Page 5

“We do not need to do this,” he said again, shifting then to look out the window.

Well... that was rude!

Caroline supposed that she should have been grateful. At least this saved her having to engage in small talk with a man who had said perhaps ten words to her since they met, none of which had been very nice.

Still, she could not help but look at him, unable to deny how ruggedly handsome he was, which in itself was a problem as such thoughts of this were not common to Caroline. In fact, they were wrong. Yet sitting closer to the open window now, the sun on his face, his cheek sharp, his nose straight, and his lips thick...no! That is wrong to think. So very wrong…He was cruel, she decided to focus on instead, and disinterested, and the sooner they arrived, the sooner she could start avoiding him. An action she suspected he might appreciate for a change.

They rode in silence for several minutes, Caroline shifting awkwardly, careful at the same time not to annoy him further. Silence was the aim here, to become invisible so he would forget that she?—

“Oh!” she cried out suddenly, unable to stop herself because it was just then than a bug of some sort flew through the window. “Oh no!” she jumped up as it came for her. “Argh!”

Despite her best efforts, Caroline thrashed wildly as the bug attacked her. She couldfeelit on her skin, in her hair, down her dress! She waved her arms, crying out, jumping to her feet where she hit her head on the roof and collapsed in pain.

“Get it out! Get it out! Get it out!”

The duke said nothing. In fact, he didn’t so much as move. Eyes closed, breathing heavily, Caroline forced herself to calm and then pried a single eye open. Unsurprisingly, the bug was gone. More surprisingly than that, the duke was smirking at her.

“What?”

“It flew away,” he said.

“Oh...” she blinked, her cheeks flushing red with embarrassment. “G—good.”

“Lucky that it did,” he continued, that smirk still upon his lips. “It is said that ten ladies each year die from bug attacks. I would hate for you to have become a victim.”

“Excuse me?”

He shrugged, still smirking, and then turned back to looking out of the window.

Her cheeks were still flushed red, although now the cause was anger.He is mocking me!The man has strung barely a sentence together since we started this trip and now he has the gall to make fun!

“It is not funny,” she snapped. A stupid thing to do, but Caroline hadn’t exactly been making smart decisions today, so what was one more bad one?

“Are you sure about that?”

“I thought you were a gentleman,” she said. “And from my experience, gentlemen are not in the habit of mocking young ladies.”

“Is that your experience?”

“It is.”

He shrugged, still looking out the window. “And in my experience, young ladies are not in the habit of having heart attacks at the sight of a mere beetle.”

“I did not have a heart attack!”

“Lucky you did not. I have been delayed once today already, and I would not appreciate another stop.”

Her eyes flashed with anger, and she sat herself up. “My apologies,Your Grace.I do not know what I was thinking. Upsetting you with my fright. Shame on me.”

“Upsetting me?” He turned finally, the amusement gone, the frustration he had carried with him since they first met, returned in full. “Your little panic attack right now did not upset me.”

“It was not?—”

“What has upset me is having to save you from a situation in which you should not have found yourself in the first place. Were you a stray at least, that might be understandable, as they do not know any better. You, however, are not so lucky to have that same excuse.”

“Did you just compare me to a stray dog?”

“In a fashion.” He said dryly. “Albeit a stray might be better company. They at least know how to do as they are told.”