Page 41 of Love, the Duke
“You have always been far braver than you should be, Ophelia, and I make no apology to you nor anyone else for our kisses. I don’t regret a moment of it and don’t want you to either.” He paused as his expression turned serious. “One thing I can’t do is allow you to continue to rummage through book rooms of homes.”
All residual sensuous feelings dissipated in an instant. Drawing on all her deportment as well as determination, she fixed him with a rigid glare and said in a near whisper, “You are not my guardian. It is not up to you to allow or disallow anything concerning me. You can’t stop me.”
“But I am helping you in ways that will not get you in trouble,” he argued. He quickly brushed the tail of his coat aside and propped his hands on his slim hips. “My help is what you have wanted from the moment you walked into my life. I went togreattrouble to bring my cousin to the party so you could hear what he had to say about the chalice and be assured of his innocence.”
A breeze freed the strand of hair from behind her ear and scattered it across her face, but she managed to stare back at him without flinching or blinking and say, “I know. I’m grateful.”
He threw up his hands as if he didn’t understand her simple answer and pointed toward the book resting against the side of the house. “I bought the book for you.”
“I’m glad for all your help so far, but what I need you to do is start looking on bookshelves for me.”
“I’ve told you it’s wrong to search through anyone’s belongings. Do you want us both to get thrown into Newgate?”
“We are both too clever to have that happen.”
“It’s not right, Ophelia. Neither your brother nor yourfather would approve, and I’m not going to change my mind and approve of it either. I’m assisting you in other ways to keep you out of trouble.”
“I understand, but I believe the sacrament is gathering dust on a titled man’s bookshelf. We can share responsibilities. You help the way you can, and I will help my way. Together, maybe it will be found before it’s too late.”
His mouth narrowed and he gave a short snort of laughter. “I’ve told you it’s preposterous, wrong, and will get you nowhere but in a pot of hot water. I’ve asked Wyatt and Rick, who have been dukes much longer than I have, about this, and neither of them knows of such a man among the peerage.”
She swallowed hard. “It’s all I can do right now.”
The duke’s brow rose in disapproval and his jaw tightened. “No, you can stop,” he said on a hissing breath.
“And do nothing?” she exclaimed. “No, sir. That is what I cannot do.”
“I know how much this means to you, but you can’t sacrifice your character for it. I told you when we first met, I can pay for the chalice to be replaced. What you are doing is madness. I’ve told you invading someone’s privacy isn’t something that should ever be done to anyone. I know you’ve heard the saying that two wrongs won’t make anything right, Ophelia. Take my word for it, that’s true.”
“No, whoever said that is wrong.”
Despite her intentions to remain unaffected by his words, her heartbeat faltered. Her throat thickened. It did bother her that she was going against everything she’d been brought up to believe and how to behave. She wouldn’t have chosen to steal anything from anyone. Not even a thief.
“Have you ever done anything wrong, Your Grace?”
He was prudently silent for a moment and didn’t meet her eyes but finally admitted, “Of course I have.”
“Wrong things for a good reason?”
“More times than you have for sure.” He blew out a deep breath of impatience. “And every time I have, I’ve later wished I hadn’t.”
Ophelia wondered if something deeper than he was saying was going on inside him. Was it only that he had a strict code of honor, and maybe his own code about what was right and what was wrong for himself? Was there more to the faraway look that appeared in his eyes than just what she was doing and what he was saying? She sensed there was. Maybe he was thinking about something he’d done wrong in the past.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t reflected on what she was doing. There had been plenty of that. She didn’t want to do bad things that she knew were wrong. Things that would have had her brother and father extremely disappointed in her. She felt guilty for being so willful, and one day she’d have to forgive herself for searching the homes.
But that wouldn’t be today or tomorrow. For now, she had to continue with her plan.
“I will be watching you like a hawk after his prey tomorrow night at Lord Swillingwill’s house, so don’t try to get out of my sight,” he said with a warning in his tone.
“And I will be watching you. I started this search without you, and I can finish it without you. I certainly won’t force you to help me with anything.”
“Force?” he questioned the word with a grunt as the word stuck in his craw. “You couldn’t force me to do anything I don’t want to do, Ophelia.”
“You are right, Your Grace. If I could have forced you, I would have already done it by now.”
He smiled at her sassy retort. “All right, enough of the madness you have created in my life. You want my help? Fine.” He sucked in a deep breath as an expression of fierce concentration settled on his face. “Marry me.”
