Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Miss? Are you sure you would not like to promenade with the duke? He has just left after enquiring on your wellbeing. He seemed rather disappointed.”
Nora sighed, refusing to take her eyes off the open book in her lap.
“Did he really? Or did he seem annoyed? It is hard to tell with his expressionless face sometimes,” she mumbled, loud enough for her maid to hear.
The maid looked nervous, so Nora simply waved her away as she said,
“I am sure that I would much rather stay here and finish this book. I’ll be just fine.”
Her maid left reluctantly and only when Nora was certain that she was gone did she exhale and push the book aside, giving herself a moment to think over the fact that the duke was still coming to see her often.
Nora had been avoiding him for the last few days, ever since she had overhead his discussion with a man at her brother’s house. No matter how much she thought about it, the accusations she had heard still made no sense whatsoever.
Godric really believed that her father was responsible for the murder of his parents. Why Gregory Wightman, of all people?
Nora had tossed and turned for nights on end because she still could not fathom the idea of her father being a murderer.
She more than anyone else was aware of his flawed nature – his selfishness and carelessness and utter lack of responsibility – but the idea that someone truly believed that he was to blame for the death of two people was preposterous.
However… a part of her considered that although the thought was ridiculous, it was not by any means impossible.
Her father was mostly an absent parent because he only cared about his heir – and Cecil, in turn, did not award him with any grace for practically abandoning his sisters to handle their affairs and upbringing.
And as such, Nora was in no way close to him.
At some point she had believed that she wanted his approval, but eventually, her failed engagement seemed to have driven him further away.
It made her realize that there was never going to be anyone as important to Gregory Wightman as himself.
So, she focused on finding a husband to escape the dreary loneliness of her home, eager to leave her father to waste away the rest of his life. And now, she had discovered that someone out there intended to assist in the task – not in the best way.
Nora did not know what to do, who she could speak to about this discovery.
Even worse, she found herself devastated to learn that perhaps Godric’s hatred for her father was the reason why he had despised her when they first met. Still, she could not understand what they were now to each other, and it was clear that she needed to sort out her thoughts quickly.
Especially when she realized that an important ball to attend tonight.
Regardless of what she had felt about Godric, the discovery she made recently told her it was unwise to put all her eggs in one basket. Especially since the man who bore the brunt of her affections had not given her as much of a hint on whether or not her feelings were reciprocated.
Nora summoned all the courage and strength she had within her to prepare for the ball, her stomach churning nervously as she thought of facing the duke. She knew that she would see him there, but she had no idea what she would say to him or how she would go about avoiding him.
It did not help that he seemed to be waiting for her upon her arrival to the ball. Nora’s gaze met his and she quickly looked away, glancing around in search of a man who might be willing to dance with her.
Luck was on her side, because a few feet away stood an Earl who was friends with her brother and she quickly made her way to him.
“Lord Clarius! What a coincidence! I had told myself that I was hoping to see you tonight, because you promised me a dance at the beginning of spring.”
The man looked bewildered as she appeared by his side.
“Miss Nora – spring? That was four months ago.”
“No time like the present, Cecil always says. Shall we?” she asked hurriedly, glancing in the duke’s direction.
Lord Clarius was gracious enough not to abandon her, offering his arm to lead her to the dance floor.
Their conversation was dull, with their shared interest simply being Cecil and when the dance was over, both of them seemed eager to go their separate ways.
“Thank you, Lord Clarius,” Nora said earnestly, glancing around anxiously.
“It was my pleasure, Miss Nora. You are an excellent dancer. Cecil would be proud.” The earl smiled kindly.
“He should be. He taught me everything I know,” she admitted, not for the first time that day missing her brother immensely. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”
The earl bid her farewell and as he was leaving, Nora saw someone approach her from the corner of her eye. A single glance in that direction confirmed her fear – the duke was coming towards her.
Quickly, Nora glanced around until she found another gentleman standing by himself. She wasted no time making her way over to him to invite him to dance with her.
This time, she could see Godric glaring at her from a corner of the ballroom, and she resolved to dance with as many men as it would take for him to leave her be.
Unfortunately, he was proving as stubborn as she was, simply lingering in a corner, never taking his eyes off her as she switched dance partners five more times. As the night wore on, Nora grew nervous and tired, not sure how much longer she could continue with this ploy.
Fortunately, she did not need to prolong it even further, because just as a dance was about to end and she had begun to search for another unsuspecting hero, a hand pulled her by the wrist from her dance partner. She whirled around to face Godric, her heart sinking into her stomach fearfully.
“Your –”
“Be quiet. We are going home.” He stated, as he begun to walk off the dance floor.
“Now, hold on a moment,” her dance partner tried to protest but after Godric shot him a withering glare, he wisely decided to mind his own affairs.
Nora struggled against Godric’s grip, embarrassed that he could easily drag her through the crowd of onlookers without any concerns.
“Y-Your Grace, stop. Let me go!” she demanded, still struggling to free herself from his grasp. “You are going to incite a scandal about us!”
“I do not care!” he snapped, not faltering in the slightest as he pushed her in the direction of his carriage. “Get inside. Now.”
Feeling humiliated, Nora did as he asked, climbing into the carriage, pointedly keeping her gaze on the window. He embarked after her, settling in the seats on the opposite side and soon the carriage began to move, taking them back to their dwelling.
Nora did what she could to brace for the earful she believed she would receive, but nothing but silence filled the carriage as the journey progressed. Nora tried to ignore the tense silence, but she could not help but feel uneasy, even more so because she could feel his gaze fixed on her.
Eventually, she reached her limit and she faced him, demanding angrily,
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Godric’s dark eye remained trained on her as he questioned in turn,
“I should be asking you the same thing. What did you think you were doing – behaving like that tonight?”
“I was dancing, Your Grace. I am sure that a man of your social standing and proper upbringing is familiar with the activity, no? It is an activity that is meant to be fun and shared by two individuals or more. Seeing as I had no company of chaperone for the night, I decided my time was better spent dancing the night away.”
Nora was all too aware that she sounded like a petulant child. But she had no interest in giving Godric the satisfaction of thinking that she feared him. He needed to understand that he held no place of importance in her life.
“You were finding your own partners, moving from one man to another, like a desperate creature, all night long. Do you have any idea what that would do to your reputation?” Godric asked, his expression growing darker with each passing moment.
“I imagine that it cannot be worse than the damage incurred after you dragged me out of the ballroom ten minutes ago,” she hissed, folding her arms. “I do not understand why you are acting so rashly. You are being rather dramatic, and it is unbecoming of you.”
It took a moment and a deeper furrow of Godric’s brows for Nora to realize why his expression seemed so foreign to her.
He was angry. Angry enough that she could see and recognize it for what it was clearly. A thrill ran through her, but her joy was short lived because the duke was not done with his line of questioning.
“What have you been doing lately? I have made several house calls personally and I have also sent letters. But none of the lettered received any response and you never agreed to see me. Your maids informed me that you were feeling under the weather, and I suspected that was the reason that you refused to grant me an audience. The least you could have done was respond to my letters.” Godric told her with a grimace.
“You sound as though my sudden absence in your life left quite an impression. Tell me, Your Grace; were you worried about me?” she shot back, expecting quick denial.
But the duke simply stared at her blankly, silence filling the carriage once more.
Nora had reached her limit and had grown sick of his childish mannerisms. If he wasn’t sulking silently, then he was letting his cold expression speak for him. But Nora knew there was much more to him that any of that and no longer would she pretend otherwise.
Not if she hoped for some sort of resolution and understanding between them tonight.
“Were you worried about me, Your Grace?” she repeated.
Godric’s gaze was locked on hers and then slowly, nodded.
“Yes. I was really worried.”
His admission filled her with immense satisfaction, and instinctively, Nora’s lips parted and she demanded,
“Kiss me, then.”
It was a challenge she had not expected him to take, but when he moved forward to comply, gently curling his fingers around her chin to tilt her face up to him, her heart began to quake as their lips met.
The kiss was short, but no less as potent than any of the others they had previously shared. It filled her with warmth – as well as exhilaration over the fact that she had made a man like Godric obey her orders.
She tugged him closer by his lapels, and he settled by her side, pulling her into his arms. Then he kissed her like a man starved, his tongue stroking hers as he sucked and nibbed her lips, clearly relishing in how quickly she was becoming undone next to him.
Nora did what she could to keep her head clear, fully aware that they had much to discuss, but as he kissed her, the feelings she was still getting used to resurfaced.
She wondered if he had truly missed her or rather, he felt annoyed that she was not in his line of sight to exercise his possessiveness over her.
She wondered what they would do about the mess between their families.
She wondered if there was a way to go back where the most difficult thing was how to move on with her plans to find a husband.
But in that moment, all she could think of was the way he gripped her waist, how hot his lips felt against her skin, how easily the deep rumble of his voice affected her as he said,
“You let all those men touch you. Those cretins and unworthy simpletons that you danced with, all of them eager to put their hands what is mine. Then again, it was you who approached them. Perhaps I need to remind you exactly who you belong to.”
Nora did not resist when he kissed her deeply, his hands gently raising the skirts of her dress to settle on her lap. His hands roamed over her stocking clad legs, spreading them apart so his fingers could easily make its way to the center where she was already beginning to thirst for him.
She pressed a hand to her lips in a bit to remain silent as he kissed and bit her neck, all the while working his fingers in and out of her at a madding expert pace.
Nora felt as though she were expected to make things a tad tricky for him, unwilling to give him free reign over her pleasure.
But there was not much she could do when he got on his knees and buried his face beneath her face.
The act seemed so ridiculous at first, she wanted to laugh at the sight of him nestled beneath all that fabric, but when his tongue lapped at her center, she found it increasingly difficult to speak.
She inhaled shakily as he pressed closer, pushing his tongue further past her folds, until it took everything in her not to thrash around.
Nora desperately sought more friction, missed the almost cruel precision of his fingers. As though he could sense that she wanted more, he began to suck and lap at her wetness like a man starved, each time pressing closer and deeper. Soon she was breathless and gasping his name.
At the very last moment, he used his fingers to push her over the edge, so that he could kiss her as she fell, sharing with her the taste of herself.
Nora felt her heart shake unsteadily within her as he pulled her lose, licking into her mouth as he deepened the kissed.
She wanted nothing more than for this moment to last, but deep down, she knew she was only delaying the inevitable.
She allowed the feel his strong hands adjusting her dress bring her back to her senses and the moment the kiss broke, she said,
“A few nights ago… after you had taught me how to defend myself, I returned to my brother’s estate to speak with you.
I did not expect you to have a guest… neither did I expect to hear you both planning to hurt my father because you believe he was responsible for the death of your parents.
And… I have tried to understand what your word meant, but I know that I will receive no answers all on my own.
I want to ask you outright and hope that all the trust that I placed in you was not misguided.
What you and your guest said that day… is it true? ”
Nora waited with bated breath, her nerves alight with nervousness as she realized that no matter what would happen henceforth, things would change permanently between them.
After what felt like ages, he parted his lips and told her,
“Yes. It is all true.”