Page 40 of Last Night with the Duke
“What if he does?” he asked again as his palm cupped her jaw with a gentle sweetness that beckoned her to relax and welcome his touch.
She watched his lips as he talked, and all she could think was that she wanted to feel his lips on hers. She wanted to be caught up in his strong embrace, held against his powerful chest. What madness! To change the direction of her thoughts and those traitorous desires springing up inside her, she said, “You will be unhappy.”
“No. You will be. I won’t.” His thumb lightly rubbed up her cheek, to the corner of her mouth and then across her lips.
Her lips tingled. Her breasts tightened and her stomach quaked at the boldness and the intimacy of his thumb caressing her.
“Accidents happen,” he said softly. “It’s over.”
His touch was reassuring and so much more. It was comforting, delicious, and persuasive. She knew the prudent thing to do was recoil from his hand, his nearness, but she simply didn’t have the will to deny herself the closeness and feeling of his warmth.
“I rather enjoyed you taking me to task about the cat,” he said huskily, keeping his hand on her jaw, his fingers brushing her cheek so lightly.
He bent his head closer to hers. Much too close. And still closer. She held her breath, thinking surely he was going to kiss her. And she was going to let him.
Instead, he whispered so close to her lips she felt his warm breath waft across hers, “I don’t believe I’ve ever had a young woman yell at me.”
“No,” she countered earnestly. “I didn’t yell at you. Did I? I mean, I might have raised my voice—a little.”
The edges of his mouth twisted into an attractive smile. “A little?”
Her chest heaved with embarrassment over what she’d done, over desperately wanting him to kiss her so badly she was ready to initiate the kiss herself.
After a long intake of breath that ended on a shaky sigh, she noticed that the fire had burned low, giving peaceful warmth and a golden glow to the morning shadows that filtered through the windowpanes. “In that case, I should apologize.”
“No need for that,” he said as his fingertips slowly caressed their way down her neck to the hollow of her throat and back up again to her cheek. “I told you to always feel free to speak your mind to me. That’s one of the things I find so appealing about you.”
Esmeralda found everything about him appealing. His thumb ran across her lips again and, dear heavens, the sensations that spiraled through her made her tremble with a need she’d never had before, a need she didn’t understand. She was certain he could sense her shaking, sense her silently begging him to kiss her.
“You may regret saying that.”
“I don’t think I will. Besides my voice was loud too. No harm was done. Servants break things. It’s part of life.”
Servants.
That word brought her up short, and she stiffened. That was all she was to him. All she would ever be. A servant to help his sisters. How could she have forgotten?
She had to swallow the bitter taste of it and remember it every time her heart started beating faster at the sight of him. Every time she wanted to be caught up in his strong arms. Every time she dreamed about his lips on hers. Every time she heard him say,I want you, you’re a part of my household, I’ll always have time for you,or similar innocent phrases that delighted her senses and made her feel special, she must remember she was a servant. She was in his life as an employee, not as a member of Polite Society, not as a guest in his house.
And not as his social equal.
She turned her head away from his touch and stepped away from him on shaky legs, angry at herself for forgetting that she was nothing to him but a person to look after his sisters.
“Thank you for being so understanding about that, Napoleon, everything.” She lifted her chin and her shoulders. “Is there anything more that you need from me this morning? If not, I’d like to get started on my work.”
He looked as if he was going to speak, but stopped himself and dropped his hand to his side. “Do you see any reason the twins won’t be ready for the first ball?”
“No, none at all,” she said, pulling herself together quickly and returning to a professional stance. “But I just realized I do have one question for you before you leave.”
“All right.”
“It’s about the five on Lady Evelyn’s list of acceptable gentlemen for Lady Vera and Lady Sara to consider for a possible match. Am I to assume they have been cleared of having any interest in the mischief of ruining the twins’ Season?”
“No one has been ruled out.”
“So that includes your friends the Duke of Rathburne and the Duke of Hawksthorn?”
A glint of admiration shown in his eyes. “I seldom have to admit this, but I was wrong. Those two have been ruled out. They adore my sisters and would never seek to harm them. They will help us watch over Vera and Sara at the parties.”
