Page 30 of It's In The Duke's Kiss
The hair on the back of her neck prickled at his nearness. She swung around to face him and grinned up at him. “Indeed, I would. I’m very fast.”
“I insist you prove it.” His twinkling eyes belied his serious tone.
“But my mother—”
“I’ll convince your mother,” he replied with confidence. “We’ll get her approval first. And if she refuses, then you have a reprieve.”
“I don’t need a reprieve,” Emma said with a laugh. “But I promise, my mother will never agree.”
“I, for one, hope she doesn’t,” Nathan said sullenly. “I didn’t come here to watch you be whisked away by my brother.”
“Nathaniel,” the duchess said sharply, “Blackbourne has hardly whisked Lady Emmaline anywhere.”
“Ah, but I mean to do so now,” Lucian inserted, and before Emma knew what was happening, he took her by the arm and led her away from the group. Behind them, she heard the duchess and Lillian laughing.
When they reached a stream, Lucian paused and turned to stare down at her. “When I’m around you, I’m not myself at all. I do things that surprise me, and I—” He stopped speaking and a low growl rumbled from him.
“You what?” Anticipation of what he might say swirled in her belly.
“You make forget myself,” he said with obvious reluctance.
“Is that bad?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I would have never thought the day would come that I’d try to persuade a mother to let her daughter race against me. That’s something Nathaniel would do. Not me.”
“If you’ve changed your mind, I understand,” she said, disappointment filling her. She didn’t think her mother would agree anyway, but it had given her a little thrill to know that he’d wanted to race her.
“No, that’s my point. I’ve not changed my mind at all. I’m looking forward to it, and it baffles me.”
Emma heard the approach of a carriage and glanced over his shoulder. “Well, you’re likely about to learn there is one more thing a duke doesn’t do.”
He arched his eyebrows in question. “What’s that?”
“Persuade my mother to let me race.”
“How did you do it?” Emma demanded of him yet again.
Lucian chuckled, feeling less burdened than he’d felt in years. He helped her onto Nathan’s horse, which he had begrudgingly agreed to let her borrow, and then Lucian mounted his own steed. “I told her my pride wouldn’t be salvaged unless I had the opportunity to trounce you since you boasted you could beat me. And I vowed that this race would be the secret of my family.”
“You must’ve said something else,” she insisted, giving him a suspicious look.
He laughed and threw up his hands. “All right. I told her I would consider it a personal favor if she let you race.”
Emma nodded, and her hair fell over her right cheek. He barely resisted the urge to push it back. “You’ve done it now,” she vowed. “Mother will demand repayment of the favor. Just you wait and see.”
“Are you two going to chitchat the day away or are we going to race?” Nick demanded, bringing his horse in line with Lucian’s.
Lucian glanced to Emma, and when she grinned at him, his heart tripped and the truth hit him hard. He wasn’t trying to keep Nathaniel away from her. He was entranced by her, and it suddenly seemed of little consequence to him whether she brought havoc into his life or not. For now, he welcomed it. “Race now—”
“And chat later,” Emma finished.
He returned her infectious grin with one of his own, and when he moved his gaze to his cousin, he found Nick gawking at him. “What?”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you grin,” Nick said.
Lucian’s gaze found Emma’s once more. “I never felt like grinning before.”
His cousin chuckled. “It should be simple to best you both. Neither of you have your mind on the race.”
