Page 18 of The Duke of Desire
Chapter Four
After an invigorating morning grouse hunting, West decided to head downstairs to see what the afternoon’s entertainments might include. Or maybe he just wanted to see if Miss Breckenridge was about.
She hadn’t come to dinner last night, but then neither had several of the people who’d been on yesterday’s walk. The sudden rainstorm had likely forced them to take to their beds. He hoped she wasn’t ill. Her employer, Lady Dunn, had been at dinner and the gaming tables, but his efforts to overhear any comment she might’ve made about her companion had been wasted. She hadn’t mentioned Miss Breckenridge once while he’d been around. He’d ultimately surrendered his task and had gone to the gentlemen’s parlor.
As he reached the top of the stairs, he saw a game of blind man’s buff underway down in the hall. All the young unmarried people were playing, as well as a few married folks who were undoubtedly serving as chaperones.
Two ladies were sitting off to the side—Miss Kirkland with her leg elevated on a stool, certainly due to yesterday’s mishap on the walk—and Miss Breckenridge. She sat next to Miss Kirkland and watched the game. Viscount Townsend, a young buck with a quick smile and an even faster opinion, was currently blindfolded. As he stumbled around, arms extended, trying to find a target, everyone dashed out of his way. With the exception of the pretty Miss Forth-Hodges who seemed as though she wanted to be caught.
West descended the staircase and stood on the last step watching the action. Townsend finally found his quarry, and it was, in fact, Miss Forth-Hodges. She giggled as he ran his hands over her face. West noted that his fingertips seemed to linger against her lips.
“I do believe this is Miss Forth-Hodges,” Townsend said.
Everyone erupted in laughter, and he swept off the blindfold with a grin. “Your turn.” His gaze seemed to convey something rather…intimate, if West wasn’t mistaken. And he rarely was when it came to such matters. Townsend handed her the blindfold.
Miss Forth-Hodges accepted the length of black silk. “Thank you.” She turned and went to Miss Breckenridge. The two conversed for a moment, and West was desperate to know what they were talking about.
Axbridge ambled over to the staircase where West was leaning against the newel post. “Are you going to play?”
“I can’t believe you are,” West said.
Axbridge’s blond brows climbed his forehead. “And miss the opportunity to grope young women?”
West smiled faintly and shook his head. “Not even I’m that indecent.”
“I beg to differ, but in any case, I was jesting.”
“Not entirely, I’m sure.”
Axbridge laughed. “Come on, it’s an amusing way to spend the afternoon.”
West saw Miss Breckenridge stand. She tied the blindfold around Miss Forth-Hodges’s head and spun her around three times. Then, instead of returning to her seat, she moved quickly away from Miss Forth-Hodges. If she was playing, West would too.
“All right,” he said to Axbridge. “If you insist.”
“Excellent.”
West stepped down onto the marble floor and easily evaded Miss Forth-Hodges. She moved around slowly, her arms outstretched. Laughter and taunts filled the air as everyone worked to keep away from her. Then people began to get cheeky as they pushed one another toward the blindfolded young woman. This was met with even greater laughter and more excessive movement as people dashed this way and that.
Miss Breckenridge sidestepped the young Mr. Travill, the adult son of the Travills. Then her gaze found West’s, and she didn’t look away. Neither did he.
She was stunning—those vivid green eyes of hers delving deep into his and stirring a most inconvenient arousal. Her red-gold hair was still captured in that scrupulously severe style, but today a lone strand had escaped. The wispy tendril caressed the side of her face, and he longed to be that length of hair.
The moment broke when Miss Forth-Hodges grabbed Miss Breckenridge from behind. “Aha!” she declared, her hands immediately reaching for her captive’s face.
Except she met her upswept hair. How West wished he could wrap his fingers in the rich, silken mass.
Miss Breckenridge looked alarmed, her eyes widening and her lips parting. “Should I—” She snapped her mouth shut and briefly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, West saw the irritation in her gaze.
“I recognize that voice,” Miss Forth-Hodges said gleefully. “Miss Breckenridge!”
“Is that her name?” someone asked from somewhere nearby. Of course they wouldn’t necessarily know her since she was a companion. Still, it annoyed West. Everyone should know her name. Or at least not talk about her as if she was of no consequence.
“Yes,” Miss Breckenridge said quietly.
Smiling, Miss Forth-Hodges untied the blindfold and removed it from her head. “It’s your turn next. Are you ready?”
Miss Breckenridge’s mouth tightened. She looked distinctly uncomfortable, but she nodded. West longed to put himself in her path, but he didn’t dare. Rather, he stayed on the periphery as Miss Forth-Hodges tied the black silk around Miss Breckenridge’s eyes. The sight of her with the blindfold, her pink lips parted, stirred West’s lust in a most inopportune manner. He reined in his body lest it betray his arousal.
