Page 51 of Her Rogue of a Duke
“Fie!” he snapped. “Have you taken to living on my doorstep, my lady?”
She looked up at him with a furrowed brow, her expression marred with annoyance and Joshua felt an equal stab of irritation. He did not have time for this.
“Why have my eyes just beheld LadyFrancesca Nightingaleleaving in a carriage from your estate?” she inquired sharply, her arms folded across her chest.
Joshua clenched his jaw. “Why that concerns you, I fail to see,” he replied, mirroring her edge.
Her jaw dropped and she appeared intensely offended by his dismissive tone.
“How am I to interpret when the gentleman courting me is hosting another lady at his home at such a late hour?” she pressed, her voice pitching in agitation. “I demand an explanation right this moment, Your Grace!”
Joshua glared down at her. She was going a step too far and he was in no mood to indulge her sense of entitlement.
“Before I address your question, I have one of my own,” he said evenly.
"What might that be?" she retorted, barely concealing her impatience.
He advanced toward her, closing the distance until he loomed above her. “The night you rescued me, you said something. Aphrase. A string of words that has etched itself indelibly in my memory through the years. Pray, tell me, what were those words you spoke?”
Lady Susan’s eyes widened abruptly and he thought he saw a flicker of panic in them.
“Oh, that… um, yes,” she nodded, stammering. “I did say something… what was it? Goodness, it was so long ago, and there was so much chaos… I can’t quite recall…”
Joshua narrowed his eyes, his suspicions mounting. “I find it rather curious thatIremember it, despite my barely conscious state. Surely, you, too, can recall what it was you said. It was a rather unusual phrase, after all.”
She stared at him, looking entirely baffled.
At length, she shook her head and shrugged. “I was so concerned with saving you… I was in such a state of panic. Whatever I might have said, I was merely trying to keep you calm and reassure you that all would be well.”
Joshua clenched his teeth, hating that her words did make a certain type of sense. However, he was not willing to believe such shallow explanations anymore.
Shaking his head, he said, “I am afraid I cannot truly believe that it was you who saved me that day if you cannot recall those specific words.”
Lady Susan faltered, her voice tinged with desperation. “I…I don’t…” she sputtered. “I do not remember, Your Grace. Butsurely my failure to recall a few words shouldn't negate all Idoremember about that night.”
“Itshouldand itwill.”
He could see she was growing increasingly frustrated and she trapped her lower lip between her teeth as she struggled to maintain her confused but sweet demeanor.
“I think perhaps you are placing too much importance on my words from that night,” she insisted. “Rather, should you not be glad that I was there at all? You would not be alive today had I not been.”
Joshua regarded her for several moments before he finally replied, “Regrettably, I remain unconvinced that it was truly you.”
With that, her entire façade shattered.
“What… what are you talking about?” she stuttered, her eyes flashing with indignation. “How should I remember something I said to you so long ago?”
He released a long, low breath. That was answer enough for him.
The only words that had passed between him and hisangelhad been that strange phrase.
“A wilting flower can still reach the sun.”
That was a phrase not easily forgotten. Spoken with such fluidity and grace on the night of his accident, it had embedded itself in Joshua's memory and provided him the catalyst toliveagain. It was clear to him that it was a familiar saying to his rescuer, used long before that fateful night. If Lady Susan had indeed been the one to save him, such words would have readily come to her lips.
At that moment, he spotted his horse being led to the front of the manor, fully saddled and prepared for travel. Without another word to her, he moved past Lady Susan and approached the steed.
“Your Grace!” she called after him. “Where are you going?”