Page 43 of Cinderella's Charade With the Duke
‘I…’ she began and then glanced down at their interlaced hands. How long had she wanted this? To be cared for, to have someone look at her as if she was their world, to have…a manwho adored her and a family. And, yet it wasn’t real, not really, but could it be? Could this be real?
‘Because you are the best of men, William,’ she said quietly. Her eyes welled and she met his gaze. The words were true and yet still a lie, and confusion overwhelmed her. ‘I know the situation is impossible and I wish—’ she began, but he reached up and cupped her cheek in a soft caress, turning her face to his. The softness in his eyes and acceptance there made her breath catch.
And then before she could say or do anything else, he kissed the life out of her. His mouth came down hard on her own, his lips commanding and yet soft, and she felt herself tumbling through the air into some other world far beyond anything she had read in any book.
He pulled her into his arms and his warmth cocooned her. Her arms slid around his torso, his muscles rippling beneath the fabric of his thin tunic. His body shuddered under her touch and she thought it was the most magical feeling in the world. To be wanted, desired, and cherished all at once. She felt like the little cinder girl with the power of a woman for the first time and it was intoxicating.
Too soon, he pulled away, resting his forehead against her own, his breaths shallow and uneven. ‘I am afraid, I must cease, my lady,’ he said his voice husky and low. ‘Or I may cease to be a gentleman. You have me undone.’
Hattie’s stomach flipped and she bit her lip. She didn’t trust herself, so she nodded in agreement, running a palm down his cheek. She was quite undone, too.
‘Shall we break our fast?’ he asked. ‘Then I will join you and Millie for a walk about the lake.’
‘Sounds wonderful,’ she said, finally gathering the courage to speak.
He rose and pulled her up alongside him. She fit perfectly in the crook of his arm. He pressed a kiss to her temple before he stepped out of the embrace. His hand slid down her arm and clutched her hand, squeezing it gently before letting go. Hattie released a shuddering breath and smiled at him as she headed for the dining room. Her step was wobbly as if she were a newborn colt, the rush of feeling alive upsetting her balance.
She had set them on a course she couldn’t control as it was only a matter of time before he regained his memory. She only hoped there wouldn’t be too much damage, but her heart knew far better. They were headed to disaster.
But for now, it would be blissful and she would capture it for as long as she could. As Ophelia would say, what was one’s life without adventure? This held the promise of being an adventure in spades and she would claim it until it shattered, for if life had taught her anything it was that it could change in an instant.
Chapter Seventeen
William followed behind Penelope and his daughter, entranced by the sweet ease between them. Penelope showed Millie flowers, animals and other curiosities as they walked and he found himself relaxing, the tension loosening from his shoulders.
Although his daughter didn’t answer any of Penelope’s questions with words, her eyes sparkled as she nodded, pointed, or laughed, and soon they had travelled half the distance of the lake without him saying a single word to them. Millie ran over to the lake’s edge and looked for a smooth stone as Penelope instructed and Penelope stood by watching. He settled in beside her.
‘Have you always had such ease with her?’ he asked.
‘It took some time for her to get used to me, but she is eager to learn and love. She is a treasure.’ Her smile was bright and brilliant and the sunlight captured the soft caramel and rich browns of her irises. Tiny gold flecks danced in them and he couldn’t steal his gaze away.
‘What?’ she asked, a faint blush rising to her cheeks.
‘You are absolutely enchanting, my lady,’ he said. ‘And I find it hard to look anywhere else.’
And he meant it. His words weren’t flattery or full of empty promises. Despite himself, he found himself bewitched by her kindness and acceptance of him, his situation, and for the care she gave his daughter, especially when he was so lacking now. He reached out his hand, his thumb skimming along the edge of her palm as he wrapped his fingers around her own, a skittering fire resounding in his blood. Was this what love felt like? Or was this a heady attraction born of baser desire? Ironically, he didn’t know and he surely couldn’t ask, could he?
Millie rushed to them and held out a perfectly smooth stone to him and smiled. His stomach turned as this was the first time she’d come to him this way since his accident and he released his hold on Penelope’s hand. His daughter smiled and thrust it towards him again and then pointed to the lake. He stood, uncertain, but smiled and thanked her, accepting the stone from her small, soft fingers, still slick from the water of the lake.
He closed his palm around it and a rush of emotion captured him. What was his life before? Did they run along the shore together or cuddle for afternoon naps? What he wouldn’t give to remember. He cursed himself and his body’s weakness.
Penelope leaned close and whispered into his ear, ‘She wishes for you to skip stones along the water. It was one of your favourite things to do together, aside from nightly bedtime stories.’
‘Ah,’ he replied. ‘Was I any good at it?’
‘Quite, actually,’ she cooed before stepping back.
‘I was afraid you might say that,’ he replied.
He studied the lake, his pulse picking up speed, as if this were a competition and great hopes were pinned to his success, which in a way it was. Would he be able to do it? He wanted to live up to his daughter’s expectations of him, even if it was only how far he could skip rocks along the surface of a lake. He opened his palm,looking at the flat tan rock, wishing the stone within it could remind him exactly how to do such.
Sadly, it said nothing.
‘Let your mind go and see if your body remembers. You might surprise yourself, Your Grace,’ she said with a wink. Evidently she could read his discomfort like a gossip sheet.
He smiled and chuckled. ‘Fine idea.’ He tossed the stone into the air, caught it and followed Millie to the water’s edge.
Millie clapped her hands in glee and he put on the most serious face he could, studying the water, and pretending to stretch out his shoulder. She giggled and his heart swelled in his chest. Her laughter was effervescent and he wished to bottle it.
