Page 31 of Her Cursed Duke
“That sounds really interesting, Your Grace. I am glad you have been able to derive comfort and companionship from places other than people,” Prudence said earnestly, feeling delighted that he had chosen to share that part of his life with her.
He nodded with a little smile, and they proceeded to walk around while the riders prepared for the next race. Prudence was about to suggest they get some refreshments when Aiden stepped out and stood before her, looking more nervous than he had been earlier.
“Your Grace?”
“I… There is something I wish to tell you.” He waited for her to nod before he continued. “I kept it, the stray puppy that we found at the lake.”
Prudence gasped and clapped her hands in delight. “Really?”
He seemed to relax at her response, nodding with a small smile. “Yes. I saw it wandering around on our way home that evening and decided to take it with me. He is a bit of a brat sometimes, but otherwise a healthy, lively bugger. Would you… perhaps like to see him sometime? We could take him for a walk together—just the two of us. Tomorrow?”
“I would absolutely love that, Your Grace. Thank you for inviting me. And for keeping the puppy.”
He smiled at her, gentle and sweet, their hands brushing slightly as he returned to his place by her side. “It was my pleasure, Prudence.”
“Things seem to be going well between you and the Duke,” Agnes observed quietly.
Prudence glanced at the men sitting before them, conversing about horses—as they had been for ten minutes since they started their journey back home and long before that—then shot her sister a blank look. “We are getting along fine, I suppose,” she replied simply.
“It is more than that, Prudence. You two looked really close, and he already seems awfully fond of you.”
“If you say so.”
Agnes pouted at her sister’s unwillingness to play along.“Prudence, do not be mean. Tell me, what is going on between you two? Have you felt any sort of… attraction to him?” she pressed.
Prudence sat up straighter, managing to catch the attention of the men, who shot her curious looks and then went back to their business after she assured them that she was all right.
She glared at her sister. “Agnes, please! There is nothing of the sort, and there might never be. It is far too soon to tell, so stop putting such thoughts in my head,” she scolded in a hushed tone
Agnes smiled apologetically and wrapped an arm around her sister’s shoulders. “I am sorry, pet. I did not mean to upset you. I am just excited for you, that is all.”
“Why? Because I have charmed a man and was awarded with his attention?”
“No, Prudence.” Agnes shook his head. “You seem much happier these days than when I first arrived. You speak more now, you look excited about things that interest you. You look more alive every time you smile. And I cannot help but notice that your brightest smiles always make an appearance around him.”
She nodded in Aiden’s direction, and Prudence let her eyes wander over to him. She did not respond to her sister’s musings, and apparently, Agnes was content with holding onto her for the rest of the ride home while her words swirled around Prudence’s mind.
That cannot be true… can it?
Chapter Twelve
“Prudence?” Agnes perked up, noticing her sister lingering at the door of the sunroom. “Is everything all right?”
Prudence nodded and walked into the room, baffled by the strange nervousness overtaking her senses. She could not understand why she felt reluctant—shy, almost—to ask what she wanted to ask. Agnes would very likely not mind, and she would not speak of it to anyone either. What she would most likely do would be to tease Prudence about this daunting escapade and refer to it as something it most certainly was not.
But Prudence did not care about that either. So, what was the problem?
“Everything is fine. I just—I have to ask you for a favor, Sister,” Prudence let out in a single breath.
“What is it? Ask, Prudence. I have never known how to deny my sisters whatever it was their hearts desired,” Agnes told her patiently.
It was a sweet thought, but her mention of the wordheartset Prudence on edge again. Had her sister always liked to romanticize everything? And had it always bothered Prudence so much?
“The Duke invited me to go out on a stroll with him. He seems to have adopted the stray puppy we saw at the lake during our picnic and offered to let me walk him.”
“And it would just be the two of you on this walk?” Agnes queried lightly.
Prudence felt her cheek burn. “W-We will not go too far. And we will not stay out too long, I promise.”
