Page 52 of Last Night with the Duke
She smiled at the duke. “I shall watch everyone. Including you.”
His brows rose and he tensed. “Me?”
“Yes. To make sure you don’t go around accosting innocent young gentleman.”
A smile relaxed his face. “I want you watching me,” he said. He reached for her hand, which she quickly drew back.
“I only want to help you sit down, Miss Swift.”
“Oh, of course.” Esmeralda hesitated for a moment longer and then placed her hand in his. At his touch, she felt a shock of sensuous awareness shoot throughout her body and settle low and longingly in her abdomen. His strong fingers took hold of hers in a gentle, possessive way that made her feel warm all over. She couldn’t help but wonder if he would seek her out after she was no longer in his employ or if the attraction that sizzled between them now would have faded by then.
While the duke helped Lady Sara and Lady Vera to sit down opposite Esmeralda, she called for Josephine to come join them.
“Just a minute,” her sister replied and continued her inspection of the ground.
Not wanting to make the others wait, Esmeralda said, “Let’s start without her. She’s obviously discovered something interesting to look at. I’m sure she’ll be along in a minute.”
“All right.” Griffin took off his hat and made himself comfortable beside Esmeralda. “Let’s see what we have in here.” He opened the basket to a stack of napkins on top. He handed them to Lady Vera and said, “I’ll let you pass these around.” He reached into the basket again and brought out a silver container with a stopper in it. He opened it and smelled. “Looks like we have warm chocolate in this.” He handed it to Esmeralda along with several china cups and said, “You pour this, and I’ll see what else we have in here.”
“It’s probably cheese and bread,” Lady Sara offered.
“No,” Griffin said, carefully unwrapping a napkin. “It looks like we have tarts.”
“Fig or apricot?” Lady Vera asked.
He broke one open. “Fig.” Napoleon walked over to the duke, sat on his haunches, and licked his chops. “All right, Emperor. You can have the first one.” Griffin took the pastry and held it in the palm of his hand. Napoleon gobbled it down in two chomps.
Esmeralda’s gaze kept straying to Griffin while she poured the chocolate. The wind had ruffled his hair. She liked the way it had feathered away from his forehead. It gave him an approachable appeal that didn’t show when he stood so tall, strong, and masculine.
She handed a cup to Lady Vera and then to Lady Sara. There was something about sitting with Griffin and his sisters, and enjoying light conversation, that felt good and right. It was a foolish feeling, she knew, but it was as if she belonged—that she was a real part of their lives and equally acceptable socially.
She smiled to herself when she realized she’d been thinking of the duke as “Griffin” rather than “Your Grace” since they sat down to have the refreshments. Perhaps it was because he’d decided to call her Esmeralda when they were alone. She felt comfortable thinking of him as Griffin and in her thoughts would continue to do so.
When Esmeralda handed a cup to Griffin, his fingers closed over hers and held for a moment before releasing her so she could let go of the cup. Surely if he knew how topsy-turvy her stomach felt when he touched her, he wouldn’t do it. Or maybe he knew, and that was why he did it. It could be that he had a wicked desire to torture her, for it was sweet torture to be filled with such delicious sensations.
Esmeralda called to Josephine again as she poured chocolate for herself. “There may not be anything left for you to eat or drink if you don’t hurry.”
“Griffin,” Lady Sara asked, “is Lord Henry more handsome than Mr. Lambert?”
The duke’s gaze darted to Esmeralda’s. She shrugged slightly. She couldn’t help him because she’d never seen Lord Henry.
“I’m not one to ask how handsome a man is, Sara. You best ask your aunt about that.”
“There’s no point in asking her, Sara,” Lady Vera said. “Aunt Evelyn wouldn’t have told us Lord Henry was the most handsome eligible bachelor if it wasn’t true.”
“Perhaps, but I’m going to tell her we met Mr. Lambert in the park today and ask her more about him when we return. And I noticed he had very nice hands too.”
“Essie, look what I found!” Josephine ran up between the twins. She held a large frog, its plump body squeezed between her small hands. Long skinny legs and webbed feet dangled right at the twins’ eye level when she thrust it toward Esmeralda.
Lady Sara and Lady Vera screamed.
Suddenly arms and hands were flung wide, cups, tarts, and parasols were thrown into the air as the squealing continued. Lady Vera jumped up and stumbled over the duke’s legs, trying to get away. He caught her before she hit the ground. Lady Sara bolted to her feet, immediately tripped over her skirt, toppled over the chocolate container and the basket, and fell on top of Esmeralda while screeching like a banshee.
In a blur of dresses and flying limbs, Esmeralda’s dress flew up past her knees as the force of Lady Sara’s fall knocked both of them to the ground with a swoosh and a grunt. Napoleon gave a playful growl and woof before jumping into the fray.
Lady Sara screamed again before the duke could shoo Napoleon away and catch his sister’s flailing arms and help her to stand. Esmeralda scrambled to lower her skirts to her ankles and right herself. With the twins screeching and hanging on his arms, Griffin reached down to help her to stand too. She gladly accepted his assistance.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
