Page 21 of Duchess By Condition
“How long does it take to get dressed?”
“It’s complicated for a lady. I would never have taken my clothes off down here had I known that I was going to be ambushed!”
He could hear her moving around, and it excited him greatly. That they were so close, and that she was still in a state of undress…his thoughts simmered like a pot on a stove. What would it be like to turn around and see her for himself? How much was she wearing right now? How scandalized would she be if he turned early? Would she be upset, or would she just be angry? He didn’t want to upset her, of course, but the thought of bringing out that temper again was so alluring…
“All right,” she said. “You may turn around.”
And the moment vanished. He was equally pleased with himself for holding out and disappointed that he hadn’t acted when he could. He turned back around.
Her hair hung loose and damp about her shoulders. She was squeezing the ends with her towel, wringing out the water. Her clothes were tidy, but he could tell that they had been hastily put on by the way a few things were crooked here and there.
“You should have left the moment you found me here,” she said quietly, crossing her arms. “Why didn’t you do that?”
“Because I didn’t want to leave,” he said. “I’ve been trying to talk to you all week, Lady Violet. You’ve been avoiding me. Well, now I’ve found you, and I won’t leave. Not until I get a conversation.”
CHAPTER 12
“Ithought,” Violet said, staring the duke down, “that you wanted us to be on a first name basis now.”
“And I thought youdidn’twant that,” he countered. “Have you changed your mind?”
“I suppose I have,” she agreed. “It happened when you walked in on me in the bath. Suddenly I feel less of a need to be formal with you, for some reason,Jonathan.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “All right, Violet,” he agreed. “If that’s what you’re comfortable with, that’s what we’ll do.”
“Oh, don’t try this on me too.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe how low you can be.”
“All right.” His brow furrowed. “It’s time for answers, Violet. It’s time for you to tell me what I’ve done that you find so reprehensible. I know I teased you a bit at breakfast the otherday, and I really am sorry if that bothered you. I didn’t mean for it to. Or at least, not this much. I admit I was trying to frustrate you a bit, and perhaps that was unkind of me. So I apologize.”
“I don’t care about what you said tome.” Did he really think she was so petty? “This is about the things you said to Noah.”
“To Noah? What did I say to Noah that was wrong?”
She was having trouble looking at him. Talking to him was out of the question. “If you really want a conversation with me then put a shirt on,” she said. “I can’t stand here talking to you while you’re…” She waved a hand at his body to indicate the fact that he was undressed.
He seemed as though maybe he had forgotten that fact. He looked down at himself, then back up, his eyes wide with surprise.
Violet kept her gaze down. At least, she tried to keep it down. It was difficult, though, to keep from glancing up occasionally at the broad planes of his chest. He was so attractive, such aman. She had never seen a man without his shirt on before. It stirred something deep within her that she wouldn’t have expected, something she wasn’t sure she wanted. It was no good to her to be captivated by this duke. She needed to keep her mind on her own affairs so that she could have the conversation with him she needed to have.
Jonathan picked his shirt up off the floor and pulled it back on. Now it was safe to look at him, and she did so. His expressionwas baffled and a little wounded, as though he really didn’t know what he had done wrong, but that couldn’t be the case. Not after the way he had acted. Not after the way he had come to Noah and tried as hard as he could to pull Noah in…to get him on his side…
He wasn’t showing any recognition of that fact, though, and she needed him to understand. If she had to spell this out for him, she would do it.
“You just…turned on a dime, didn’t you? You wanted nothing to do with that child. You were cold and distant with him. And then, suddenly and out of nowhere, you treated him like a friend. Like a father, nearly.” Anger was boiling through her, just as it had that day at the breakfast table. “Why would you do that?”
He threw up his hands. “Youwantedme to do that! Don’t you remember? Don’t you have any memory of the way you told me that was what he needed and I ought to provide it?”
“Don’t pretend you got close with Noah because I told you to.”
“Well, why did I do it then?” he asked her. “You seem to know more about my motives than I do, so maybe you can enlighten me here.”
“You did it because you realized that raising Noah was a part of taking ownership of this house. You did it because you wanted to convince everyone that you deserved that responsibility. But that’s a horrible way to try to come into possession of a house. That boy has been through enough. He needs someone he canrely on, not someone who is only pretending to care about him so that they can take ownership of a house!”
It was a relief to finally say all these things out loud. She was breathing rapidly when she finished, as if she’d just run a race.
Jonathan stared at her. “That’s what you think?” he asked quietly. “You think I was putting on an act to gain his trust so that I could get the house?”
“I just don’t see how it could have been anything else.”
