Page 34 of Only a Duke (Ladies Who Dare #6)

Contentment had surely settled into his bones.

Laziness, too. Though for how long those feelings would remain, he couldn’t say.

If he were lucky, the whole night. If not.

.. he’d best enjoy every stolen second of them in this moment, since there was no other moment like it.

“As much as I want to, we can’t stay here for much longer. ”

“I know.” A small sigh. “The world awaits, does it not? What a shame that the line between dreams and life is as thin as a whisper.” She lifted herself away from him, and the loss was palpable, its emptiness reaching the depth of his soul.

“Oh, dear,” she muttered, glancing down at the disarray they’d created. “We’ve made quite a mess of things.”

Oliver removed a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it over. He liked the mess. He liked everything they made.

“What about you?” she asked, her gaze lighting up on a certain member of his body, which had since calmed down.

A flush spread from his neck up to his ears.

“I’ll be fine.” In times of need, one had to work with what one could.

They quickly cleaned themselves and rearranged their clothing.

Well, as much as they could. His mind shifted briefly to the looming complications of their situation.

“Your brother is rather astute, so we must be careful.”

She laughed. “That little brat does have the eyes of a hawk, does he not?”

Oliver hooked the last button into place, his gaze never wandering away from Louisa for long.

Her cheeks were still flushed, and her hair a bit disheveled, but they could blame the Brighton breeze for that.

He filed her angelic, tousled appeared in his memory, deep where it could never be shaken. Where time couldn’t touch it.

“Come to think about it,” she continued, “he won’t allow you to sleep anywhere else but his bed, you know that don’t you?”

Oliver nodded. Knowing Leo, that was likely true.

“A pity,” she said on a sigh. “I had wished for certain limbs to wrap around me all night.”

“ Louisa. ”

How was she supposed to keep a straight face if she continued to bewitch him with that bewitching tongue?

She laughed. “Very well, I shall stop lamenting my loss.”

Oliver shook his head at her teasing. The once drowsy contentment was already starting to wear away as their appearance returned to their original state.

Louisa had been right. A mere whisper separated dreams from real life.

It was foolish to think he could grasp onto this dreamlike moment and hold on forever.

Dreams and reality, the one couldn’t exist without the other, but they also couldn’t exist at the same time.

“How are you feeling?” Oliver asked, watching as she tilted her head to the side and combed her fingers through her hair.

She smiled at him. “That long hair and sea breezes don’t work well together.” The curve of her lips itched upward. “And that I’m still rather breathless, and I feel marvelous.”

“I mean your body.”

She let out a soft chuckle. “It feels a bit sensitive, that is all. Do not fret. I shall not expire because I seduced you. And you are also not allowed to feel remorse of any kind. I shall seduce you again if you do.”

This woman... she always managed to surprise him. Undo him. “Very well, but allow me to offer one thing to you.”

“Oh? Pray tell?”

He almost cursed at that intrigued tone. “A key to my door.”

She pursed her lips in humor. “What door? The door to your house? Oliver Cavanagh, just what exactly are you suggesting?”

Ah, hell. He grimaced at his own words. “I mean, it’s a proverbial key. An offer that you may always come to me and demand whatever you wish, and not only... this.”

She cocked her head, studying him. “Why would you make such an offer to me?”

“It’s hard to predict the consequences of this momentary dream, but more difficult to anticipate the results of everything we’ve done up to this moment.”

“Do you mean the possibility of my father discovering that Leo and I traveled with you and that Leo was kidnapped for a few hours and so forth?”

Oliver nodded. “Precisely.”

A moment of silence fell between them before she suddenly laughed. “Lawks, when reality returns, it truly returns .”

He mirrored her sentiment. “Indeed.”

“Thank you for your offer,” she said lightly, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “I shall take your proverbial key and keep it safe.”

He let out a low breath, relieved. “That is all I ask.” All he could ask.

He could offer her no more, other than his sincerity that he would not abandon her completely once they parted ways.

If only their societal connection wasn’t so complicated.

But he couldn’t ignore the fact that she was Talbot’s daughter, and neither could she ignore that her father would never allow even the slightest of friendships.

Then there was the secret that hung between them. A secret that she didn’t know even existed, and it certainly was not his place to reveal it.

Wasn’t it?

No, it couldn’t be. Even though he had been the one to go against his father’s wishes and help her escape, if Talbot hadn’t seen fit to inform his daughter of the details of her return home, there must be a reason for it, and he suspected it had to do with the trouble she had sleeping.

He might make it worse.

“The night...” Oliver trailed off, not certain whether he should ask or not.

Louisa arched a brow. “The night...? Do you have something to ask? Now is the time. The moment we enter the house, you shall not have another.”

Also so direct. Always so keenly aware of the shifting sands between them. “The night I fell asleep beside you in the second cottage—”

“Oh, that night.” Her eye glinted with sudden mischief.

His pulse did something odd with that look. “Yes, that night. It didn’t seem like you had trouble sleeping.”

“Is that a question?”

He exhaled, rolling his shoulders to rid himself of whatever had compelled him to bring it up in the first place. “Not exactly. I suppose I was just curious about it.”

“About you perhaps being the cure to my sleeping problems?”

God. His stomach twisted. “I never said that.”

She laughed, the sound light and airy, yet a shadow crossed her features. “Most nights, I struggle, yes, but there are nights that I am so exhausted that sleep claims me without effort. They are rare, but they exist.”

He nodded, but the answer did nothing to quell the unwelcome pit forming dead center in his chest. “I hope that changes in the future.”

Her smile turned sweet. “Thank you.”

“Shall we go?” He still didn’t know why he wanted to know. Had to know. Perhaps because that night had lingered with him far longer than it should have. Perhaps because he wasn’t accustomed to being needed, even in the most unspoken ways.

“Yes, I must admit, I am famished.”

“Miles cooked a pot of stew.”

Her eyes lit with intrigue. “This Miles, why have I never seen him before? He is like a phantom.”

“He doesn’t like to be seen.” Oliver opened the door and jumped from the carriage, landing with effortless grace before turning to offer his hand. She placed her palm in his and stepped out, only to gasp.

Oliver followed her gaze skyward.

Thousands of stars sparkled above them, stretching across the vast, endless night, not one cloud obstructing their shine. His gaze drifted back to her, and Oliver swore he saw those very stars reflected in her eyes.

The stars had caught her breath.

And she had caught his.