Page 24

She stared at his hand, not sure if it was a viper or an olive branch. Her traitorous heart wanted to think of it as the latter. But before she could react, the door opened, and the duchess came in.

“Sarah, my dear, how lovely to see you! I do hope you’re feeling better.

” She advanced on Sarah and kissed her cheek.

“Robert, why didn’t you tell me Sarah was here?

You must join us for afternoon tea,” she said, sweeping Sarah off upstairs to the parlor where she found not only Lady Ava but Lords Hereward and Kenrick, who were all delighted to see her and enveloped her in hugs and kisses—and from Ava, a pelting of questions.

She wanted to be angry with the duke, but it was impossible to be angry with his family.

*

Robert cursed under his breath as his mother bore Sarah off. Had she been about to accept my apology or not? Em emerged from a bookcase and jumped to the ground with a thud, prowling over to rub round his legs. He bent and patted her, running her tail through his hand.

“It’s a tricky one, Em. What do you think I should do?” Green eyes blinked at him, and she uttered one of her mrrp noises, butting his hand with her head.

“Thank you for the vote of confidence,” he said. “I’ll keep trying.”

Straightening, he followed Sarah and his mother upstairs to the parlor.

Joining Sarah on one of the sofas, he took a cup of tea from Ava and hoped Sarah would not show his family that there was discord between them.

They needed to finish their conversation on their own.

The talk was all of Ava’s ball which was set for tomorrow night.

Sarah, to her credit, participated in the conversation with all signs of enthusiasm.

She was not allowing their disagreement to color her behavior in front of his family.

He was conscious of a sudden surge of pride in her composure, despite his frustration with their situation.

She has the maturity and self-control required of a duchess, and in fact she puts me to shame for my lack of it, he reflected in a moment of insight.

He was having rather a lot of those lately, and none of them reflected well on him.

When the opportunity presented itself, he sought her left hand discretely where it lay in the folds of her skirt and squeezed.

Startled, she glanced at him and flushed faintly, he smiled and raised her hand to his lips.

While public displays of affection could be considered vulgar, he felt that it was worth whatever blow his dignity might take in letting his family see this bit of discreet affection between them.

Sarah stared at him a moment and lowered her gaze with becoming maidenly confusion, a disguise he suspected for her latent hostility toward him, though he was pleased to note that she didn’t try to snatch her hand away.

He caught a smirk on his mother’s face and a positive grin on Ava’s. Kenrick actually winked at him, and even Hereward showed mild signs of amusement.

The duchess put her teacup down. “Well, I have a dozen things to do before dinner. Sarah, you will stay and join us for dinner, won’t you? We are having a quiet night in, because tomorrow will be so hectic. I’m sure Robert can keep you amused until dinnertime.”

Sarah glanced at him helplessly and he smiled. “Of course I can, Mama. Perhaps you’d like a tour of the house, my dear?”

“What a splendid idea,” said the duchess. “I’d do it myself, but as I said, I have a dozen things to do.”

“Do you need some help, Your Grace?” asked Sarah.

“No, no, not today, but tomorrow perhaps if you come over around midday? Bring your gown and you can change here with the other girls. Ava’s maid can dress your hair.”

“You’re most kind, Your Grace.”

“Please, my dear, you must address me as Mama. I cannot tell you how delighted I am to have another daughter.”

The duchess gave her a hug and Robert mouthed thank you over her head. The duchess shook her head at him and smiled. She then swept Ava off for more ball preparations, and his brothers sloped off to the billiard room, leaving him alone with Sarah. His family could always be relied upon.

“Thank you for agreeing to stay,” he said, drawing her back down onto the couch.

“I hardly had the opportunity to refuse.”

“Mama is somewhat of a force of nature,” he said. “She knew I wanted you to stay.”

“To continue our quarrel?”

“To resolve it, I hope. Will you accept my apology, Sarah?”

She looked down and then up, swallowing visibly. “Yes,” she smiled tentatively, and he was tempted to kiss her, but there was one other matter he needed to address with her. It was burning a hole in his breast.

“I also wanted you to know that I have taken steps to ensure that you will no longer be bothered by the Earl of Lannister. If he should approach you again, I want you to advise me at once.”

Her cheeks flamed, and she jerked her hands from his grasp.

“What do you mean?”

“I am aware that he importuned you in the park two days ago. I regret that you were put to such distress and that I was not able to prevent it.”

“So, you’re spying on me as well?” Her eyes flashed, and his heart sank. She was angry with him again, but this time he felt as if he was on firmer ground.

“No, servants’ gossip. I was informed, that is all.”

She rose and walked to the window, so he perforce rose also and followed her. She was clearly agitated.

“I’m sorry to upset you,” he said again. “But it is my duty and privilege to protect you from such blackguards as Lannister. He is not a proper person for you to know. It upset me greatly that he had the audacity to offer for—” he broke off as she turned to face him.

“How do you know what he said to me if you were not spying on me?”

“He told me himself when I confronted him.”

“He made the offer out of kindness, nothing else. He could see I was unhappy.”

“My dear, you are surely not that na?ve? If you think me a fortune hunter, Lannister is far worse. And his reputation is shocking, his morals no better.”

“Yet I believe he was more sincere in his offer than you, Your Grace.”

Her words were a kick to the gut. Struggling to maintain control of his temper, he said in shaking accents, “In what way?”

“He was motivated by care for me, which you were not!”

“I was motivated by the need to save your reputation, and”—his innate honesty forced him to add—“in some small measure my own. The last thing Ava needs right now is for her brother to be embroiled in a scandal. But that aside, I had already offered for you before being discovered at the ball and renewing that offer. It was you who turned me down!”

He recalled the reason she had given him for her refusal in the first place and a sick feeling of dread entered his stomach.

“Am I to understand that the person who had engaged your affections was Lannister?”

“That is a moot point now,” she said, her back still toward him.

“Yes, because once the announcement of our engagement was made, it would cause a monumental scandal if you threw me over for Lannister, wouldn’t it? And that would as surely ruin your sisters’ chances as any scandal I could have caused. Worse in fact.”

“Exactly.”

He found he was shaking now with something other than anger, and there was an ache in the region of his heart the like of which he had never felt before. “Damn it, Sarah! You can’t love him. He is the worst kind of man, a liar and a cheat, a libertine. I tell you he has no moral compass whatever.”

“You cannot tell me who to love and who not to love, Your Grace. Although it is just like you to try. You are so accustomed to having everyone do your bidding, you cannot fathom why it is you cannot control me!” Her voice cracked on a sob and something inside him cracked with it.

“Sarah, Sarah, don’t.” He wrapped his arms round her, pulling her back against his chest. “Don’t cry.

” He squeezed her tight and kissed her hair, getting a lungful of orange blossom scent.

Her hair was so soft and lush. He closed his eyes.

He felt like something had stabbed him in the heart.

Is this what it is like to love someone?

It is nothing like I had thought it would be. Or is it just hurt pride? Jealousy?

He was so confused he didn’t know what to think, except that having her cry was tearing him apart.

He had to do something to make her stop.

“Sarah, please, don’t cry. Don’t cry over him, he’s not worth it.

He doesn’t deserve your tears.” He kissed her hair again and murmured, “I’m sorry.

I’m sorry, my dear. If I could make it right, I would. ”

The notion that she could shed tears over Lannister was eating a hole through his stomach. If he had disliked the man before, he loathed him now. What he was apologizing for he had no clear idea of, only that he wanted her to stop hurting.

She turned within his arms, her face resting against his chest, which he rather liked the feel of. She sniffed and said, “That’s the first nice thing you’ve said to me.”

“Is it?” he asked, appalled.

She nodded, pulling away from him and searching in her reticule for a handkerchief. She blew her nose and wiped her eyes.

“Am I so abominable?”

“Yes,” she said, putting her handkerchief away. “You don’t mean to be. I’ve grown somewhat accustomed to your barbed comments and your complete lack of consideration of others’ feelings.”

Her words left him speechless.

“But I’ve seen you with your family and I admit you’re much nicer with them.”

“Oh God! You’re the third person in three weeks to tell me I’m an inconsiderate”—he stopped short of using the word on the tip of his tongue and instead said—“person.”

“I was infatuated with you once. But that was before I knew you. Before I understood that the only things you care about are appearances and money.”

He fell back a step, gut punched yet again. “That isn’t true, Sarah.”

“Isn’t it? Yet everything you say and do convinces me that it is.”

“Then I shall have to endeavor to convince you otherwise, though I’m at a loss to know how to do so at the moment,” he said stiffly.

He felt bruised, battered, and confused.

As if he had been picked up by a whirlwind, tossed about, and dropped carelessly on the sidewalk.

She turned aside and he ruffled his hair again.

“You seem determined to paint me as some kind of monster.”

“We are perhaps ill-suited, Your Grace.”

“No. I refuse to accept that. We have had moments of accord, have we not?”

“Yes,” she agreed somewhat reluctantly.

“Well then, that must give us a basis for something. Please, Sarah, I cannot face the prospect of being in a state of discord with you for the rest of my life. The thought is untenable.” When she didn’t respond, he said awkwardly, “Unless you find me so abhorrent that you cannot stomach me...”

She turned then and said, “No, you are right. We must make the best of it. There are others who are impacted by our decisions, who do not deserve to be punished for our—mistakes.”

“That is true. Both our families would suffer.”

“I would do anything to save them hurt.”

“As would I. We have something in common then,” he said with a hopeful smile.

His chest still hurt. He wanted her back in his arms. Things seemed better when they touched.

He stroked her arm. “Sarah?” He turned her gently to face him.

Lifting her chin, he bent his head and kissed her, desperately trying to evoke something of what they had shared before.

She stiffened initially but didn’t pull away.

He slid his arms round her, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss, that tingling delight he had experienced before overwhelming his senses.

Her mouth moved under his, responding to his kisses in a way that gave him heart.

They might struggle to communicate verbally, but this, this was something else.

He had bedded several women in his life, but none had inspired the level of longing and, he had to admit, outright lust as Sarah did.

What it was about her, he didn’t know, but his thoughts had grown increasingly lewd where she was concerned.

To have her back in his arms confirmed that it was where she belonged, and he wasn’t giving her up without an almighty fight.

She may have developed a tendre for Lannister, but it was he she was going to marry.

And damn it, he would win her elusive heart or die in the attempt.

He pressed her closer, his body hard and hot for her soft curves, his mouth greedy for her kisses. His lips wandered from her mouth to her jaw and her neck, his hands sliding over her back and only by sheer force of will avoiding wandering lower. He wanted to, but he also didn’t want to shock her.

He found her mouth again and was rewarded by her arms sliding up round his neck and her head titling to give him a better angle to kiss her. She leaned into his kiss and returned it, sending shocks of pleasure through his body that made his pulse race and robbed him of breath.

He pulled her closer, kissing her more deeply, unable to stifle the noise of longing in his throat she aroused in him. God, I want her. She was going to be his wife and he would find a way to win her heart, he would.

A noise made him look up and let go of Sarah abruptly. Ava stood in the doorway, her hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry!” she said, grinning widely. “I left my book in here.” She dove across the room to get it and fled. “Please carry on, don’t mind me!” she said, halfway down the hall.

Sarah was flushed, her eyes bright and her lips slightly swollen from his kisses.

And his eyes couldn’t fail to pick up the slight protrusion through her bodice of her nipples, which told him all he needed to know of her reaction to his lovemaking.

That at least was a comfort in the face of their previous conversation.

He smiled at Sarah. “Ava enjoyed that far too much. Would you like that tour of the house now?” Any more kissing at this point would be dangerous, but he would renew his assault on her senses every opportunity he got.

Lannister be damned. I am the better man, and I’ll prove it.