Page 61 of Unraveled By the Duke
“I thought you might. Though perhaps you are not so much a rake as you would like the world to believe?” Celia joked.
She was surprised when he tensed. She felt the muscles of his arm stiffen, looked up, and saw it in the line of his jaw.
“I do not take kindly to being the subject of jest,” he said coldly.
Celia threw her hands up in exasperation, releasing her hold. “Then I do not know how to speak to you. I make jests, and sometimes they are made at the person to whom I am speaking. A foible or a mannerism. I do not mean it unkindly!”
I’ll be hanged if I am going to tread on eggshells around this prickly man. He needs to trim his spines.
“I cannot think of another way to take it,” Alexander shot back.
The cab pulled up, and the driver leaned down to unlatch the door and swing it open. Celia pulled down the retractable steps and ascended without waiting for Alexander’s help.
“Difficult one, eh, guv’nor?” the driver said with a chortle.
“Concentrate on driving,” Alexander said, hauling himself inside and slamming the door shut.
Celia kept her gaze out of the window as Alexander settled into his seat. She felt the carriage rock with the force of the impact, but she refused to flinch.
Let him be angry. It is entirely his own doing. The man does not have a sense of humor!
But then she remembered the story he had told of the ambush on the Thames at a Frost Fair. Of being assaulted by a tree and ending up in a snow drift. She glanced at him and found him watching her. She allowed the shadow of a smile on her face. Alexander reached out, placing a hand on hers.
She stroked his hand with her thumb. His skin was slightly calloused, as though he did some manual labor. She wondered what that could be. Then, the carriage rocked, and he slid across his seat so that his body pressed against hers. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding himself steady against the carriage wall so that he did not crush her.
The paper rustled at that moment, moved by the motion of his body against hers.
“Why does your dress rustle so?” he asked.
She shifted to the seat opposite his, turning so that her arm was against the back of the seat and out of his reach. He raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything further.
Celia felt her face redden, but she also held her tongue.
This is not the way to make him less prickly, but I do not want him to become suspicious of me once more. I sense he is starting to trust me, though he clearly does not want me to get close to him. I would not undo that in one moment.
As they rode in silence, Celia found herself regretting the need to distance herself from Alexander. She enjoyed his touch, even yearned for it. Did he yearn for her, though?
CHAPTER 19
Celia stifled a loud yawn with her hand as Aurelia paced the floor. She sat at the window, drinking sweet tea in a bid to rouse herself.
Aurelia held the scandal sheet in her hand, reading aloud.
“Listen to this part, Celia.We must speculate, along with certain individuals who shall remain nameless for fear of retaliation by the wealthy Earl of Scovell, about the reasons for Lady Celia’s disappearance from the family home for months. Sources close to the family say that this was for the purpose of relieving a condition into which Lady Celia had fallen.”
She looked up at that word, outrage on her face.
“Note their use of the wordfallen. It is blatant insinuation without stating a single fact, and therefore exposing themselves to libel!”
“I know, Aurelia. They speculate that I went away because of a condition I had fallen into, which was quietly alleviated with time. You have read it to me twice now. I already learned it by heart.”
Aurelia plopped down next to her sister, causing the tea to slosh in the cup. “It is outrageous! This kind of innuendo could do incalculable harm. What does the Duke think of it?”
“I have not told him,” Celia admitted.
“Celia!” Aurelia exclaimed. “Is that wise? When he eventually finds out, he may suspect you of keeping it secret.”
“That is precisely my concern.” Celia yawned again. “I do not yet know how to navigate this problem. I would like to know who their sources are, though. They seem to know that I went away, though they have the reason all wrong.”
