Page 80 of The Texan Duke
“You’ll have to spare some time in a few days to attend our shooting match.”
She put down her cup and stared at him. “Shooting match? You and Felix?”
He nodded again.
“Are you daft? You can’t possibly consider something like that so soon. You were just wounded yesterday.”
Both Addy and Betty gasped, making her realize she’d just insulted the Duke of Lothian. He only smiled at her, took a sip of his coffee, and let the moment stretch thin.
She really should apologize for her quick and unthinking response. However, she wasn’t going to take back her words. He’d lost a great deal of blood. He should be weak. In fact, he should be in bed, taking toast and tea for breakfast instead of looking hale and hearty and too attractive for her peace of mind.
She could see the bandage beneath the fine lawn of the shirt he wore. Did he think himself more than human?
He put his coffee cup down, trailed his finger around the saucer, still not speaking.
She couldn’t stand the silence one second more.
“Please, don’t do this. Felix only wants to embarrass you.” Conscious of the other women’s glances, she added, “Your Grace.”
“I’m well aware of that,” he said, smiling once more.
She sat back in her chair, wondering how she could reach him. Could anyone? He had a mischievous grin on his face and his eyes were alight with humor.
Addy stood, retrieved the coffeepot from the stove and poured him some more coffee, while Betty filled a plate with raisin scones and put them in front of him. She’d never seen the two women so solicitous, but then the Duke of Lothian had never shared their breakfast table, either.
“You know he wants to embarrass you?”
She should have, perhaps, waited until they were alone before questioning him further. She didn’t even bother asking him to join her in the family dining room. He looked too comfortable being waited on hand and foot. She was stuck either containing her curiosity or having an audience to it.
“Never trust a man who brags a lot,” he said. “Words are no substitution for deeds.”
“That sounds like something Gavin would say.”
He shrugged, grimaced, then said, “I’m not surprised. It’s a comment my father often made. I suspect they were more alike than different, even after so many years.”
“You shouldn’t have agreed to the match so soon.” She almost forgot and added, “Your Grace,” again. She had started to think of him as Connor. Connor McCraight, Texan, impossible man, fascinating male.
The title Duke of Lothian didn’t quite fit him. Not that he didn’t have an aristocratic look about him. He did. He also had a way of chilling you with his gaze. But she suspected that the peerage demanded that a person be pressed into a certain kind of mold, and Connor would always be his own man.
“I didn’t,” he said. “I was the one who suggested we meet.”
That didn’t make any sense. She frowned at him, but he met her expression with another grin.
“I’ve found that the first few days after being wounded are better than later. The muscles hurt more then.”
What was she supposed to say to that? What was she going to say when he lost and Felix wouldn’t shut up about besting the new Duke of Lothian? Lara would preen. The duchess might even be pleased that the same man who wanted to disrupt their lives so much had been soundly humiliated.
She really should stand, right this moment, announce something along the lines of,Well, I certainly hope you’re ready to be trounced, and be about her duties.
But she didn’t want to leave. Something about him, about being in his presence, was almost magical. As if she were like those metal filings Gavin had shown her once. Irresistibly drawn to a magnet, they had no power to resist.
Neither did she.
She suspected that losing to Felix wouldn’t bother Connor one whit. He didn’t value the man. He didn’t think highly of him; that was obvious. Shouldn’t you have some respect for your opponent? Connor would simply flick off the loss as if it were inconsequential. That would only outrage Felix, Lara, and the rest of the McCraights.
Nothing good could come of this, but how did she convey that to Connor?
One of the bells on the board near the door rang. She glanced up to see that it was the duchess’s room. Rhona was ringing for her breakfast early.
