Page 18 of Love, the Duke
Swiping his hand away, she stepped back. Scowling, she demanded, “What are you doing?”
He gave her a playful smile as he admired her strength. “You didn’t get all the kohl off your face when you washed. I was merely assisting in its removal.”
She gasped and quickly wiped the places he had touched with her fingertips, exclaiming, “That can’t be true. I’ve washed many times since then. You, sir, are no gentleman!”
“Why would any of my friends or peers want a religious relic? Do we look that angelic?” He gave her another smile. “I’ve honed my devilish charm ever since I left school. Don’t tell me that I’ve failed, Miss Stowe.”
“I assure you, you have not,” she agreed, wiping the corner of her mouth. “You have been more of a rake than a hero since the moment I walked into your book room.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, and you best remember that most men are.”
“Thankfully, you’re the only rake I’ve ever met.”
Hurst chuckled at her answer. “That is doubtful but good to hear you think so.” When he put aside what she was trying to do to unsuspecting people, he found her delightfully enticing to be with. “Does your mother know what you are up to?”
“Most of it,” she hedged. “Not all.”
“Does she approve?”
“Of course not. The entirety of everything that has happened hit her hard and she is ill over it, sometimes sending her to a sickbed for a few days.”
“Yet, she allows you to do this?”
“She accepts that there is nothing more we can do but try to prevent what we know will happen if it becomes known to the bishop and parish the chalice is missing.” Ophelia paused and swallowed hard. “I don’t have much time. If word gets out, Maman is fearful the neighbors will come to see her asking if it was Winston. The elders or bishop could start knocking on our door, wanting to search us, wondering if we were a party to the crime.”
“That sounds irrational, Miss Stowe.”
“I don’t have to be rational, Your Grace. I need to be successful. There are other concerns. Donations would go down without the renowned sacrament. Maman fears neighbors may start sneaking into the back garden and harass her with questions she has no answers for. They could start following her in the village. She continues to worry more and more for something she has no control over.”
That was easy to believe. He knew from experience when he was growing up that there was nothing some neighbors loved more than trying to solve something they’d considered a mystery.
“I’ve been gone a long time and need to get back to Maman.”
With good reason, he thought. Miss Stowe was strong, seductive, and he hadn’t seen an ounce of fear in her. Keeping his voice husky but not dangerous, he said, “I think I should escort you to the ballroom to make sure you don’t get into more trouble along the way.”
“Walking into a room with you would damage myreputation as much as it would to be caught in here alone with you. I have no desire for scandal of any kind, Your Grace, and assume you are not seeking to be stranded on the edge of a parson’s mousetrap with me.”
“Such an arrangement doesn’t appeal to me.” But strange as it was, given the mischief-making she was attempting to do, she appealed to him. More than any other lady ever had. And more and more he thought he knew why. “I don’t want to see your reputation have a glimmer of blemish. For any reason. We agree on that. However, it’s not only permissible for a man to make sure a young lady finds her way safely back to the party, but his duty.”
“Duty?” Her shoulders lifted and her expression turned from apprehensive to disbelieving. “That is an unwelcome word coming from you, Your Grace. For not wanting to meet me before you refused to marry me, for never coming to visit Winston even though he loved you as a brother, for not seeing the importance of finding the chalice to save his reputation, and for my mother’s shame should her son be branded a thief, consider any obligation you might have for me fulfilled.”
“That is a long list of recriminations for me to live down, Miss Stowe.”
“Impossible, I’d say, and I probably left something out.” She pinioned him with her blue gaze. “My brother was a man of honor who devoted his life to his calling. I will do everything within my power to see he is not blamed for something I know he did not do. I’m sorry you didn’t get to see how he grew from the boy you once knew to the fine man he was.”
Miss Stowe left no stone unturned. He had only one answer. “I pray one day you will accept my apologies that I didn’t get to do that.”
“I might well, if I thought your prayer sincere, YourGrace. From some of your language and temperament, I’m not sure you’ve been well-versed in the ways of the church.”
A soft rumble of laughter passed his lips. “I’ve known piety a Sunday or two and, as a lad, shared some of them with your brother.”
She managed a bit of a smile. “I am willing to risk my life to keep Winston’s legacy intact. If you can’t help me with the difficult things I need to do, I certainly don’t need you for something as simple as finding my way back to the ballroom.”
