Chapter 8
“Anything of merit?” Mr. Miller asked as he searched the bookcases for the rest of Anna’s lengthy research list.
She glanced up from a particularly hefty, thrilling volume about the Roman Empire.
“Nothing as of yet, not unless I want to make more trouble for myself.” She flashed a mischievous smile.
“The Romans partook in an awful lot of murder, and, unfortunately, I do not want the man dead, just out of my way. Now, if I could find a chariot, I could drag him to one of the other properties, but that might draw too much attention on the roads.”
Mr. Miller chuckled. “You have a wicked sense of humor, Your Grace.”
“I have no choice,” Anna sighed. “If I do not make light of it, I shall wallow in despair. Maybe I should consider a different empire for inspiration… although most have a lot of killing. I just want to scare him off. Perhaps I could fabricate some ghosts, but I do not think he is the kind of man who frightens easily.”
“Not ghosts, but more goats, perhaps?” the butler offered with a grin, as he withdrew a leatherbound book on William the Conqueror.
“We shall have to wait and see about that,” she replied, as a little frisson of nerves bristled through her.
Had Jeremy found the goat yet? Had the sweet creature created enough mess yet?
Maybe it had chewed up those tartan trousers of Jeremy’s, so she wouldn’t have to see the outline of his muscular thighs anymore.
It would probably be for the best if the goat chewed up all of Jeremy’s clothes, in fact, since it seemed he didn’t know how to dress appropriately.
“Do you think it’s a good sign or a bad sign that we haven’t heard anything about it yet?” Mr. Miller said, carrying over the next stack of books.
“It is difficult to say.” Anna paused. “He has been occupied most of the day, so it stands to reason that he has not discovered the—”
The squeak of the library door made her jump, her head whipping around in time to see the broad and brooding figure of the man himself. As if she had somehow summoned him, merely by speaking of him… or perhaps by thinking of him and his tight trousers.
Jeremy came to a standstill, his black eyes glinting in the low light of the room. “Leave,” he said coldly. “Now.”
“Me?” Anna pointed to herself, knowing perfectly well that she wasn’t who he meant.
A muscle ticked in his jaw, his eyes narrowing at Mr. Miller. “Get out.”
“Mr. Miller, if you would escort me,” Anna said, as blithely as she could, rising from the reading chair.
The butler set down the books and hurried to her side, offering his arm to guide her out of the library. With a breath held in her chest, Anna summoned all her willpower to walk slowly toward the door; she wouldn’t let Jeremy see that she was anxious or unnerved by his sudden appearance.
She was almost at the door when Jeremy’s hand shot out and caught her by the arm. It didn’t take much for him to pull her free of the butler’s loose grip.
“Not you, Duchess,” Jeremy growled, a note of impatience in his voice.
Mr. Miller spun around in protest, opening his mouth to speak but not managing to get a word out as Jeremy nudged him, not very hard, in the chest. It had not seemed like a vicious shove, but the impact made the butler stumble backward, crossing the library threshold with wide eyes and flailing arms.
At that moment, Jeremy slammed the door shut and tugged Anna forward, spinning her around. She gasped as her shoulders bumped against the library door, her eyes widening as the Duke loomed over her, trapping her between that solid wood and his equally solid body.
Heat bloomed in her cheeks, though she couldn’t quite tell if it came from anger or embarrassment or outrage or… something else. His nearness was warming her up in a way she couldn’t control.
“Is there… something wrong?” she asked thickly, their starkly different height making it almost impossible to keep her gaze at a respectable level.
His open collar revealed that teasing triangle of bare skin once more, even though he had unfastened a few more buttons.
She craned her neck in an attempt to hold his gaze but was aware of the sculpted outline of his hard muscles: the indentation down the center of his chest, the ledge of his collarbone, and just a hint of a deep line at the top of his abdomen that made her wonder how far down it went.
A touch would confirm it if she were to run her fingertips down the middle of his stomach.
For goodness’ sake! Do not think such foolish things! Her cheeks grew hotter as she scolded herself silently. Indeed, she had just made it twice as difficult for herself to keep her attention where it ought to be: on his face.
“Aye,” he replied gruffly. “Would ye care to explain to me why there’s a wee goat in me room?”
Anna drew in a shaky breath while she forced her lips into a smile. “Oh, that?” She waved a dismissive hand. “That is my gift to you. Given the fact that you could not sleep alone last night, I thought you might benefit from a companion.”
Something flickered in his dark eyes, but she didn’t know him well enough yet to tell whether it was a good omen or a bad one. He moved a quarter of a step closer, and her breath left her entirely as she watched his lips tilt upward. Not a smile, not a grimace, but something in between.
“I was sleeping alone perfectly well until ye crawled into me bed,” he replied, his still-bandaged hand coming up.
She flinched, at first in fear of being struck… and then in surprise as she felt the light brush of his thumb against the apple of her cheek.
“Let us not forget that you were in my room,” she argued quietly, though she didn’t have quite enough air in her lungs to protest fully.
He ignored her, the friction of his skin against hers sending a tingle right up into her brain, like a scratch that had finally been itched. “Do ye think it wise to anger me with such childish games? Do ye think it funny?”
“Anger?” She feigned innocence, her stomach twisting into knots.
Of course, she had known it was a plausible reaction, but she didn’t want to face his anger. Any man’s anger, for that matter.
“You misunderstand,” she added hastily. “I only wanted to please you, sir. I mean, Your Grace.”
He tilted his head to one side, his gaze sliding to her lips. “Is that so? Ye just wanted to please me?”
She nodded slowly. “Goats make for very loyal companions.”
“It’s not the goat’s loyalty that interests me,” he replied in a sultry voice, so deep and husky that it seemed to vibrate into her chest. “If ye wish to please me, does this mean ye acknowledge me as master of this house? As yer master?”
Anna blinked, too stunned to speak.
A dark smirk finally lifted the corner of his mouth. “Will ye do everything I say, when I say it, to please me?”
Whatever strange spell she had been under shattered for a moment, the breath flowing back into her lungs in a gasp of indignation, while her hands came up to push on his chest. He didn’t move at all; her limited strength was no match for his stature, though she couldn’t deny that his muscled physique still felt rather good beneath her palms.
“I will never obey you,” she retorted, as she tried to push him again.
He didn’t try to grab her wrists and stop her; he just kept smirking as he let her wear herself out, that dark amusement shining in those intense eyes.
She probably should have been scared of him and the situation she was in, but something in his demeanor made her feel more fierce than afraid, as if he was provoking her to see how defiant she could be.
“Ye don’t really have a choice, lass,” he told her, as his thumb stilled on the apple of her cheek, his fingertips sliding into her hair. “Ye will obey me, or else...”
Anna’s eyes narrowed, her chin tilted up, her blood boiling in her veins. “Or else what? You will not harm me. You cannot get rid of me. You cannot scare me off. You are the one who has no choice but to–”
All thoughts and words left her as his lips silenced her tirade: a kiss so fierce, so disarming, so intense she might have been knocked off her feet if not for the door at her back and his arm suddenly around her waist. Her eyes widened in shock as his mouth moved, urging her to kiss him back, but as he pressed in closer, his hand in her hair, she felt her eyelids flutter shut.
She sank into the moment she had never expected, her whole body burning with a need for this infuriating man. A feeling she couldn’t fight, even if she had wanted to.
And, for that instant, she didn’t.