Page 39 of What Desire Demands, My Duke

“Tiresome?” Elizabeth gasped and Minnie’s cheeks colored.

“Forgive me, My Lady! I did not mean to say that!”

“No, it is quite fine,” Elizabeth said hurriedly. “I am not upset with you, only taken aback. I did not think I was being tiresome but…perhaps you are right.”

It would only make sense, now that I think about it. After all, I have appeared suddenly declaring that not only have I been searching for him for the past seven years, but that I have no intentions of leaving, even though he wants me to. Anyone would find me tiresome!

Shame washed over Elizabeth like a roaring wave and she fell silent. She could feel Minnie’s furtive glances, and knew very well that the girl was anxious about Elizabeth’s quietness.

How could I have been so foolish? Of course he will not want to see me if I hound him every second. Had it been the other way around, I would have felt the same way.

That last thought echoed with a twinge of doubt. Elizabeth wouldn’t have felt the same way. If William had appeared suddenly after being gone for seven years, Elizabeth would have welcomed him with open arms. She would have been brought back to the day he’d first told her that he loved her, under the sycamore tree at her family’s country estate. She’d been ten-and-six at the time, preparing to have her debut within a few years. Elizabeth remembered how little all that had mattered to her when she’d finally heard those three perfect words, when she’d finally felt pieces of her heart meld with his to become one.

If William had done what she did, Elizabeth would not have pushed him away but would have loved him as if no time had passed at all. She couldn’t blame him if he could not do the same.

At that moment, there came a knock on the door and Minnie hurried to open it. Maids filtered into the room, bearing trays of Elizabeth’s breakfast, and laid them out on the table, resting the remaining plate on a dumbwaiter brought in by one of the maids. Elizabeth took care to thank them all.

Once they were gone, Elizabeth tried to lift her spirits a bit more, not wanting Minnie to be uncomfortable. She offered to share her meal with the lady’s maid and was wholly unsurprised when she declined. So, for the remainder of the meal, they engaged in light conversation, talking mainly about Minnie and her family, which was spurred on by Elizabeth’s questions.

She wanted to distract herself from the lingering embarrassment she felt regarding her conduct towards William, but that emotion merely lingered in the back of her mind and ate away at her. When next she saw him, Elizabeth made a vow that she would not let herself become the clingy lady he’d been so misfortunate to meet again.

Chapter 10

“You are simply out of your mind; do you know that?”

Elizabeth gasped and twirled at William’s voice, her hand flying to the base of her throat. Though there were a few feet of distance between them, William saw the way her cheeks colored, her parted lips drawing his attention. For a moment, he was distracted from what he was going to say, feeling a stab of longing at the lovely lips he so badly wanted to capture with his own.

“William!” Elizabeth exclaimed. Her shock faded as a wide and excited smile stretched across her face. In that moment, she almost seemed like a child again, like she would take to jumping up at down in her exuberance. “You’ve returned earlier than you said you would!”

“Clearly,” William drawled. He crossed his arms and planted his feet, trying to resist the urge to bridge the distance between them. They were standing in the last place he’d expected to find her—the stables. “Why are you here again, Beth? Do you enjoy fainting at the sight of horses?”

Her smile didn’t diminish. If anything, it stretched even wider. Elizabeth’s grin was fast making his knees grow weak, bringing back tender emotions that he’d long since tucked away. She shook her head as a wafting breeze lifted strands of her blond hair around her face. “It is quite the opposite, you see,” she said.

William couldn’t resist the urge any longer. He drew closer, his steps a slow swagger that belied his yearning. He’d returned earlier than he’d expected to from his trip and the moment he’d stepped into the manor, he’d inquired about Elizabeth’s whereabouts. He’d told himself that it was simply to understand where his guest was, for whatever purpose that might serve. But once he’d heard that she was once again in the stables, he’d made a beeline for her.

To fight the feelings rising in him, he focused his attention on the horse standing before Elizabeth. It was the same one she’d nearly fallen off of just a few days ago. Worry nipped him at the sight of the calm horse, but it didn’t overshadow the heat skittering across his skin at being so close to her. This overwhelming emotion—it scared him a little.

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