Page 33 of The Duchess' Ultimatum
“Perfect timing!” Barbara cried out, laughing gaily as she did. “We were just now saying that it was time for some desert.”
Dorian breathed a sigh of relief, able to once again slip back into his stream of conscience without fear of being called out.
There was no point lying to himself anymore. Dorian was attracted to his wife, and the thought of helping her to conceive a child was no longer the trial it once felt like. That just made things infinitely more complex than he wanted them.
He was still convinced he did not want to grow closer to his wife, and he feared that if he gave in to his urges that Penelope might misread them and want more. But he also had no choice! He had made a deal, and he could not back down on it.
It is a tough spot to be in… while not being nearly so bad as I am trying to make myself believe.His eyes flicked over her once more.No… not nearly so bad at all.
There was one thing that Dorian knew, however, and that was how much he liked seeing his sister come out of her shell with Penelope. It was something he could get used to, and something he wanted to see more of.
For that reason, an idea came to mind suddenly. A means by which he might be able to play both sides of his attraction and the urge to deny it, testing the waters so that perhaps an answer would become clear to him.
He smiled as the idea formed. Knowing the danger, but excited for it all the same.
Dessert was served soon after, eaten quickly, at which point Barbara yawned ostentatiously, claiming that the wine had made her sleepy. She excused herself a moment later, the faintest of smirks visible on her face.
“I shall leave you alone, shall I?” Her eyebrows lifted.
“Good night, Barbara,” Dorian said to her. “Try not to trip up the stairs on the way to bed.”
Penelope laughed at the joke and again Dorian could not help but concede how much he liked the sound. Just as he liked the way it made him feel.
“I presume you are off to bed also?” he asked her, once they were alone.
“It seems I should be…” She affected a yawn and stretched her arms.
Dorian hesitated, thinking through his plan and what he meant to do. It might be taken the wrong way, and considering he still thought it was best not to get too close to Penelope, he knew it was not the smartest of ideas. But it was for his sister… and he hung onto that notion.
“Might I walk you to your room?” he asked simply.
Penelope was halfway out of her chair when she froze. Her eyes widened and he clearly saw the flush that reached her cheeks. “My… my room?”
“Yes,” he said simply, feigning apathy. “I shall walk you. I would hate for you to get lost on the way.”
She considered the question. He could see her unpacking the implications. And then, ever so subtly, a small smile touched her lips and a daring expression took her face.She thinks I am joking.“I would like that very much. I would so hate to get lost.”
“Wonderful.” Dorian rose from behind his seat, walked to where she stood, and offered his arm. “Shall we?”
Her eyes widened further as she eyed his arm. She swallowed nervously. A quick glance about them as if searching for a means of escape. “Y – yes. We shall.” She swallowed again and linked her arm through his.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Did you enjoy supper?” Dorian asked Penelope as they started from the dining room together.
“Wh – what?” Penelope wasn’t paying attention, her mind, her thoughts, in other places.Dangerous places…
“Supper,” Dorian repeated. “Did you enjoy it?”
“Oh. Yes.” She forced herself to focus, needing to keep her mind from straying to the obvious. That being, why was Dorian walking her to her room? What did he want? And most importantly, what did she want?
“Barbara clearly did,” he said with a smile that was honest. “Truthfully, I can’t remember the last time she left her room for supper. And I certainly can’t remember the last time I saw her enjoy herself like she did.”
“I am glad.”
Penelope knew her response to be lame, that she should have offered an elaboration on the point, anything to keep the conversation flowing rather than letting it descend into awkward silence as it ended in doing.
But she was finding it impossible to focus.
