Page 25 of Only a Duke (Ladies Who Dare #6)

A kiss by any other name would still be a kiss.

Whether it be a peck, a brush of lips, or a scorching kiss as Oliver, the Duke of Mortimer had delivered.

The beat of her heart had yet to settle, and the echo of his lips remained.

Her fingers itched to press against them and calm the prickles that still lingered.

Even the tremor of the touch of his hands on her had yet to fade.

And she couldn’t seem to shake the scent of sandalwood that clung in her nose.

The kiss had left a mark.

An indelible one.

Lord, oh, Lord! I want another.

But one look at the man and she could tell that any control that was going to snap tonight had already snapped. There would be no more snapping.

A pity.

She rather liked the duke.

She certainly couldn’t understand why her father loathed the Cavanagh family so. If it had to do with Oliver’s father, she could understand he might have his reasons. But why carry those reasons over onto the son?

The image of a boy, perhaps a young man, flashed in her mind, causing her chest to contract with uneasiness.

A face, or rather the suggestion of one, hovered at the edges of her memory, blurred and unformed.

Try as she might, she could make out his features.

A whisper of soft, cooing words. A distant stirring of pain.

A shadowy canvas that disappeared the moment she blinked.

She exhaled, pressing her hand to her temple. What was that? The sliver of a memory? The shard of a dream?

“Is something wrong?”

Mortimer’s voice snapped her back to the present. She glanced up to find his gaze on her, so unreadable and yet so perceptive.

“No.” She forced a smile. “Just a passing thought.”

He didn’t look convinced, staring at her for a full minute before nodding. “Very well.” His focus returned to the ledger.

To distract herself from the haunting chill of that brief flash, she bit her lip and braved his annoyance, sliding into the space beside him, her skirts brushing against his leg, heat bleeding through the layers of fabric.

The reaction was instant. His hand faltered on the ledger, fingers pausing mid-turn, the air between them suddenly taut.

Did he feel it too? Or was she simply losing her mind?

She cleared her throat. “I want to see as well.” The light wasn’t good in here, but the moonlight and carriage lamps provided enough for determined eyes.

The duke said nothing, merely calmly turned the page.

“Well, at least they aren’t written in the form of wagers,” she said after a moment.

“You went through the betting book.”

“Of course. Who wouldn’t? Though honestly, I only gave it a few peeks and then got bored trying to decipher all the scrawls and confusing abbreviations. This is much more detailed.”

“That is to be expected. Here we have clear dates, details of contraband, routes, but also abbreviations of names.”

How bothersome. “Something tells me you will enjoy deciphering these names.”

“I do like puzzles.”

“Of course you do, otherwise we wouldn’t be here, would we?” She glanced from the ledger to his face. “So, will you copy the pages?”

“It would be the clever approach and should be enough to get a clear idea of who and what so that we can cross reference it with the betting book. That, with the betting book, should be enough evidence to dismantle the organization.”

It made sense. “Do you think everyone involved has ledgers like these?”

“I’m not sure.” He paused thoughtfully. “But the barman at my lodgings did say Talbot and your stepmother are visiting coastal towns.”

Louisa pursed her lips. “They are visiting friends, mostly friends of the duchess, so it could be—and I’m only speculating—that she might be visiting her criminal partners.

Any friend of the duchess could be part of this club of hers.

All hyenas, I tell you. However, my interest in their schedule doesn’t go beyond knowing they’ve left the house and provided me a bit of peace, so I’m not sure. ”

“Because of the duchess.” He paused. “You really do not like that woman.”

“And understatement,” Louisa said. Camilla did nothing overtly cruel, spoke no words of open hostility, yet the malice simmered beneath her surface like an undetected poison.

“I get shivers whenever I am in her presence. And not the good kind, I might add.” Not the kind of shivers like when you kissed me.

Oh, Lord! What was she thinking?

A sudden thought burst into her head like a bright light. “If Lady Havendish has such a ledger, wouldn’t the duchess have one as well?”

Hot eyes locked with hers, their depths lighting up too. “It is very plausible.”

She read the question he didn’t ask: Would you help me retrieve this ledger if it existed?

“Well, then it seems that we shall have to make haste to copy this ledger, trade it for the betting book, and return to Ashford before Lady Havendish discovers her ledger gone and connects all the crumbs that point back to me.”

He nodded, his lips twitching. “You are right.”

“There is also that Reaper fellow. He won’t be happy to find we have set off without him.” But she could imagine his face, and it brought a heap of satisfaction to her heart. As reckonings went, it wasn’t much, but it was still a sweet treat.

“It can’t be helped,” the duke said lightly. “He wasn’t there when we retrieved the ledger, and we couldn’t wait for him. As long as we still honor the deal, let him bark.”

“He’s going to bark that we took a different route back.”

“More’s the fun.”

Louisa chuckled. “Don’t like him that much?”

“I don’t like him lingering about us.”

“I can’t say I disagree. Those brothers... they are dangerous. Not men to be trifled with, and the words that roll off their tongues are particularly infuriating.”

“Agreed.”

She hoped her brother was doing all right. She would never forgive herself if she had put him in any sort of harm’s way. But she trusted Mortimer, and so she trusted that Mr. Helgate would look after Leo. He had also seemed rather fond of Leo.

Now all she had to do was look after herself and not pounce on the man beside her, who looked ever so delightful in uniform, and demand more kisses, especially when doing so could only complicate everything.

You only live once, Louisa , her inner voice whispered, then more loudly roared, Complicate some matters!

Urgh!

But she still had to choose carefully who she complicated matters with. She had vowed no powerful men. Yet, there was a lingering temptation to break her own rule. It was fine to be bold once in a while, wasn’t it?

Her heart gave a flutter. Boldness was a dangerous thing when it came to men like him.

But that made it all the more exciting. So, if she wanted to be bold, she couldn’t wait forever.

The duchess would be dealt with soon enough, but the fallout.

.. what would it bring? She shuddered to think.

The tide would shift, that much was certain.

And her family... what it would mean for her family, she couldn’t say.

Speaking of which, “You are aware that my father might hold you responsible if you take down his wife?”

A moment of silence. “The thought has occurred to me, yes.”

“Are you not worried?”

“Worried... It’s not as though I am doing it publicly. My aim is not his wife, but the organization itself. If he tries to blame me for her actions, that wouldn’t make him much of a man, now would it?” He glanced at her. “Are you worried about me, Louisa?”

“You are helping me.”

“And here I thought you were helping me.”

“Let us just say we are helping each other, then. I’ve always had this feeling that Camilla was trying to sink her nails into my brother. You are helping me prevent that, and also revealing that woman’s true character.”

“Unlikely allies, you and me,” he agreed.

“It’s the unlikely allies that make for the best ones, if you ask me.”

“I cannot agree on that score, only to say that you are the exception.”

Louisa beamed at him. “I quite like that.” Being his exception. She also quite liked being in this man’s company. Sharing with him this adventure. Searching for clues with him. Traveling with him.

Oh lord, didn’t she like him a bit too much?

They would soon be parting ways. And the leap in her pulse at that thought wasn’t a good sign.

She didn’t want to part ways. And yet, they would have to.

The thought lodged in her throat and sat there like a lump.

She liked him too much. More than she should.

More than was wise. She liked the way he looked at her, sharp and knowing.

The way his voice curled around her name.

The way, despite his title as enemy, she felt safe beside him in a way she had never known before.

Foolish, so foolish.

Theirs wasn’t a story that would ever have a happy ending. Her father’s hatred of the Cavanagh family ran too deep. They wouldn’t even be able to be friends after this. Well, perhaps they could be secret friends. She would have to content herself with that.

So why did it feel as though her heart was crumbling?

*

Oliver stared at Louisa’s profile, her lashes fluttering gently as she slept, her head resting against his shoulder.

The faintest hint of her scent—that subtle sweetness—embraced him once again without room for escape.

Even just this side of her face, with the curve of her cheek and the soft line of her jaw, was beautiful.

She had no idea how she affected him. No idea that she had blown into his life like a storm, disrupting everything.

There had always been a sharp divide between his world of business and the personal lives of others. Louisa, however, was different. She wasn’t something he could file away neatly in one category.

She was somewhere beyond.