Page 60 of The Duke on Her List
“We’re not going to stand out here arguing about it,” he said firmly. “You’ve had your dance in the rain, so we can check that off the list and move on to whatever the last item is. But not right now. Right now what matters is getting you in front of a warm fire so that you can dry off. I should never have kept you out here this long.”
“You didn’t keep me anywhere,” she said.
“Yes, I know. No one ever tells you what to do, do they?” He shook his head. “And I suppose you’re not going to listen when I tell you to go into the house, either.”
“If you didn’t want to go to the ball, you could have just said that from the beginning.”
For some reason, that was the final straw.
“For heaven’s sake,” he snapped, and scooped her up in his arms.
She gasped. “What are you doing?”
“If you won’t go inside on your own, I’ll take you there myself,” he said firmly, and before she could put up a fuss, he was striding through the front door and into the foyer, both of them dripping on the floor.
A maid came hurrying over. “Is something the matter?” she asked, wringing her hands.
“Lady Agnes has caught a chill,” Gabriel said.
“I haven’t caught a chill! Put me down.”
Gabriel ignored her. “We’ll need a fire in the sitting room, please, and some warm blankets.” He looked at Agnes appraisingly. “I don’t suppose there’s anything to be gained by asking you to go to your room to change into something dry?”
“I’m only a little damp!”
“I didn’t think so.” To the maid, he asked, “Will you have some hot tea sent in for her as well? Thank you very much.”
He walked off toward the sitting room, Agnes protesting in his arms, and settled her in a chair beside the fireplace.
Of course, she stood up at once. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“Do this for me,” he said. “I don’t know why you think I’m so out of line here, but do this one thing for me. I’m asking you. Just sithere and dry off for a while. Drink some tea. Talk to me, since we aren’t going to be going to the ball. Or is an evening in my company really such a dreadful thing?”
She closed her eyes for a moment. “I wish I understood what you wanted from me.”
“I don’t know why you don’t. My desires have never changed.”
“Well, that much I can believe,” she said.
He didn’t know what she meant by that. He didn’t know how to ask, either. It was a strange thing to have said, and he wanted to follow up, but now the maids were coming in with the tea and arranging it in front of them. Gabriel sat down and accepted his cup, sipping slowly, watching as blankets were wrapped around Agnes.
She wouldn’t have accepted that sort of thing from him, but she allowed the maids to see to their duties without argument. When she was wrapped in warmth with a cup in her hands, she regarded him quietly.
“That’s four list items down,” she said.
“One more to go,” Gabriel agreed, and wondered what it was going to be.
CHAPTER 28
The tension between them melted away slowly as they sipped their tea. It was so nice to be in the house, where it was warm, wrapped in a blanket. It was nice to have Gabriel in front of her, for that matter, and to know that he was here of his own free will. He could easily have left if he had wanted to.
She still didn’t understand why he stayed, what he hoped to achieve. But never mind. For now, she would simply give herself permission to enjoy his presence. She could worry about thewhyof it all later.
Dangerous, a voice in the back of her mind warned her.You turn a blind eye to too many things, Agnes. You let too many moments go by without trying to make yourself understand them. If you continue like this, you’re going to find yourself deeper and deeper in this strange infatuation you seem to have formed with him.
But Gabriel fixed her with his dark eyes, and for the first time, she saw concern there. “Do you feel better now?” he asked her.
“I…yes.” There was temptation to deny that she had felt ill at all, but it would have been a lie. She had been up all night worrying about what today would bring, and that had taken a toll on her. She’d woken feeling dizzy and disoriented, without any appetite to speak of, and had barely managed a piece of toast for breakfast. She had skipped lunch altogether. It was only now, huddled in this chair, that she was fully appreciating just how unwell she truly felt.
