Page 8 of Duke of Wickedness
In the end, all her wild guesswork proved incorrect, as they did not pull up in front of a house of ill repute or a pub in a more dangerous neighborhood in the city or even at another raucous ballroom.
Instead, when the carriage finally stopped and Ariadne chanced a look outside, she saw that they were…at Bacchus House. The Duke of Wilds’ home.
Puzzled, she ran back through the duke’s comments in her mind. Hehadsaid the mysterious ‘event’ was that evening, hadn’t he? Had he needed to retrieve something from home first, perhaps?
Her musing—and her wondering if this wasn’t a sign that she, too, shouldjust go home—was cut short when the front door to the house opened, emitting a warm glow that enveloped the couple that emerged, heads bent together conspiratorially.
The door shut behind them, the light vanishing and letting the couple disappear into the dark.
Ariadne blinked. There were clearly lights inside, but no illumination came through the windows.
What on earth was going on here?
The coachman opened her door, extreme doubt written across his features. Ariadne was going to have to dig deep into her pin money to bribe him against telling her brother about this, wasn’t she?
“Are you certain that this is where you want to be, my lady?” he asked, voice concerned.
Ariadne wasnotcertain, but she was determined. She didn’t know what was happening, but she intended to find out—especially if Lord Hershire might be here. It was all well and good for a man to want to protect his wife, but if the viscountneeded something that a bride could not provide, it was her duty to at least learn what that thingwas, wasn’t it?
Even inside her own head, the logic seemed a bit thin.
“I am,” she said with more confidence than she felt. “Do wait here, if you please.”
His expression said that he didn’t please, not at all, and Ariadne added a few coins to her mental tally of the necessary bribe. The coachman was far too well-trained to say anything, however. He handed her down from the carriage with a long-suffering air.
She threw back her shoulders and approached the door, trying for all the world to look like she belonged.
“Well, hello there, little bird.”
Ariadne, to her horror, let out a yelp like she’d been pinched at the sound of a low, silky voice coming out of the darkness.
She whirled, her hands pressed to her mouth in a mortifying display of missishness, only to find the Duke of Wilds looking at her, a sly smile on his face.
“Do not sneak up on me like that!” she demanded on a breathless exhale.
The duke arched an eyebrow, which—well, yes, that was fair.
“Can I truly sneak up on a person who is trying to infiltrate my home?” he asked lightly, humor barely contained. “Can I sneak up on a sneak? A question for the philosophers, perhaps.”
Ariadne had kept her blush at bay in the ballroom, but now, she couldn’t hold it back. At least the darkness was there to hide some of it, she reasoned.
“I wasn’t trying toinfiltrate,” she protested.
“No?” It was too hazy out for any proper moonlight to shine through the clouds, but somehow, every beam that snuck through seemed to land directly on the sharp angles of the duke’s face. It should have made him look too extreme, grotesque, even. But, to Ariadne’s great annoyance, it made him look even more beautiful.
It was frankly outrageous.
“No,” she said, forcing herself to look him in the eye. She was a Lightholder, damn it! She would not be cowed by any man, not even a beautiful, infamous duke who had caught her doing something less than proper.”
"No,” he echoed, taking a step closer. She fought the urge to retreat. “You found yourself at my house entirely by accident, then? How dreadful. You have gotten very turned about, in that case, little bird.”
Her cheeks blazed hotter. “Don’t call me that,” she said. “And I…Oh, fine! I was curious.” She raised her chin defiantly. There was absolutely no proper reason for her to be here; she could see no way to feign her way out of this one. She would have to brazen it out instead.
Dark shadows striped across the duke’s face as he took another lazy step forward. Ariadne was so hungry to see whatever was hidden in his expression that she nearly leaned in toward him before she caught herself.
“Curiosity is a dangerous thing,” he said.
“I just wanted to see,” she said, hating that it came out a little defensive. “I just wanted to know.”
