Page 12 of Look at Her Duke
His lithe friend studied him a few heartbeats too long to be comfortable, then shrugged. “Dinnae fash. I figured it out ages ago, and I suspect Alistair has as well. We’re no’ fools. Mellie was the only one in the dark.”
Untilhe’dopened his big mouth.
“So, Kip…do ye love her?”
Yet again, Kip took the coward’s way out. “I dinnae ken.”
He didn’tknowher. Not the Lady Amelia he’d discovered in that corridor. Did he?
Was she the same person he’d loved all those years ago? The strength of his feelings had been what had caused him to flee to the Continent, after all.
“Well, friend, I think ye ought to figure that out.” When Kip raised a brow, his friend shrugged and placed the un-touched whisky on the desk between them. “Emma—yer mother’s choice for ye—has already started declaring herself yer fiancée, aye? But clearly ye have stronger feelings for Amelia than ye expected. Is it that ye dinnae want to marry at all? I can understand that.”
Kip’s denial was immediate. “Nay, and I ken Imustmarry. My uncle’s demise—me inheriting this title—has proven there’s nae guarantee of tomorrow. Bestingbum needs an heir, and—”
“And ye want to be happy,” Fawkes finished.
Well…aye. Of course. Didn’t everyone want that?
“I dinnae ken what to do,” he sighed.
“First of all, decide on yer feelings for Amelia. If ye’re no’ going to marry her, ye might as well match with Emma. She’s wealthy, she’s beautiful, and ye’ve said ye need heirs.” He shrugged, his body language communicating nonchalance, belied by his intense study of Kip. “It wouldnae be a hardship, would it? So why no’ marry her?”
Marry Lady Emma? A week ago, Kip hadn’t objected to the plan. He might not have agreed whole-heartedly, but he’d been willing to get to know the young woman. Now, however, the thought left a sour taste in his mouth.
He didn’t want Emma.
Not for the rest of his life. Notever.
Not since he’d held Amelia in his arms.
Groaning, he dropped his head back on the chair, wincing at the dullthud.
Whyhad he asked Mellie to dance? Why had he looked into her eyes, inhaled her scent, felt howperfectlyshe fit? He’d been better off not knowing. Just imagining.
This is why ye left for so long. To protect her from yer lust.
It was a good thing she hadn’t pressed herself against him that night on the balcony, or she would’ve felt exactlyhowstrongly his body was reacting to her.
There was a polite knock at the door, then the butler opened it. “A visitor, Your Grace,” he intoned.
Without opening his eyes, Kip groaned, “Nay. Nae visitors.”
The butler ignored him. “It is the Duke of Effinghell.”
“Fooking hell.”
“Nay,” Fawkes quipped dryly, “Effinghell.”
Alistair nudged the butler aside and stepped through the door, then closed the door in the old man’s face.
“What the shite, Alistair.” Kip gaped at his friend. “I thought ye never left yer house!”
“He does sometimes,” murmured Fawkes, as if he knew something Kip didn’t.
“Dinner,” croaked Alistair, folding his huge frame into the second chair across the desk from Kip. “Tomorrow.”
Kip’s brow twitched. “Was that an invitation, or a command?”
