Page 31 of Her Devil of a Duke
“Let me stay the night here?” he whispered. “I can give you a few more lessons in kissing if you’d like,” he teased, hovering his lips over hers. “We can also sleep.”
He was giving her the opportunity to turn him down again. Yet Evelyn couldn’t imagine sending Rafe out of the room.
“Stay.”
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Rafe had woken that morning without any dreams. Stunned at the transformation, he’d stared at Evelyn curled up against his side beneath the covers, her red hair wild.
He blinked and the memory vanished as he sat at the head of the dining table, waiting for her to arrive for their dinner. The day had not gone as he had hoped. He’d planned to spend every minute of it with Evie, to distract himself some more by indulging in her company, but it was not to be.
There had been signs of beginnings of cracks on the roof of the west wing, worsened by the present weather conditions. Under the summons of his steward, Rafe had gone to investigate the problem, with Stede hanging at his shoulder, making some impertinent comment about how it’s a duke’s business to keep a watchful eye over his own estate.
Now, at least, Rafe was free of Stede and the west wing. He sat at the head of the table, awaiting Evelyn and shifting his grasp on his glass of claret. Tonight, he wouldn’t drink so much. Though last night, the liquor had made him even freer with her, he had a wish to be in control this time, so that he could remember every perfect second.
For one awful minute, he feared that Evelyn would not come. Was it possible she had crept out in the snow that morning? Had he just not been told by his servants?
That’s impossible. The snow is too thick.
For a change, he had a reason to be thankful for the snow, not that it made him like it any more than before.
The door opened and he sighed with relief as Evelyn walked in, with a maid behind her.
“Thank you, Petra,” she said softly to the maid. “You have been most kind.”
Petra blushed and shrugged under her attention. There was something about the simple exchange that made Rafe smile. He’d seen many ladies over the years be so assured of their great station that they knew not how to be kind to servants. Evelyn was a sensible woman though, humble, and with this exchange, had revealed kindness in her too.
“Ring the bell if you need anything, my Lady,” Petra said with a curtsy.
“Thank you.” Evelyn stepped further into the room as the door closed behind Petra.
Rafe smiled at Evelyn and lifted the decanter of claret, pouring some into a glass for her. He saw the way she looked around the room in bemusement, then walked toward him, taking the chair that was at a right angle to his own.
“No servants?” she whispered.
“No. For our next lesson, I wished us to be alone,” he assured her, gesturing for her to sit. She did as he asked and took the claret, smiling in a way that reminded him of when they had awoken together that morning.
He’d kissed along her bare shoulder and her neck, then she’d grown bold and asked if she was permitted to act on his lesson earlier that night in kissing him everywhere. He’d laid back, thrilled as she took off his shirt and explored him, kissing along his pectorals and abdominals. He longed for her kisses to go further south, but he wouldn’t ask it of her. He would not push her in that way.
“You seem distracted,” Evelyn whispered. “Is all well?”
“Perfectly.” He leaned toward her. “Now, first, tell me what you have been up to today in the castle?”
She told him of how she had been reading various books, in particular the Shakespeare plays. He took part eagerly in the conversation, struck by just how well-read Evie was. Something reassuring was that her tastes seemed to align exactly with his own, having more of a love for the comedies and the romances, and less time for the tragedies.
“There is however one tragedy I do like,” she said, lacing her fingers together.
“What is that?”
“Macbeth.”
“The Scottish play? What for?” he asked with interest.
“There’s something about the isolation in that play, the degradation of humanity, perhaps what anyone is capable of when temptation stands before them. It’s a study of human nature that I find fascinating.” She cocked her head to the side.
Something in what she said captivated him. He nodded, finding he couldn’t disagree with her.
“We don’t always know ourselves completely, nor what we’re capable of,” he whispered, staring at her as she smiled a little.
