Chapter 15
Pru
“Hurry up,” Pru hissed as she ushered Soren up into her hackney.
“No one’s going to see us.” His cavalier tone only increased her agitation. “It’s a deserted road—”
The sound of a carriage interrupted him and he dove onto the seat. Head first. Into her lap.
An extreme version of a shudder ran through her as she recalled just what he had done in her lap a few nights ago.
“That was much closer than I expected,” he said, glancing up with a wink.
“This was a terrible idea.”
“It’s the best one we came up with. Thank God, Tobias was able to help us. I’m not sure how he fit this favor in with all that's been going on since the wedding. Then again, maybe he needed a small diversion.”
“You mean Freya Hawthorne’s wedding?”
“Yes, in fact. Were you a guest?”
“Yes. She’s my cousin. The wedding was a few weeks ago. And…I’m pretty sure he absconded with Freya and now they’re engaged. So I’m sure he’s happy he attended. But why wouldn’t he have wanted to go in the first place?”
“Yes, it’s quite the tall tale. But originally he didn’t want to attend because he was jilted at the altar recently.”
“That’s a good enough reason as any not to attend.” Pru nodded her understanding. “He must be quite trustworthy for you to call in this favor? He…won’t tell anyone, will he?”
She noticed Soren twist the ring on his pinky finger. “Why do you do that? Are you nervous?”
“He’ll be discreet.” He kept spinning the ring until he stopped and showed it to her.
“Tobias and I are part of the Wayward Dukes Alliance. If I ever needed him, he would be there. And if he ever needed me, I’d be there for him.
I really shouldn’t say anything more though.
Just know that we both abide by a code. The secret we’re carrying is completely safe. ”
“Well, I could have done this alone. I didn’t need you, the Wayward Dukes, or this hackney.”
Again, Soren twisted the ring on his pinky and then raked his hand through his hair. “I couldn’t very well escort you to your sister’s country home in my marked carriage.”
“I could have taken one of my family’s conveyances.”
He shot her a look that nearly split her in two with how intense it was.
“I was not about to let you make the voyage on your own. And before you say you would have had your driver, let me stop you. Do you know how many times a carriage has broken down and a driver has had to leave a poor, unsuspecting female completely helpless inside—wait.” He held up his hand.
“Before you say that you’re not completely helpless, I agree, but there are some women—and yes, some men—who are. Completely helpless, that is.”
“Has this ramble of a rant come to a conclusion?”
“Indeed. The point is…you weren’t traveling alone. Without me.”
“I didn’t realize you had such a protective streak in you.”
His brows furrowed at her in contemplation, and perhaps just a touch of curiosity. “Yes…I suppose I do. For the right things.”
At that confession, her heart sprouted wings and flapped like a hummingbird inside of her chest. The last few weeks had been nothing but pure pleasure.
And Soren was the source of it all. Which was frustrating.
He was a rake. A notorious rake. There was no future here.
But try as she might to tell that to her heart, it wasn’t in the right mind to listen.
Perhaps he had changed. It could happen.
He couldn’t be charming and outrun convention his entire life.
And she’d seen glimpses of the real him.
A man he hid behind too much wit, just as she hid behind her books at times.
He was much more than he let on.
He had opened the doors to an entirely new world of exploration. A renewed sense of self. It was as though she had been living her first twenty-nine years under a rock. Hidden below a tree. Shrouded in branches. With dark clouds above her.
And now she had seen the light.
What a cliche to say that, but it was true. And it felt as though he were the gatekeeper of pleasure. One should never fall for the gatekeeper. He saw far too many women.
She released an aggravated sigh. She didn’t fully know him. Maybe she needed to dig deeper.
“That bothers you?” he asked, shifting in his seat. “That I’m protective?”
“No.”
“Then why the breezy release of pent up frustration?”
“It’s nothing.” She cast her eyes toward the closed curtains but with no view to distract herself, she dropped her eyes to her clasped hands. The entire time she could feel his steady gaze on her every movement.
And she thought they might travel in companionable-ish silence, until he asked, “Shall we discuss your third question?”
Whipping her eyes up to him, her lips parted without further thought. “We’re in a carriage.”
He looked around and confirmed, “Why yes, yes we are.”
“It’s just that in our previous encounters, my questions have led to…other events.”
“Yes, they have.”
“You have no objections?”
“No.”
“See no hindrances in that?”
The dratted man chuckled. “None of the insurmountable variety that I can think of.”
“What was your first experience like?”
He choked on air as his fist came to his mouth.
“Pardon me?”
“What was your first experience?”
And though she didn’t think it possible, her eyes didn’t lie when they took in the twin red stains in his cheeks.
“Me?”
Mouth dry, she nodded.
“You don’t want to hear that.”
“I don’t just ask questions without having given them thought.”
“I see…”
She watched as he stalled by subtly angling his legs away from her and then back again. His restless hands could find peace neither on his lap nor on the cushions. And just as she’d come to expect, he twisted his pinky ring.
“You don’t want to tell me.”
“I…”
“You said I could ask anything.”
“Right.” His eyes met hers with a hardness she had never seen in them before.
“Well then…brace yourself. It’s not a romantic story.
Only a senseless tale of a fatherless teenage boy abandoned by his world-travelling mother on the hunt for another man when an older woman pursued me and showed me my purpose in life. ”
Stunned, it took her a moment to recover and digest all that he had shared. “That’s awful. I’m so sorry that happened.” But what she meant as concern, he took as pity and scowled at her.
“It is what it is. Nothing a starry-eyed romantic should like to hear.”
“I don’t consider myself a starry-eyed romantic.”
“No. I don’t suppose you do.”
“Is that really what you think of me?”
“No.” His voice softened.
The carriage rolled on as his single word answer hung in the air between them, as if on a string.
With more than a little hesitancy, she willed up the courage to ask, “What do you think of me?”
“I think,” he tapped his fingers on his knees as a change fell over his face, “that you’re quite remarkable.”
She laughed. Couldn’t help it. No one had ever expressed anything remotely close to that sentiment. She was, by far and large, hardly even markable at all.
“Thank you for easing the tension in the space—”
“You think I jest?”
“Of course you do—”
“I do no such thing. You’re more intelligent than most men. You’re determined. Principled. Passionate. Loyal. And one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“You must stop, Soren.” Her heart rammed up against her chest and her feet curled in her slippers at the thought of the most handsome man she’d ever met calling her the most beautiful woman he’d ever met.
“I cannot.”
“You must.”
It was too much to bear—that slim slice of hope he offered. So when he leaned closer, bringing his fingers to her hair, she cut him off. “Why do you say that she showed you your purpose?”
He leaned back and shrugged. “It’s what I’m best at.”
“Other than being a duke?”
“Other than that?” He shrugged again. “Perhaps even better than that.”
“There’s more to you than giving pleasure, Soren.”
His eyes pinned her in place, and she thought this time he might actually reach out and touch her. Instead, he said, “We’re here.”
And for some reason, those words meant something so much more than a declaration of their arrival.