Chapter 10
Walk Under Shadows
Leo had nothing particular against promenades.
It was a delightful way to waste your time, walking in perfect posture as others watched you.
It was even less pleasant with a seething lady on your arm, her vigilant maid in tow as a chaperone.
Still, Kensington Park did its due diligence to look magnificent and conspired with the weather to make the day memorable. For everyone else but Prim.
“You are hard to please, Miss Primrose,” he commented after an extended bout of silence.
“I assure you I am pleased,” Prim clipped.
Leo laughed heartily.
“I would hate to see you displeased.”
“Keep up with that tone, and you will soon find out.”
“Your threat is noted.”
“More as a challenge, I suspect,” Prim looked ahead.
Leo looked down at the woman wrapped reluctantly around his arm. Her perfectly shaped eyebrows were permanently scowled, and her lips a thin line. He preferred her lips to be like they were last night. Soft, pliant, testing.
Leo thought of that kiss. Oh, he had kissed a lot. In shadows, in seedy rooms and bars, opera dressing rooms. If he thought hard enough, he had probably kissed on that terrace in one of Edwin’s house parties before his friend found his happiness.
But not one of the kisses before felt like a conquest. He relished the way Prim gave up slowly in his arms, the fact that this was obviously her first kiss, that he took as much as she gave.
“My investigation bore fruit,” Leo dropped suddenly.
He was in need of an immediate change of subject because his mind was winding down to paths that would test his restraint. Prim looked up and suddenly her fierceness dissolved into hope and fear at the same time.
“Did you find who was behind the sheet?”
Leo opened his mouth, but another couple passed them by and stared at them so openly that Leo bowed and kept his mouth shut.
The woman turned a wicked eye onto Prim, a gesture that had much to do with the dreadful sheet and the rumors around it.
Or the fact that Prim looked exquisite in this shade of pink, while the woman looked positively dreadful.
“Let’s head this way,” Leo led Prim into a path less frequented.
Prim looked at the couple retreating with a sad look. She needed that nasty business resolved as much as he did. Perhaps even more.
“This is distressing,” Prim said to herself, mostly with a sad look, her look lingering on the retreating couple.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Leo said. “That shade of pink looked absolutely hideous on her. And to parade that in Kensington Gardens on such a lovely day.”
Prim chuckled, her discomfort alleviated, a fact that brought some levity to Leo as well. Which was strange. Leo didn’t feel anything but mild annoyance at the looks he and Prim got on this walk. Why would the sound of Prim’s laughter make his shoulders relax?
“So, Your Grace,” Prim said, looking up at him. “Tell me what you found out.”
Leo’s look got darker even under the sun dancing between the leaves. He owed Prim an honest answer, but that meant sharing more than he would like.
“Your Grace?”
“I traced the author of the article. It is someone a lot closer than I’d like.”
Prim frowned. Leo continued as the gravel was the only sound around them.
“I suspected as much, but still… One reserves the right to hope that reality is not as foul.”
Leo inhaled and steeled his face. He looked down at Prim, who had slowed her pace as if she knew that the situation affected Leo.
“The one behind the sheet is a member of my family,” Leo deadpanned.
Prim brought her palm to her mouth in shock. Leo saw realization dawn upon her, and she looked at him with a mixture of surprise and empathy. She didn’t have the most loving of families, but at least hers didn’t go around backstabbing her while dragging innocent people through the mud.
“It is either my mother or my half-brother,” Leo said with a tight jaw. “They didn’t pen the article but paid good money for someone to do so.”
“Are… Are you sure?”
Leo smiled at her heart that was not as cold as she projected. She still held on to the idea that one’s family wouldn’t plot his downfall with such devious means.
“I was sure the moment I read the sheet. It’s the evidence that eludes me,” Leo’s look got even darker.
He was sure that it was his half-brother, Aaron, who spent good money to destroy the reputation of a young lady just to stain his name, to humiliate him. Purely out of spite. And his own mother, the mother they shared, either knew and allowed it or aided him.
“So, at the Opera…” Prim’s thoughts trailed off.
It was his turn to frown. His palms turned to fists as he remembered how his family circled around Prim at the Opera, like sharks smelling blood.
“You were trying to warn me,” Prim said, looking ahead in realization.
“Of course. Both can be so deceiving. And you are too kind for your own good sometimes. Except when it comes to me. I feel privileged, really.”
Prim didn’t react to his joke. That was concerning. He was expecting at least a ‘you deserve it’. A suspicion grew that Prim might have misunderstood his intention when he uttered that warning that night.
“Miss Primrose, what is it that you thought I was trying to do?”
“Not important.” Prim shook her head.
“I beg to differ.”
“How are you feeling, Your Grace?” Prim’s voice reached him through the darkness.
He was almost startled as he looked down at the young lady tangled in his mess. She should have by all means be mad at him, accused him of costing her all these menacing glances while he was safe behind his gender, title and wealth. But her first reaction was to think of him.
“Outstanding deflection technique,” Leo leaned and smiled. “I will be excellent once I have proof and let the ton know,” Leo said with cold determination. “Now, I have made my report. Your turn.”
“My turn?”
“You got your own goal, do you not? Securing a husband?”
“Oh, that.”
“Oh, that? I hope you are pursuing the endeavor with more fervor than a mere oh that.”
Prim glared at him in that way that was both harsh and cute at the same time. She looked as if she were a kitten showing her nails. But Leo knew that she could become a fierce cat if she felt threatened.
“Not much progress in this department. There had been callers of course, but nothing close to securing a proposal. Except for the Duke of Greyhaven, of course.”
“Of course,” Leo bit down. “How was his visit today? Riveting, I suspect.”
Prim raised an eyebrow with a warning smile. There was the fierce big cat.
“I find His Grace’s frankness refreshing. And easy. I do not have to wonder what he is thinking at any given moment. He obliges by simply telling me.”
“Ah. An easy life,” Leo mocks. “The dream of any young lady.”
“You underestimate clarity, Your Grace. It is… almost artistic.”
Leo broke down laughing, genuine tears pooling at the sides of his eyes.
“What constitutes artistic for Greyhaven is a perfectly balanced quarterly report.”
“I realize you thrive in chaos,” Prim said with a cold smile. “But sensible adults prefer order.”
“Sensible. I am sure he had a list of topics to discuss. Point One: Ensure prospect wife understands the heating schedule in the east wing.”
“He doesn’t need a list. He is completely competent in expressing himself.”
“Barely.”
“He says only what he needs to. He said that we were compatible.”
“Sensible and compatible. I am sure you swooned right there.”
“Swooning is a ridiculous sentiment,” Prim said resolutely. “And in his way, the Duke is perfectly capable of making a woman swoon.”
“I can hardly believe that.”
“On behalf of women, Your Grace, I would like to enlighten you on a matter you might find puzzling but quite educational too. You don’t need to be a charming rake to make a woman swoon. Shocking, I know.”
Leo’s smile faded immediately. He stopped so abruptly that Prim almost stumbled. She looked up to him, her sarcastic expression morphed into surprise. The playful glint in his eyes sharpened into a predatory look. He leaned in, closing the distance between them more than propriety dictated.
“Is that so?”
“All I am saying is that some women they prefer substance to style.”
If looks could kill. Prim would be lying on the thick grass as tragic, beautiful corpse.
“Tell me, Miss P.J.,” his voice dropped into a soothing purr. “Does he make your breath catch?”
Leo notices with satisfaction that her breath did exactly that as Prim looked at his eyes like a startled doe.
“Do your knees forget how to stand?” His voice lowered into a rough whisper. “Does he make you forget every sensible, compatible thought till all that exists is the space between your lips?”
Leo leaned in closer, his eyes dropping to her lips. Prim’s chest was struggling to control her breathing, and without thinking, she bit her lower lip. If he just-
“Leo!”
The voice fell like cold water on them both, shocking them apart. Leo looked up only to find Edwin and Abigail, arm in arm and with a wide smile on their faces.
“How lovely to meet you!” Abigail’s enthusiasm was evident in her bright eyes.
Leo was less enthusiastic about the ill-timed interruption.
“What an unexpected…delight,” he deadpanned.
“I am sure your walk has been… delightful,” Edwin said pointedly.
The two men have been friends and partners in crime for way too long. It was virtually impossible for Leo to hide from Edwin, who looked at him with amusement. The women linked arms and smiled at each other.
“Well, why haven’t I thought of that?” Abigail lamented. “We could have arranged a picnic, the four of us.”
Prim was still struggling to catch up with reality. Going from losing her composure and biting her lip to exchanging pleasantries was a complete change of pace. Leo watched her as she beamed at Abigail, the Duchess’s smile warm enough to be infectious.
“It is very interesting to see you so invested in this…endeavor,” Edwin whispered.