Page 16 of His Stolen Duchess (Stolen by the Duke #7)

Chapter Twelve

“ G ood morning,” came a beautiful trill from the trees.

Lysander looked up to see Georgina appear in her bathing suit. She had a smile on her face and was doing her best to hide her nervousness.

Lysander waved to her. He stood by the gaping hole that had once held the stone gazebo, and he would go to his wife after he had finished surveying the first work.

Lysander slowly walked around the stone gazebo to ensure the work was being completed to his satisfaction.

He had decided to remove it completely and start anew.

The old gazebo had been taken out, and most of the stone had been removed, save for a few large stones that could be reused for the new building.

I used to use the gazebo a lot when it was here. Will I ever use the new one?

He didn’t need to think about that right now. The morning was beautiful and mild, with the sun rising brightly behind the trees. The water would still be cold, but the water was always cold.

As Lysander made his way over to Georgina, he hoped there would be no repeat of the panic she’d experienced during their previous lesson, but he understood it.

He’d seen men in the military who had become deathly afraid of guns after fighting in the war, even those who returned home physically unscathed.

We all have our experiences, and they contribute to who we are. Georgina almost died at the bottom of a lake. I must be patient with her.

“Good morning,” he greeted once he’d reached her. “Are you ready for another lesson?”

“Of course,” she replied. “I wish we could have done this sooner.” She turned in quick fashion and began marching into the water.

“Patience.” Lysander took two large steps and placed his hand on her arm, pulling her back. “Let’s not be too hasty. I admire your tenacity, but I’m teaching you, so we do this together, all right?”

“Whatever helps me to learn the quickest.” Georgina looked out at the water with her hands on her hips, smiling.

The smile was barely holding on. She reminded him a little of some of the younger men who went to war. Nearly all of them wore brave faces before their commanding officers, and almost all of them were the most terrified they had ever been in their lives.

“You continue to impress me. You are determined to overcome your fear.”

He knew that the best way to deal with someone overconfident was not to argue against them, but to encourage them while monitoring them. If you gained their trust, you could influence them without them resisting as much.

“Thank you.” Georgina kept the smile on her lips, but it looked heavy, as if it wanted to drop off into the water with a large splash and sink to the bottom of the lake.

“How about you lead the way?” Lysander suggested. “Take the same steps we took the other day, and I will follow you in. Go in as deep as we went on that day.”

Georgina swallowed, keeping the smile glued to her face while she did, but her brows furrowed ever so slightly. She nodded at him, looking down at his hand briefly before turning back to the water and taking a deep breath.

He had to admire her conviction as she stepped into the water. The cold lapped at her skin as she broke the water’s surface, making her jerk back a little, but she didn’t stop. She placed her other foot into the water and stood for only a second before she continued.

Lysander followed her in. He matched her pace, staying right behind her in case she panicked as the cold struck her.

When the water was halfway up her thighs, he smiled, knowing that she couldn’t see him.

The sight was a picture to behold. The lake was still in the middle distance, and the trees reflected perfectly in the water. Behind them rose the foothills and the brightening blue sky. All of nature’s beauty surrounded and framed Georgina.

The bathing suit clung to her, showing off her hourglass figure, and he could imagine the hair flowing down her back if she hadn’t tucked it into the bathing cap.

The chilly water must have dampened his passion enough. He could stand behind her and admire her figure without wanting to reach out and grab her. He followed her in, his feet tracing her step and his eyes tracing her body.

Georgina came to a stop once the water reached her neck. The water was also nearly to his shoulders.

“No hesitation,” he remarked. “You walked all the way in without stopping. How do you feel?”

“I’m ready to learn what to do next.”

He could hear the light tremor in her voice.

“Last time you learned how to float, and perhaps that was the wrong way to do things. When you ran into some trouble, you didn’t know what to do to help yourself, so we’ll focus on that this morning.”

“Good,” she said nervously. “I was thinking I would ask you about that. I want to be able to save myself in the water.”

“Then let’s start with the breaststroke.”

“Your Grace, we could have done this back at the manor instead of coming all the way out here, don’t you think?” She moved around slowly in the water to face him.

Lysander sighed. “Do you wish to learn or not?”

“That all depends on what you are teaching me.”

He had half a mind to grab her body right then and rise to the challenge, something she would not expect him to do, but he remained composed.

“I want you to imagine you are swimming like a frog. First, you can put your arms out in front of you, and you will tip yourself forward, and I will take hold of your midriff to keep you steady. Then, you can begin to kick your legs. Let’s get you in position first.”

He took hold of her waist, and for a moment their faces were close. He tipped her forward before he had thoughts of doing anything else. Her comment about the breaststroke was implanted in his mind. He held onto her soft body as she became horizontal in the water.

“Good. I won’t let you go at all for this lesson. I want you to pull your feet toward your body and bend your knees outward. Then, draw your feet around in circles, kicking them back and out before bringing them together again. Try that now.”

Georgina kicked dutifully with her legs as instructed.

“Almost perfect. Did you feel how that drove you forward a little?”

“I did!” Her voice was full of wonder at her unexpected accomplishment.

“Let’s try that a few times. Kick your legs again and again, and if I hold you, you should move around in a circle under your own power.”

Georgina kicked, then laughed as she moved around in a circle under her own propulsion.

“Is this swimming?” she asked. “Am I swimming?”

“Partly.” He didn’t feel the cold of the water anymore. “There is still much to learn, and you will have to do this sometime without me holding you up, but you are a quick learner.”

Georgina laughed again, the joy in her voice loud and clear. The sound was amplified by the lake, and the Duke imagined it carrying over the lake to the village, where his subjects would know it was her laughing.

I didn’t think they would accept her so quickly, but she seems to have a magic touch.

“Take a break for now,” he instructed.

Georgina stopped kicking, and he gently righted her until she was standing back in the water up to her neck. If she felt cold because of it, she showed no sign.

“You have improved dramatically. The last time we were here, the water conquered you, but today you have conquered the water.”

Georgina smiled, a full smile that suggested to him why it had been so easy to win over the people in the village. There was so much unbridled happiness within that smile. As she stared at him, the wide smile stretching her lips, he felt some of her happiness seep into him.

“You are doing well,” he told her.

“I’m only doing well because I have such a good teacher,” she replied. “I would not have expected you to be so commanding in a gentle way.”

“Part of my training in the military was how to command men. Sometimes, it is easier to command an entire battalion—they help to keep each other in step. Yet, when training a single person and they listen as well as you do, it is far easier.”

“So, you’re telling me that I’m doing better than an entire battalion?” Georgina asked.

“In some ways,” the Duke admitted. “I’m not sure how well your frog kick would do against the enemy, but you are only a new recruit.”

“What was it like?” Georgina asked. “You obviously came back in one piece.”

Did I? You don’t even know me. You don’t know how many pieces the war broke me into.

“I don’t want to talk about war. Why would I want to speak about something so horrific?”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that,” she stuttered.

“I don’t know what you went through, of course.

It is only that my father was in the military, too, and that connection interested me.

And I know how it can be, even if I haven’t experienced any of it.

Father always said that the bayonet was the weapon he feared the most. Such an elegant weapon, he always used to say, but one with a simple honesty. ”

“Then your father is a wise man.” The Duke looked past Georgina to the stillness of the water in the distance.

“I can still list the contents of a field officer’s pack.” Georgina puffed her chest under the water. “Right down to the powder flask and spare flints. Papa always told me I never listened, but I listened more than he knew.”

Lysander looked back at Georgina. “You continue to surprise me. I don’t like to make sweeping generalizations about people, but I had a notion of you before we were wed, and assumed you were like most other ladies.”

Georgina puffed out her chest some more. “I am not like other ladies.”

“I can see that now. You are far better, for you know something about the real world. Most ladies prance around in London society, sipping champagne and eating the finest food, and they forget the horrors that had to happen for them to get that. I’m glad they don’t know what war is like, but it also means they don’t know what life is really like. You know more than they do.”

“That might be the nicest thing you have said to me, Your Grace, and the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me. There have been things said, I am sure, but they are mostly superficial. You speak of me knowing the world, and that gives me great pride.”

“It should. You exhibit courage in a lot of what you do. There is much to be proud of. How refreshing it is to have a wife who is not like the other ladies.”

“And how refreshing it is to have a husband who can see me for who I am.”

Yes, I see you, but I can’t let you see me.

Then, those eyes again, amber-brown and endlessly expressive, that watched him with a stillness that unsettled him. There was something in them that tugged at the edges of his composure. Not accusation, not even curiosity, but something deeper. Reflection, perhaps. Or recognition.

It almost felt like a trap, though one he’d laid for himself.

They floated in the water, tethered by necessity, his hand still at her waist, her fingers barely grazing his shoulder for balance. The lake remained calm, but the memory of her slipping beneath the surface still clenched his gut. He couldn’t let her drift—not yet.

They were close. Unavoidably so. Propriety had no place between the current and the bank. And to make matters worse—or better, depending on how one measured disaster—he had just paid her what might have been the sincerest compliment of her life.

Of course, she’d be looking at him like that. As though he’d done something extraordinary.

As though I meant it.

He cleared his throat, but the words caught. What was there to say? That he hadn’t meant for it to matter? That she shouldn’t be staring at him that way, as though he’d magically changed something between them simply by noticing her?

God help him, he had noticed. And now it was too late to unsee her.

She calmly regarded him with her soft, liquid eyes, but all he could do was stare back into them, mesmerized by their depths.

If she truly knew me, would she still look at me as she does?

He could see what she wanted. They had created a connection with each other, a small one, but a connection all the same. She had shared with him, given a part of herself to him, and she wanted to give more. She had tasted him once, and she enjoyed it. She wanted to taste him again.

He wanted more than that. He wanted to devour her in the lake and bring heat to both their bodies.

He stared back at her for far too long. She was testing the waters, and he was inviting her in.

He should never have gazed into her eyes, but it was nearly impossible with how beautiful and alluring they were.

They were two sirens, waiting on the rocks to tempt him closer, where he would crash against the cliffs and be lost to the water. He was supposed to be teaching her how to swim so she wouldn’t drown. Yet, he felt like the one who was drowning.

You’re a soldier. You have dealt with far more demanding situations.

“That is enough for today,” he instructed. “You did well to learn as quickly as you did. The next time, you will learn how to use your arms. So, back to the bank.”

“Oh, you don’t want to stay out here longer?” Her eyes became a little more pointed in her stare, and they weren’t as wide anymore.

“It’s cold, and time to return. That is for the best.”

Before we do something we can’t take back.