Chapter 26
The next morning, Joanna was reading in the drawing room when there was a visitor. Mrs. Long answered the door and announced that the Duke of Blackwell and his grandmother were there to visit.
A moment later, both of them appeared in the entrance of the drawing room. Joanna immediately stood up and curtsied. “What a pleasant surprise!” she said, smiling. “I am afraid both of my parents are out today, but I can call for some tea.”
The dowager duchess smiled pleasantly. “Actually, we are on our way to Hyde Park, and we came here to invite you to join us.”
Joanna bit her lip. “I would love to, truly, but I am afraid my maid has the day off today, so I would not have a chaperone.”
“Oh, that is quite all right,” The dowager duchess said.
“I am more than happy to act as chaperone for the two of you. I admit this was a spontaneous impulse on my part, so I understand if you are already obligated to some other commitment, but we would love it if you joined us. Isn’t that right, Your Grace?
” she said, looking over at Evan, who had remained stone-faced and silent since the two of them had entered the manor.
Evan nodded. “Yes, my lady. I would love it if you could join us for a walk today.” He managed a smile, but it was clearly not good enough for his grandmother, who pursed her lips in disapproval.
Joanna could not help but smile. She had a feeling this was not a spontaneous trip, but another scheme cooked up by Evan’s grandmother instead.
But she did not have any prior commitments for the day, and the thought of going to Hyde Park sounded lovely.
Besides, her parents would never forgive her if she turned down an invitation from the duke.
“I will be happy to join you two. Thank you.”
It didn’t take Joanna long to get ready for the walk, and then the three of them were off.
Hyde Park was only a few blocks away from Clifford Manor, so before she knew it, they had entered the park grounds.
Hyde Park was a popular place of recreation for people of all classes in London.
There was a small crowd of people mingling together on the promenade that was next to the Serpentine River, but carriage and walking trails went all over the huge expanse of land, including into secluded forested areas of the park.
The dowager duchess swore to be a diligent chaperone for the young couple. Perhaps she was diligent enough when the three of them walked along the promenade. But soon they drifted away from the crowds and onto a narrow path leading into a secluded wooded area in the northwest portion of the park.
When Joanna looked behind, she was not surprised to see that the older lady had disappeared. No doubt she was up to more mischief.
She knew she should alert Evan to their predicament, but she closed her mouth before actually saying anything. She enjoyed having time alone with him, and at the moment, there was no one around to see their scandalous position.
“How are you today, Miss Thorne?” The duke asked. His voice was soft. It was the first thing he had said to her without his grandmother prompting him.
“I am excellent, Your Grace. It’s a lovely day today, isn’t it?” She looked up at the sky and realized that even though it was mostly sunny, a few ominous-looking clouds had started to move in. She wondered if it would start raining soon.
“It’s beautiful.”
He said it so softly. When she glanced at him, she saw he was looking right at her. Her cheeks flushed. Just a single look from him was enough to make her forget herself, and before she knew it, she was tripping over a rock.
He immediately reached out to grab her shoulders to steady her, and she ended up falling against his muscular chest. She inhaled, breathing in his musky scent. How did he always smell so good all the time?
“Careful,” he murmured. One of his hands went to the small of her back to help her keep her balance. It was warm and firm and she wished he could touch her bare skin, just there.
How would it feel to have his large hands travel over her body, exploring it?
Her own hands brushed absentmindedly down his chest, to his stomach.
Even through his suit, she could feel his hard muscles.
She dearly wished to run her hands over his bare torso, memorizing every curve as she made him shudder and…
She stumbled back a step, her face heating up, so it was beet red. “I am so sorry, Your Grace,” she said. “I appear to be quite clumsy today.”
A devilish smirk graced his lips. “Believe me, I didn’t mind it, Miss Thorne. Feel free to lose your balance again. I will be happy to catch you.”
She looked away, unable to think of anything to say.
“Are you all right? You look flustered.” His footsteps told her he was coming closer to her before she smelled his cologne and felt his hand on her waist. His breath touched her ear gently as he leaned in close.
“Perhaps I should keep my arm around you for the remainder of the walk, to make sure you do not stumble again.”
She shivered. “Perhaps you should.”
He chuckled. “I really like walking when the weather is nice, don’t you?”
“Yes, Your Grace,” she said. “It’s very refreshing.
” She smiled. “When I was a child, I liked to run wild through the gardens at our summer home. I would always come home with my hair loose and my dress wrinkled, which my mother would fret about, but it was quite invigorating.” She missed the freedom of those days, before she knew what gambling was, or how to best negotiate for the price of a necklace with a pawnbroker.
All she had to worry about then was taking care not to fall and skin her knee.
“Did you do the same, Your Grace? Or was running always too unbecoming for a future duke?”
He smiled, but it looked a little sad. “I am afraid I wasn’t a “future” duke for very long. I inherited the title when I was nine.”
Her eyes widened. “I’m so sorry.” She should have known better than to say anything. Obviously his parents were dead. She just hadn’t realized how young he had been when it happened.
He cleared his throat. “It was a long time ago. But to answer your question, I tended to stay inside more unless I was with my parents or Peter. Ironically, Peter took after my father more than I did, despite him not being blood. My father always loved the outdoors when he could go find time for it. He enjoyed a lot of sports, including horseback riding and fencing. Peter is the same. He practices fencing whenever he gets a chance.”
“What about yourself, Your Grace?” she asked. “Where did you find the most joy?”
“The library,” he said. “I spent a lot of my childhood inside, even on sunny days, because I wasn’t allowed to take any books out of the library. It wasn’t until I was older that I appreciated good weather.”
It was so easy to see him as a young boy, quietly reading in a corner by himself, even when the sun was shining in the sky. Even as a child, he liked to spend time alone. The thought made her feel melancholy.
“Of course, there were plenty of times Peter dragged me outside,” he said.
“My parents said I was like a ghost before he came to the manor, and I only came alive after I gained a brother. I don’t know if that’s true or not– I don’t remember a lot before he arrived.
But he’s always been my best friend. He always dragged me outside to play with him.
Sometimes we would stay outside until past dark and we would get in trouble.
I tried to take the blame– it felt like the right thing to do when I’m the older brother– but my parents saw through it and punished us equally anyway. ” He chuckled and stopped walking.
She turned to face him. “Is something wrong?”
He shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. Perhaps she was getting better at reading him now, because she knew he was more relaxed than usual, even happy. The thought filled her with warmth. “Nothing is wrong, my lady,” he said. “I usually don’t talk so much about my childhood.
She smiled. “Something tells me that you don’t talk a lot in general, Your Grace, unless it is absolutely necessary.”
He linked his fingers in hers and stepped closer to her, until they were almost touching. “It only seems necessary with you, my lady.”
Her mind went blank from having him so close to her all of a sudden. She breathed in his scent and was very aware of his hand on hers. She could easily imagine how his hand would feel warm and gentle on her bare skin if she weren’t wearing her gloves, and the thought sent heat through her body.
He chuckled, and irritation pricked her skin, cutting through the haze of wicked arousal she was feeling from being so close to him. She opened her mouth to tell him to stop toying with her, but before she could do so, she heard him inhale sharply before stepping back.
She turned around to see him staring at the sky, which had gotten considerably darker. A single raindrop hit her arm, and she shivered. Mustering a smile, she said. “I suppose we could not expect the good weather to continue forever. It’s a pity it is raining again.”
The duke didn’t respond. His eyes were wide with a half-panicked look as he looked at the sky. He no longer looked like the self-assured Duke of Ice. He looked like a man being hunted by the devil himself.
Before she could ask what was wrong, Evan stumbled back several steps before turning and breaking out into a run. All Joanna could do was stare in confusion at his rapidly disappearing form as the rain started to soak her to the bone.