new best friend, but for the love of God, can we talk about something else? I’m not made of steel.”
Despite part of him being hard enough to fit that description.
