Page 18 of Tamed By a Duke
"Thank you, your Grace," Charlotte said with forced gaiety, before tripping down the steps of Ashfield House, to where the barouche was waiting by the footpath. Inside the gleaming vehicle, Lady Anne, Penrith's sister, awaited them, with a welcoming smile upon her face.
"Charmed, Miss Drew," Lady Anne called, as Charlotte clambered inside the carriage. Lady Anne had the same aristocratic features as her brother; high-boned, with a nose that could only be described as noble, and piercing blue eyes. Unlike her brother, however, Lady Anne had no airs of haughtiness, and seemed like a perfectly pleasant woman.
"Do take a seat," she instructed Charlotte, waving to the empty seat on the bench opposite her.
Charlotte slid onto the upholstered bench and waited for Helga to alight the carriage. She had hoped that her Valkyrie might sit beside her, but no such luck. Lady Anne patted the cushion beside her, to indicate where Helga should sit, so that the only seat left for Penrith was the one next to Charlotte.
"Off we go," Penrith said cheerfully, as he deposited himself on the bench.
He was, Charlotte thought mournfully, a very large man. The duke's athletic, muscular frame took up an obstinate amount of space and Charlotte felt dwarfed by him. There was nowhere she could turn and not feel his presence, and his legs had already accidentally brushed against hers twice.
Charlotte felt a little dizzy and overwhelmed by Penrith's sheer mass, until she looked up and caught sight of Helga's strict gaze. The Swede's disapproving eyes were not directed at Charlotte—for once—but rather at Penrith. She was quite terrifying.
"Is she always so jolly?" Penrith whispered in her ear, as the carriage made its way through the streets of London, toward Hyde Park.
"Are you frightened of a mere lady's maid, your Grace?" Charlotte whispered back innocently, before turning her head to Lady Anne and engaging her in pleasantries. The feel of Penrith's breath tickling her ear had sent her heart racing, and though Charlotte knew that she should try and draw Penrith in to encourage him further, she found that she could not. The strange power that he held over her was new and frightening, and Charlotte longed for the safety and comfort of home.
The duke's sister was quite the conversationalist, and as the barouche arrived at Hyde Park Corner, she had already exhausted several different topics of conversation.
"Goodness," Lady Anne said with a laugh, as the barouche began its trip along the Row, "I have monopolised the whole conversation. Hugh always says that I let my mouth run away with me, and now here I am proving him right."
Charlotte protested politely against Lady Anne's words. While it was true that she had chattered non-stop from Grosvenor Square to Piccadilly, without her talk Charlotte feared that the entire journey would have been made up of strained silences.
She cast a sidelong glance at Penrith, who was glancing about the carriage at the other riders on the Row. Charlotte had not known that his given name was Hugh; one of their footmen bore the same moniker and the other staff referred to him affectionately as "Shug". The idea of addressing the aloof Penrith as such was so ludicrous that for a moment Charlotte almost laughed.
Penrith, perhaps sensing her gaze, turned his eyes toward Charlotte and the laugh that was bubbling within quickly died. His eyes, blue as the spring sky above them, were almost challenging, as if he had read her thoughts.
I dare you, they seemed to say.
Charlotte, who had never been one to back down from a challenge, found that she struggled to maintain her composure, as she held his gaze. Warmth spread across her face and she knew that she must be blushing furiously, but still she did not look away.
"I would dearly like to know what it is that you are thinking," Penrith said softly, the first one to break.
Charlotte, buoyed that she had won their game, felt suddenly brave.
"I was wondering—as I have just learned your given name—if anyone has ever dared to call you Shug?"
The duke's eyebrows rose so high in surprise, that they were in danger of disappearing into his hairline altogether. It appeared that Penrith was not a man who was accustomed to being teased, and nor, from the scowl on his face, did it appear that he liked it.
"No one," the duke replied pompously, "Would ever dare to eventhinkabout doing such a thing."
"What a pity," Charlotte replied breezily, unbowed by his glunch of sour disdain, "For I think it would be darling."
"I have no interest in adopting darling monikers," Penrith bristled, "I am a duke."
"And a duke cannot possibly be anything else except his title?" Charlotte questioned, "Surely even the Prince Regent allows himself an afternoon off from being the monarch?"
"Prinny allows himself plenty of time off," Penrith shot back, with another dark scowl, "And look how well that has worked out for his subjects. My title comes with responsibilities; I am a duke from the moment I rise, until the minute my head touches the pillow at night."
"Meaning you are only free in your dreams," Charlotte replied lightly, a little taken-aback by Penrith's ferocity.
"Yes," the duke harrumphed, "And I would not waste those precious moments on dreaming of being called 'Shug'. There are far more titillating scenarios I would prefer to fill my dreams with, Miss Drew."
Penrith bestowed upon Charlotte a glance so smouldering, that she could not fail to understand his innuendo. Her face burned with embarrassment—coupled with some other, deliciously unfamiliar feeling—and this time she was the first of the two to avert her gaze.
She had won the battle, but he would win the war, she thought nervously, as the carriage continued on its journey. Perhaps she had been a fool to think that she might outwit the suave and assured Duke of Penrith.
A tense silence fell between the pair, whilst Lady Anne continued on her chatter, occasionally waving at acquaintances in passing vehicles. Charlotte could feel Penrith's thigh, pressed against her own, taut and hard, as though he too was struggling with the tension between them.
