Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Alistair was sitting in his office and working when he heard it.
The sound was unmistakable, and it had him stopping what he was doing and perking his ears. He frowned and tilted his head as he listened closer, noting the sound of what could only be carriage wheels rattling down the driveway of his manor.
He wasn’t expecting any guests today, which only made the sudden appearance of this carriage more interesting. For that reason, he walked to the window where he might see who it was that had decided to pay him a visit.
What he saw brought him little clarification.
Where it was indeed a carriage that he had heard, he realized immediately that it wasn’t an unannounced guest who had come to see him. In fact, the carriage belonged to him, and it wasn’t arriving at his home but being brought from the side of the manor to be parked outside. Someone was leaving.
His stomach dropped in realization, because there was only one person in this house who would think to use one of his personal carriages without permission.
Only one person I know would be so bold as that…
He might have smiled at the audacity if the realization did not bring with it healthy serving of fear. Although why it did… that only raised more questions.
Alistair had not spoken to Miss Norleigh since last evening, and that had ended with her fleeing from the room as if it had caught fire. At the time, he simply assumed that she did not wish to answer his question, and that maybe he had pushed her a little too hard to answer it.
Now, he knew that he did.
Surely she is not that upset with me? All I did was ask her a simple question, which I had every right to do. Considering what I told her about myself, it is not such a strange thing to expect her to do the same for me.
He eyed the carriage with confusion, and even anger. That she would do this… and not just to him, but to Hugh. Was she really that selfish?
Alistair turned from the window, determined to dismiss the notion. He had done nothing wrong and if she wanted to react like this, that was on her.
He eyed the table before him. Despite wanting to sit and push Miss Norleigh from his mind… he just couldn’t do it.
There was a specter sitting on his shoulder, whispering in his ear that he had upset Miss Norleigh and needed to apologize. It was ridiculous! He was a duke and he did not apologize to the help. But his stomach squirmed with guilt, and he found himself turning back to look out the window…
That was when she walked outside.
It was early in the morning and the white light from the sun shone down on her so that she glowed. Her brown hair glimmered. And her white skin glistened. Alistair swallowed back his first thought. And then his second.
Maybe she was overreacting… and maybe Alistair had done nothing wrong. But as he watched her approach the carriage, he realized it made little difference. He did not want her to leave. Not yet. Not when things were finally starting to go so well.
For Hugh… things are going well for Hugh. That is why I do not want her to leave. It would be selfish of her to do so… that is the only reason..
With that decided on, he hurried from his office and outside.
The carriage door had just swung shut when he burst from the front door, he waved at the driver to halt, then he strode to the carriage door, throwing it open before he lost his nerve.
“Your Grace?” Miss Norleigh blinked in surprise to see him. “What are you –”
“You’re leaving?” he demanded as if he was angry.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re leaving?” he said again. “Does Hugh know? It might have been nice to have warned me. At least given me time to replace you. I expected better of you, Miss Norleigh. Much, much better.”
She frowned with confusion and then turned it into a smile. “Is that what you…” A shake of the head and her smile grew. “I am not leaving, Your Grace. At least not permanently.”
“You aren’t?” He balked with sudden worry.
She laughed. “I am so glad to know that my parting would upset you so. As it is, there are no lessons today so I thought that I would visit my father. If that is fine with you?”
“Oh…” Alistair grimaced with embarrassment, and he withdrew from the doorway while hoping the earth might open and swallow him whole.
Of course she was not leaving! What an absurd thing to think. But that he had thought that was further proof of Alistair’s conflicted feelings. He really had no idea what was going on.
“I… I know that,” he defended stupidly. “I did not mean – what I meant was, you are leaving the property…” He thought quickly as she continued to eye him with amusement. “To see your father. Did you stop to think that I might have wished to speak with your father too?”
“You do?”
“Yes,” he lied. “I have business to discuss with him. If I had known that you were going, I would have arranged to come. At the very least had a letter written for you to deliver.”
She wore an amused smile, no doubt seeing right through his lie. “Would you like to join me?”
“Now?” he stammered back.
“Unless you are busy?”
No, he would not have liked to join her. Alistair’s mind was a mass of confusion and doubt. Twisted lies that made no sense. Muddled with thoughts that he should not be having and did not understand why he was.
A shame that he was so stubborn, and that he could not afford to lose face.
Also, if this gave him a chance to spend more time with Miss Norleigh, perhaps it would not be so bad?
At least then he could work through his thoughts and his feelings and hopefully come out the other side with answers that made sense.
Either that, or it will make things worse. Really, I should be doing everything that I can to avoid the woman.
“Yes, I think I will.” He stood tall and proud, as if this was always part of the plan. “If it is fine with you?”
“I invited you, did I not?” She shifted across the carriage and indicated for him to join her.
With no choice, Alistair did just that. He climbed inside, he closed the door behind him, and the carriage took off down the driveway and onto the road.
Yvette eyed the Duke across the carriage, her curiosity well and truly piqued.
What is he really doing here? I don’t for a second believe that he wants to see my father.
When the Duke had come streaming from the house just now, panic was what Yvette felt. All morning, her thoughts had been plagued with memories of their conversation the previous night, and embarrassment flooded her because of the way that she had acted.
In truth, she had considered avoiding the Duke for a few days. She worried that they were starting to grow too close and too familiar, worse that it was all in her own head, and that to separate herself from him would give her a chance to reassess what she was doing here and what she wanted.
Hugh is why she was here, and he was who she had to keep her thoughts on.
But then the Duke snapped at her, then he hastened for an excuse, and then he lied so that he could join her. But why?
She studied him across closely. She noted how awkward he was. She saw through his feigned confidence and his lies both. And slowly, so very surely, she started to accept that what she was feeling was not nearly as imagined as she had thought.
As utterly insane as that is to admit.
“What did you and my father have to speak about?” she asked him.
“Hmm?” He was staring out the window but turned when she spoke, as if he had not realized that she was there.
“You and my father,” she repeated. “What was so important that you had to see him.”
“Oh…” He crossed his legs and fidgeted with his hands. “That is… for his ears, I’m afraid. Nothing too serious, however.”
“Of course not,” she laughed softly. “So very unserious that you sprinted from the house to join me.”
“I did not sprint.”
“Walked quickly then.”
His brow furrowed at her, and she raised an eyebrow in return. As with last night, the silence between them was tense, and what she would not have given to know what was on his mind.
“How is Hugh this morning?” he asked in a clear effort to change the topic. “Have you spoken with him?”
“I have,” she said slowly. “He is quite fine. A little bruised from his fall, but he will recover.”
“Good,” he said. “I am glad.”
“I know you are.” Her smile was warm, and she wanted him to see it. “Perhaps you will see to him when we return?”
“I am sure that I will.”
“He will like that, I am sure,” she said.
Again, silence fell between them.
Slowly, the Duke regained composure, and as he did, the mood shifted. He sat himself up, he stopped fidgeting, and she felt as if he was trying to reassert his dominance over her and the situation both.
As he did, he continued to look right at her, almost as if he was daring her to match him.
She tried her best to hold his gaze, but now that he was confident again, the force of it was overwhelming.
For someone who could be as kind as he was, he was still an intimidating figure.
And that scar on his cheek was certainly startling.
Yvette faltered and looked away, certain that would be the end of it.
“I would like to apologize,” he said suddenly.
She blinked and looked back. “You would?”
“Last night…” He continued to watch her closely. “If I overstepped or made you uncomfortable, I did not mean it. I was only trying to –”
“It is fine,” she said a little too quickly. “You did nothing wrong.”
“And yet you fled the room as if I did.”
She winced with embarrassment. “I’m not used to talking of my past. Silly, I know, as I was the one who started the conversation.”
“Would you…” He shifted. “If you ever want to talk about it, you should know that I…” He licked his lips awkwardly. “I make a good listener. Mostly because I have never been much good at talking.”
She laughed softly. “You were rather good last night.”
“A consequence of too much whiskey.”
She laughed again. “Thank you. And I will remember that…” Then, she smiled. “My meaning being the value of getting you drunk if I ever wish to learn more about you.”
He laughed too, and the tension began to fade. “I’ll need to be on my guard around you, I think. I’m not usually so honest.”
“Why were you? And don’t say it was the whiskey.”
The Duke’s face tightened, and she knew that she had gone too far. He was still hesitant to open himself fully to her. And while that should not have surprised her, it did hurt a little more than she expected.
Yvette shuffled forward, and she very nearly started to tell the Duke about her own upbringing. Her mother… her father’s drinking problem… her perception of marriage and starting a family of her own. But her stomach churned, she thought she might be sick, so she shut her mouth and looked away.
It was easy to say that she wanted to know the Duke better, just as she wanted him to know her better too. But saying it and doing anything about it were two separate things, and she wasn’t quite ready. Not yet.
The carriage ride continued in silence for several minutes longer, both she and the Duke looking out opposite windows as if they were alone. More than once, Yvette caught the Duke glancing in her direction, and more than once their eyes met and they both looked away quickly.
“Here we are,” the Duke said finally when Yvette’s home appeared on the horizon.
“Oh, that was fast.” That was a lie, as the trip felt as if it took an age.
“Thank you again for letting me join you,” the Duke said.
“Did I have a choice?” she asked with humor.
“No, not really. But that you did not put up a fight…” He shrugged. “It’s nice to know that you are not terrified by the mere thought of spending time with me.”
“Oh, you are not so scary as that.”
That seemed to warm something inside of him. He smiled; it was genuine, and she matched it. For a brief moment, they simply smiled at one another, still in silence, but it was not tense in the least. If anything, it was comfortable, even safe.
Yvette had wanted to avoid the Duke. She had assumed he would want the same thing. Now, she knew differently.
The truth was that she had judged the Duke too early. When they first met, she had thought him cold and dispassionate, and she had even questioned how he could have left his own son to live on the street for so many years without helping him.
The Duke was not who she thought, and Yvette decided then and there that she was going to stop treating him as she had done when they first met. There was so much more to him than she knew and as strange as it was to admit to herself, she was excited to find out who he truly was.
She wanted to find out more, just as she wanted him to learn more about her. For better or for worse, she was far from down with the Duke of Pembourne.