Chapter 3 #2
She wished to stamp her foot in frustration.
The man was insufferable. Instead, her curiosity to know what he should like to speak to her about was too much to bear, and she followed him.
She nodded and smiled at other guests and acquaintances on her way out of the ballroom, pretending she was merely going to refresh herself.
Nicholas turned down the hallway, and she slipped after him, watching him turn into the library.
Her heart sped up even more. While she had known Nicholas for three years, they had never been alone together. The prospect was daunting, to say the least. But as she approached the library door, she remembered the twins.
“Strength and courage are what they need. Not a simpering miss.”
Just inside the library door, the sounds from the ballroom were drowned out.
She took a deep breath, her nose filling with the scent of old leather and paper and wood.
It brought a smile to her lips. Her father had adored reading, and before the debts had come rolling in, their home had been filled with books in nearly every room.
“Your Grace?” she asked, looking about her but did not seem him until she felt him at her side, reaching around her to close the door behind her.
Her muscles tensed as she breathed in the scent of him.
It was musky and warm and made her feel things she did not wish to feel when it came to him.
The scent made her feel almost wild, as if she could do anything she wished.
He was so bold, forever attempting to unsettle her.
She had never understood why, but her irritation forever seemed to entertain him.
“You know that it is both improper to be alone with an unmarried young lady and to come so close.” Her voice was hardly above a whisper.
He was so very close, and while she had never been afraid of him, she always felt a sense of wariness and goosebumps endlessly lifted on her skin whenever they spoke.
He remained where he was after he shut the door softly, their eyes meeting.
I wonder what David saw in him. He has not a serious or kind bone in his body.
“I spent my whole life knowing the impropriety of such a thing, which is why I attempt to do it as often as I can.” Smirking, he glanced down at her mouth.
“You lie!” she cried, stepping away from him. Even if a cad, he was a duke. “You are no gentleman.”
“Perhaps not,” he said, following her to where she stood by the fire. He leaned his shoulder against the mantel, his eyes finding hers again. “I have no interest in being a gentleman, Cordelia. I think you like that about me. I can see it in the color of your cheeks.”
An image flashed in Cordelia’s mind of her allowing the duke to undress her slowly and with care, that same intense look in his blue eyes.
Swallowing to keep her composure, she ignored his statement.
Cordelia wanted this tête-à-tête over with as soon as possible.
It was annoying that she must notice the firelight in his eyes while he stood as if he had all the time in the world, teasing her with his impudent phrases.
“Well? What are we doing here? Surely not to stare at one another or listen to nonsense.” She threw up her hands.
“Were you staring? Tut, tut, now who is being the naughty one?”
Cordelia rolled her eyes and moved even further away from him. It was best to keep one’s distance in this sort of situation.
“If you have nothing to talk to me about that concerns the twins, who are your godchildren, in case you have forgotten, then I see no point in this…interlude.”
“Interlude,” he repeated in a low voice, which made a shiver run over her skin. “You use the oddest, yet most entertaining words, Miss Debrett.”
Scoffing, she raised her voice. “You deliberately bait me at every turn! And I cannot think why.”
He shrugged, as if again, he had all the time in the world, and their being alone together was nothing more than having afternoon tea.
She shivered at the look in his eyes, so full of something.
They always were when he looked at her, but she’d never been able to place it.
But the way it made warm heat slide from her belly to below told her just what sort of look he was giving her.
“It is very easy to bait one who is so easily baited. I confess, I find it a rather enjoyable pastime.”
“Well,” she answered in a huff, crossing her arms again, as if that would keep the fury inside her in check as well as a growing tingle of excitement in her belly, “if you are now done toying with your food, Your Grace, I will now take my leave. Anyone could come in at any moment, and then, it is not you who will suffer the consequences but me.” Pausing for a moment to await his snarky reply, she realized she was to receive none, and so she lifted her chin and turned away, desperately ready to hurry off in a huff.
But she barely got to the door before she turned around to face him again. “In case you did not know, the children have been given to me, and as of tomorrow, once I fetch them, they will be under my protection.” She tapped a finger to her chest, and tears rose in her eyes.
No. Do not cry in front of this man. He will never let you forget it!
Nicholas stood and put his arms to his sides, appearing as though he was actually listening this time.
“I am penniless. No money has been given to me for the raising of these children, and my family has debts to pay.” A tear slipped down her cheek, and she brushed it away as quickly as it had come.
“I knew Helen wished to give me the children if anything happened to them, but I can’t help but feel that she, that they have made a mistake. Why me?”
She could feel the tears pressing behind her eyes, but she could not cry in front of him; she could not show weakness, or she could never regain any dignity with this man. He still said nothing.
“You are not serious about anything, but perhaps you can understand this,” she managed to say. “I must go.”
She turned away and lifted her skirts to hurry out of that library as fast as possible before a flood emerged, and she would become a sniveling mess. But just as she reached the door, he said her name softly.
The sound of that made her pause, and turning around, she held her breath as he approached her. Nothing could have moved her from where she stood, his hand coming to her cheek to brush away what was left of that tear.
His eyes bore into her own. “I know you think little of me and what honor I might or might not have and how serious I take things. But I think you will find I am serious enough in this matter. Serious enough to ask you to marry me.”