Page 27 of Only a Duke (Ladies Who Dare #6)

L ouisa woke up with a hefty weight pressing down on her legs.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open, unsure of what to make of this weight.

She scrunched her brows, adjusting to the light filtering into the room.

Seagulls chirped in the distance, along with the sound of waves crashing onto the shore.

There was also a brisk breeze that made her want to snuggle deeper into the weight, since it was comfortingly warm.

Wait. No, Louisa.

This weight and this warmth were not normal.

She blinked a few times, her eyelids still heavy, wanting to speed up the dissipation of the grogginess of sleep.

She was in a chamber. That she could tell.

She could also instantly tell from the mattress that it wasn’t the same chamber as the first one she’d slept in at Mr. Helgate’s house.

This one was a bit harder. They must have reached their destination then.

But how did she get from the carriage to here?

Priorities, Louisa!

Why was there a... weight... Her fingers brushed against something, no, someone , just as her gaze collided with a throat. A throat that trailed off into a chest.

You ninny!

Of course, a throat was attached to a chest! But this... this... just a part of this chest was showing, and yet her heart jolted, then began galloping inside her own chest.

Her gaze trailed up the chest, then the throat, to a familiar jawline, up to an exceedingly familiar arched set of lips, until it settled onto the complete face of a slumbering man with his eyes peacefully shut, as though sleeping in the same bed as her—no, having one leg thrown across her—wasn’t the strangest thing on earth!

But that was not all.

She was on her side, and below her head was an arm, and thrown across her body was another arm.

Dear Lord in Heaven!

She was completely enveloped by the duke!

But that still wasn’t all!

Her arm—lawks, her arm—circled around his waist. And one of her feet neatly tucked over his. She was embracing him back! They were enveloping each other!

Calm down, Louisa.

At this rate, her heart would climb out of her throat and explode all over the scene.

A throat cleared.

Her eyes dropped down and back up again.

It wasn’t his throat. And it most certainly wasn’t hers.

Her brows furrowed. She lifted her head to glance over Oliver’s shoulder, only to meet the gaze of her brother.

The boy’s gaze bored into hers with interest, as though he had stumbled across a very intriguing thing.

He had.

So had she, for that matter, since she couldn’t recall a thing.

“I see you are awake,” Leo said, cocking his head. “So you can answer my question now.”

“And what question would that be?” Louisa asked rather dumbly, her throat still raw from sleep. She cursed her addled brain.

“What exactly am I seeing, Louisa?”

She blinked, not quite sure how to answer that since she didn’t know what she was seeing either. “You should know that better than me, shouldn’t you? How long have you been standing there, staring at us?”

“I don’t know, ten minutes, perhaps. I’m not sure if I’m still dreaming. If I’m not, it seems that I just found my sister in the bed of our gardener.”

Well, how could she argue against that? Her mind also hadn’t caught up to the situation. “To be fair, he is not our gardener.”

“But you are in bed with him.”

Well, yes. “Your eyesight is still as sharp as ever,” Louisa muttered.

Honestly, she was curious, too. Her gaze shifted to the duke, who remained oblivious as he continued to sleep, the rise and fall of his chest almost peaceful.

He seemed younger this way. Not at all like a powerful man in the world. The entire scene felt strange.

“Does that mean . . .”

Louisa held her breath, not knowing what her brother might say, and not knowing why she was holding her breath because of it.

“Does that mean I can sleep in the same bed as Miss Hale?”

The words, when they finally came, echoed in her mind louder than they did in the room.

Louisa shot upright at the same time a chuckle came from beside her.

Her eyes whipped to the man in bed with her, locking with his deep amber ones.

Her heart thumped at the amusement she found dancing in the depths of them.

Wait, no, priorities! She glared at her brother. “No, you may not!”

“Why not?” he asked. “You slept in the same bed as the gardener. You are even holding him.”

Right, she was! Louisa snatched back her arm. Priorities, priorities, priorities. Which should be to extract herself from the duke first! She yanked her foot back as well. The duke, on the other hand, was much slower to retract himself.

She sent him a hot look.

He chuckled and slowly sat up, drawing his body to rest against the wall at the head of the bed. “My apologies,” he said, his voice still thick with sleep. “I meant to sleep in the drawing room.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Louisa bit out, trying hard not to notice just how devilishly handsome the Duke of Mortimer was with bed hair, several strands tumbling over his forehead.

Normally, since he dressed so humbly, he didn’t seem to care much about styling his hair.

But this—this was another roguish level altogether.

It was unfair, truly. He had no business looking so effortlessly, dashingly disheveled.

“I merely rested my head on the pillow for a bit and must have fallen asleep.”

Louisa scowled, hoping the heat rising to her cheeks wasn’t visible but entirely internal. “You shouldn’t have rested your head on the pillow at all!”

“I know.” Dry humor flashed in the depth of his gaze. “It was too tempting to resist.”

Louisa had no response to that, so she turned back to her brother, who simply stood staring at them curiously. “As you heard, this was a mere accident never to be repeated again. Don’t bother the servants with ridiculous requests.”

Leo gave a small pout. “Then you put a ridiculous request to our gardener and that’s why he’s here?”

“I am to blame this time,” Mortimer told Leo. “When you are an adult, only then can you bother ladies with ridiculous requests.”

Oh, lord. Change the subject. “I cannot believe I slept like a log last night. It’s never happened before. At least not in the last ten years.”

“Perhaps this will mark a change in your sleeping habits,” Leo remarked, his tone still sour.

Louisa rubbed her eyes. “One can only hope. Where is Mr. Helgate?” she asked her brother.

“He had an errand to run, but he prepared water and a cloth so you can wash yourself. I also brought your traveling bag with your clothes.”

Bless Mr. Helgate. “How about you? You didn’t get into any trouble, did you?”

Leo shook his head so fast it’s a wonder it didn’t fall off. “I did not! We caught two fish yesterday.”

“Did you cook them?”

His brow scrunched. “No, he said they were too small and tossed them back into the sea.”

Louisa smiled at his indignation until she met the duke’s gaze. “What are you still doing in my bed?”

He chuckled with indulgence and rose. “I shall make us some tea. Will that help aid your forgiveness in my slip?”

Tea? It would take more than tea, though it did sound good. In fact, it sounded like just what she needed. “It shall certainly help.”

Louisa watched him stride from the room, her brother trailing behind him, utterly at ease in their “gardener’s” presence.

The moment they were gone, she clutched her heart, falling back onto the bed as if the breath had been knocked from her lungs.

What on earth had just happened? How had it happened?

Why had it happened? It wasn’t merely that he had been in her bed—that alone was enough to send her wits scattering—it was the ease with which he had occupied it, like he belonged there.

A force that could upend her life with a whisper.

Although he had explained himself, that didn’t prevent her mind from racing along with her heartbeat.

He had looked rather harmless in those moments of sleep—not at all like a man who could bring entire rooms to silence with his mere presence—and she had to admit that for a reckless moment, she’d forgotten he was a duke, and a powerful one.

That seemed to happen a lot these days.

A bit of fun and boldness was one thing, but she could not—must not—forget that he was precisely the kind of man she had sworn never to lose her heart to.

And for good reason.

*

Oliver stepped into the small kitchen to find Helgate busying himself with an array of jams, cheese, and bread, as well as boiling water for tea.

“I thought you had an errand to run?” Oliver asked, his voice still rough.

His friend snorted. “And I thought you were keeping watch.”

Oliver scratched the top of his head. He had thought so as well.

He hadn’t meant to fall asleep. He also hadn’t meant to wrap himself around Louisa like that damn octopus in Havendish’s tank.

But instead of feeling remorse, he had felt strangely at home when he’d heard her and her brother bickering, and his body had awakened along with his mind with her body so close to his.

That was the part that unsettled him. Not the moment itself, nor the heat of her against him, but the ease of it.

As if his body had known something his head refused to acknowledge.

Christ, his muscles tensed with the mere memory of the way her limbs wrapped with his.

A man could lose himself in a woman like that. He could lose himself...

His friend grinned, motioning to the spread. “I returned ten minutes ago.” He sent Oliver a look that spoke volumes. “The boy insisted on waking you.”

Oliver looked to Leo, who pretended to be enthralled by a speck of dust on the wall.

Just how long had this little brat stared at them sleeping?

He thought Louisa had asked, but he couldn’t recall the answer.

It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes.

“Is there something you wish to ask me, young master?”