Page 15 of The Duke's Price
De-Ath had purchased some items over the morning—shoes, a pair of boots, stockings, a hat. But now he left them to Walter’s escort while he visited a tailor. “You shall be next, Walter,” he said to his valet. “When I return to accompany Madame and Mademoiselle.”
“As you wish, Monsieur,” Walter replied, with a bow.
He was gone for a little over an hour. “I told them you would no doubt wish to check my selections,” he told Walter, when he returned. Walter merely grinned, which said volumes about their relationship. They were far closer than Ruth had observed before between a valet and his master. Though, to be fair, the Earl of Chirbury had purportedly had a similar friendship with the manservant who died rescuing his dear lady from a criminal.
After they had exhausted the shops—and themselves—De-Ath proposed a stroll along the banks of the Garonne River outside the walls of the city, and then an early night. “We should discuss tonight. Just so there is no confusion, Ruth,” he suggested in a murmur while Bella was listening to Walter explaining about the canal boats and their horses, and the huge quantity of goods they could transport.
“Tonight?” Ruth’s voice squeaked on the word, as her mind ran riot with images that were not as disagreeable as they should have been.
“Kisses. Perhaps a few caresses,” he decreed. “You are not ready for more.”
Ruth found herself wanting to argue she was ready enough, though she should have been grateful. Or should she? Knowing him, he would make her burn and then walk away as if nothing had happened. Ruth must not give him her trust for a moment.
She inclined her head in agreement, and then their private discussion was over. Bella hurried up to convey a miscellany of information about the value of canals to manufacturing and trade, and they walked the rest of the way back to the hotel debating whether canals would one day be replaced by railways. De-Ath had heard a presentation by a Mr. James who was proposing a network of railways throughout England and Scotland.
Ruth, who had once seen a demonstration of Mr. Trevithick’s steam locomotive, was inclined to think no one would want to replace the peacefully plodding horses of the canal paths with noisy smelly steam engines. De-Ath pointed out that the leavings of horses were smelly, too. With predictable cynicism, he added that business men would choose the method giving them the cheapest transport. Bella agreed.
They split to have their baths. After that, Ruth and Bella helped one another pack their new belongings into their equally new luggage, leaving out a gown each for dinner and another in which to travel in the morning.
Ruth found herself fiddling with her food—another magnificent meal.Kisses and maybe caresses. What did he mean by caresses?
All too soon, it was time for bed. “We have two or possibly three more days of travel before we reach my yacht,” De-Ath said. “We should sleep so we are rested tomorrow.”
Tonight, there was no half hour to change and leap into bed. De-Ath was waiting inside their room when Ruth returned from helping Bella with buttons, hooks, and laces, and receiving the same help in return.”
“De-Ath!” she said, indignantly. “I need to change.”
“There is a dressing screen, darling Ruth,” said De-Ath. “Change behind that. Do you need help with your buttons and laces?”
Ruth tugged at the shawl that she’d thrown on to cover her unlaced back, making certain it kept her modest. “What do you want of me, De-Ath?”
“You know what I want,” he replied, inexorably. “You want it too, or part of you does. You will have to be patient, though, my dear delight. Tonight, I have no intention of letting this go beyond kisses and relatively innocent touches.”
The rebellious spirit Ruth had never quite managed to suppress, even though it was unbecoming in a vicar’s daughter, wondered if she could tempt him beyond his limits. Not that she wanted to do so, of course, even if she could. He was the one who wanted this, whatever this was going to be. Not her.
Even in her own mind, her protest sounded hollow.
“Now,” De-Ath said. “I am going to strip for bed. You are most welcome to stay and watch, or you can change behind the screen.”
Ruth gasped, grabbed her night rail from the top of her trunk, and hurried to put the dressing screen between her and the sight of the Duke of Richport, removing his coat, then his waistcoat, and beginning to unbutton his falls.
Thank goodness she had brushed her teeth and attended to other bodily needs before leaving Bella’s room. She would die rather than use the chamber pot while De-Ath was listening!
How foolish was that? He intended to take her to bed and ravish her! She couldn’t help but feel that this was all a mistake… that he would take her right to the point of ravishment then tell her she was past her youth and only passably pretty, with no experience and little charm.
Which, of course, she knew.
At least the nightrail was pretty. It was a new one, purchased today—in a sweet powder blue linen, trimmed with more lace and ribbon than she thought appropriate for a governess, but cut sensibly full and sewn all the way to the floor on both sides. Quite different to some of the others the modiste had shown her—pieces of temptation in silk and lace with strategic peepholes and open seams that allowed one’s legs to show as one walked.
“You can come out now,” De-Ath said, after several minutes. “The bits you were trying hard not to look at are covered.”
She emerged from behind the screen. Dear Merciful Lord. He wore nothing but a pair of loose silk pants, tied low on his waist, the fabric a riotous oriental print that thankfully disguised the shapes the thin silk lovingly hugged. And nothing else. He wore nothing else. His chest was naked! And magnificent.
His feet, too. Stark naked. Ruth had left her stockings on, feeling diffident about him seeing her unclothed feet. At least he would not see anything else through the modest night rail. Unlike her.Ruth, you are standing there with your mouth open, almost drooling. Sharpen up, girl.
Papa had always said she had a wild streak, and all these years, she had prided herself on proving him wrong. And now look at her.Papa, you were right, after all.
“Like what you see?” De-Ath asked, provocatively.
