Page 30 of Her Heartless Duke

“I trust that you can find your way back to Anderleigh Hall in two days?”

She scowled at what she perceived to be a condescending tone from him. “I am not an imbecile, Your Grace.”

She heard him mutter something under his breath. She would have asked him to clarify what he said, but she was already feeling rather fatigued and she wished to get home before she managed to come up with any more indecent thoughts toward the man before her.

“Very well then, if that is all, I should take my leave now.” She managed a curtsy. “Until next time, Your Grace.”

Isaac was still frowning at her when she backed away from him. As soon as she was out of sight, she walked hurriedly towards the front door where she found Horace already waiting with the carriage outside. A portly woman with a kind look in her eyes was standing right beside him.

“This is Mrs. Wilson, our housekeeper,” he explained. “She will accompany you home tonight, Lady Olivia.”

“Did you hear—oh, never mind,” she shook her head. “You could not possibly have…”

Horace merely smiled at her. “I did not hear anything from His Grace, of course. I merely anticipated the need for Mrs. Wilson’s presence due to the lateness of the hour.”

Olivia felt her cheeks warm up, feeling rather foolish. “Oh, thank you.”

As the carriage began clattering down the path toward Bennet House, Olivia felt grateful that Mrs. Wilson apparently did not see the need for chatter to fill the air between them. She sat perfectly still with a kind smile on her face as they made their way down the streets of London.

When they finally reached Bennet House, Olivia immediately headed for her bedchamber. She had barely changed into her night shift when she collapsed upon her bed, her eyes wide as she stared up at the canopy above her.

Good heavens, when she closed her eyes, she could swear that she could still feel Isaac’s hands boldly caressing her curves as if he had ownership of every inch of her.

As a young lady with a reputation to protect, she should not be having these thoughts. Neither should she be encouraging his attentions.

But, oh, how her body longed for him to touch her again.

To do so much more. With the little time she had left…

She turned her face to her pillow and let out a long, muffled scream. If she had known that Isaac Anderleigh was going to be so much trouble, maybe she really should have searched for a proper dance tutor instead of coercing him to teach her!

* * *

It had been a few hours since he had taken Olivia back to the fashionable residence that her brother maintained for the Bennet ladies. Still, he could not put her out of his mind.

The mere memory of her soft, excited gasps, the way her body arched into his… it was enough to make his breeches extremely uncomfortable.

He had already downed some brandy. Had even resorted to touching himself.

And yet, he could not be rid of the fever in his blood that was Olivia Bennet.

Without his knowledge, she had somehow crept into his consciousness and dismantled everything he knew. She had even evoked something that he had not felt in a long while—fear.

The sight of her, pale and dazed, had shaken him to his core.

He had always seen Olivia as a cheerful girl, a young woman brimming with the vitality of youth.

He saw none of that when she supposedly ‘tripped’ and fell in the ballroom earlier.

But then, she had brushed off his concerns. Clearly, she did not wish to discuss whatever it was that caused her to fall.

His eyes narrowed as he ran his fingers over the smooth surface of an onyx paperweight on his desk.

It would seem that she already knewsomething—she just did not want to tell him.

But Isaac meant to get to the bottom of it, because for the first time since he came back home from the war, his concern for her was far stronger than all else.

Much stronger, even, than his yearning for respite from the horrors of war that plagued him incessantly.