Page 69 of The Duke Who Loved Me (The Duke's Estates 1)

At last she met his eyes. “You can’t bear to see them flinch.”

James could not deny it. “Well, can you? Could anyone?”

“A good many people, I’m afraid. But not me. You’re right.”

“Well, we care nothing for those others.”

The tender look she gave him then nearly destroyed his control. His hand rose of its own accord, reaching for her. How had he failed to see what she meant to him for so long? “Cecelia.”

“I think Ned could be a fine tailor,” she said.

“That was a good idea.”

“I have them now and then.” It was her old teasing tone.

“I have never said you did not.”

“What about the time…”

“Cecelia.” He repeated, moving closer. “I have been thinking about you nearly every moment since we last met.”

She flushed.

“I hope that you had also… That you enjoyed it as much as I…” It felt as if the words were actual objects tangling his tongue, which had never happened to him before.

“I did.”

The simple phrase loosed all bounds. They moved irresistibly together and into the sort of kiss that had flamed in James’s memory since that day. She was soft and eager in his arms. He was wild with desire. Their bodies strove to melt into one.

“That is very much enough of that,” said a scandalized voice from the doorway.

They jumped apart and whirled.

“Great heavens.”

“Aunt Valeria!” exclaimed Cecelia. “What are you…? How did you find me?”

“How?” The plump blond woman looked exasperated. “I followed you, Cecelia. Which was not at all difficult to do. Your absences have been noticed by the servants, you know. And although the staff revere you, your maid thought it best to mention them to me. Rightly so.” She let out an irritated breath.

Cecelia glanced at James. “I didn’t see…”

“Of course you did not see me,” interrupted her aunt. “I took care that you should not. That is how I lost track of you when you ducked into the alleyway behind this extraordinary house. Ducked into the alleyway, Cecelia! Do you hear the impropriety of that phrase? Does it have any effect on you? I found my way back and inside, lingering in the…disorder across the hallway to make my observations.”

“Miss Vainsmede,” began James.

She held up an admonitory hand, walked into the room, and turned in a circle, surveying the jumbled clothing before facing Cecelia again. “I have always trusted you to show good judgment,” she continued. “I thought you were an intelligent, level-headed girl. And so I have never been a strict chaperone. But this is too much. Slipping off secretly to meet Tereford! Clandestine embraces.” She looked around again. “Unacceptable. As well as inexplicable. It’s not as if he is Romeo and you Juliet. He can call on you at home.”

“Miss Vainsmede,” James tried again. A rat flashed past the open doorway; a large fierce-looking cat followed it down the corridor in hot pursuit. There was a clatter of falling objects.

A wordless exclamation escaped Cecelia.

Her aunt marched up to James and fixed him with a jaundiced gaze. “I am not one to criticize eccentricity, Tereford. Pot and kettle and so on. You are free to do as you like. However mad. But I will not allow you to involve Cecelia in…whatever it is you’re doing here.” She shook her head muttering, “A servants’ costume ball?”

James wanted to say that he and Cecelia were engaged to be married. But Miss Vainsmede’s inopportune arrival had prevented him from verifying this. Of course they were, with the way she’d kissed him. But he’d gone too fast the last time he’d proposed. He couldn’t make such an announcement without speaking to Cecelia.

He tried to judge her thoughts from her expression. If she gave him some signal. But he could not be sure what she wished him to do.

“And I must say, abandoning polite society, which you purportedly enjoyed, to live in squalor is a bit much,” said Miss Vainsmede. She frowned at him. “Could you find no other way of being a mystery?”

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