Page 16 of Drawn to the Duke
Not that there would be any acknowledgement of that, though of course the recollection should have made her convulse with shame under his gaze.
Or, she reflected, he should have been shamed and full of apology.
Instead, the look in his eye, and his next words, suggested that the reminiscence of this was front of mind. “When I entered my study last night, it was the faint scent of orange water that alerted me to the fact that my inner sanctum had been breached.” Watching her carefully, he extended his hand and gently ran his forefinger along her flesh, from where her short sleeve ended, to her wrist.
It was impossible not to tremble at his touch.
“You are being modest now, Lady Boothe.” There was an odd look in his eye, Selina noted. As an artist, she was attuned to the mood of a subject. Right now, she was certainly attuned to the interest of a very interesting man. “And,” he went on, “you remind me very much of someone of whom I was once very fond.”
“Chauncy!” Miss White’s voice floated from the open French doors that led into the study and Lord Chancy bowed. “I must not detain you, Lady Boothe, when you are expected for dinner shortly and ladies like plenty of time to make the most of their natural attributes….though you, perhaps, need less time for that than most.”
CHAPTER 11
With his compliment ringing in her ears, Selina returned to her bedchamber, determined to keep from Edward the fact that she still did not have the sketch. Edward would fly into an incoherent fever of despair.
It was a tragedy, for it had been an excellent likeness. Still, she must have been careless. The wind must indeed have carried it away.
But Selina was confident she could do another in a fraction of the time now that she had committed His Grace’s features to memory. She just needed access to their handsome host for a few minutes when he was not aware that she was observing him.
Surely she could manage that?
Edward was already in the drawing room when she arrived.
“Did you find it?” he asked in a low, anxious voice.
“Yes, I found it,” she lied, smiling at him and at the rest of the party over his shoulder as she left his side to answer a question Miss White directed at her.
She noticed His Grace’s eyes on her. They lingered, and she returned his interest for a brief second longer than she should have.
Immediately, she caught herself up. Was she wrong to flirt and give him encouragement?
Encouragement for what?
Just the thought made her quiver. Lord Chauncy was unmarried. So was Selina. Why should she not indulge an opportunity for whatever His Grace was in the mood for? A kiss beneath the plane trees was hardly so reprehensible. Yes, she’d try and repeat the encounter tomorrow and perhaps he’d be out there in the garden, waiting for her.
His interest and the sympathy he had shown during their brief conversation made her feel understood in a way that was rare.
She thought of Samuel.
She’d sacrificed everything to run away with him.Why, she’d thought herself so in love, even though he knew their respective stations in life put him well out of bounds.
Or rather, she, a baronet’s daughter, should have been impossibly out of bounds for a man of his rank.
Yet, thanks to Selina—or rather her rashness coupled with Edward’s loose tongue—the mere footman had been elevated.
Rather than be grateful, however, Samuel had soon come to behave as the men of the circles to which he’d always wished to belong.
A woman was expected to be quiet and obedient.
Unless she was mad.
Throughout dinner, and the conversation and cards that followed, Selina continued to feel His Grace’s attention upon her. Occasionally, she would raise her head and meet his eye.
Boldly.
Edward didn’t notice, of course. Edward noticed little about Selina unless she actively embarrassed him.
Or did not do as he stipulated.
