Page 23 of Seven Nights with the Wicked Duke (Regency Beasts #3)

" D o you like to paint with watercolors?

" Lord Hickling's voice came from beside her, pulling her from her reverie.

She looked up to see him smiling kindly at her, even though she was sure that he must have noticed how distracted she was.

How her mind was miles away even though her body walked beside him along the banks of the Serpentine while her brother trailed them at a respectable distance to act as a chaperone.

"I am sorry, my lord" she said with an apologetic smile. "My mind wandered. What did you want to know?"

"I asked if you painted with watercolors. The view of the river would be beautiful if captured in a painting."

"It is indeed beautiful," she murmured, looking across to the large expense of water that had its banks lined with trees and shrubs, that in combination with the early morning foggy weather, looked like something out of her fantasy books.

Hector was right, it would look beautiful if the scene was preserved in a painting.

Unfortunately she lacked the skills to bring such a magnificent scene alive on canvas.

"Unfortunately, my lord, I never learnt to paint with watercolors. In moments like these, I wish I had the skills to have this magnificent view preserved on canvas, to be enjoyed privately from time to time when one cannot visit."

"The park is not far. No reason why you cannot enjoy it."

"The weather is not always favorable for a promenade, my lord," she said gently, smiling to soften her words. "Besides we usually depart for the countryside once the season comes to an end."

"I understand, my lady," he said smiling, but somehow the smile did not reach his eyes. "Precisely the reason why having a painting of this would be lovely."

"I agree," she replied.

"I am curious as to the reason why a young lady like you does not know how to paint. I thought it is the sort of feminine pursuits young ladies are required to learn?" he asked.

And there it was, that hint of irritation that had haunted most of their conversations for the past few weeks.

These questions he asked like he was trying to compare her to another woman -a perfect one- while pretending that he was enamored with her.

By all other accounts, he was the perfect gentlemen, appearing every now and then to take her out to many different interesting places that she never knew existed.

So far, she had visited several theaters across London, museums, and art exhibitions.

Spending time with Hector was definitely interesting, but for some reason she could not summon the right amount of excitement for their adventure.

In every way Hector was the perfect suitor for her, he was tall and handsome in the way that would make her the envy of the ton , he was also a viscount who had his own fortune and so was in no hurry to snag hers.

Lastly, he was funny, interesting, and shared the same hobbies as she did.

From all indications she should be falling at his feet, eager to marry him.

Instead, she felt nothing.

She could not fault him for thinking her lacking in some way, when she spent the bulk of their time together comparing him to someone else.

While his blue eyes smiling down on her were flattering, it lacked the spine melting intensity of Theo's and when he stared at her, she felt nothing of the shivers that came with Theo sparing her a glance.

When he placed a proprietary hand on the small of her back as he led her about, she found herself wishing that it was someone else touching her.

Someone who could turn her mindless with such a simple touch.

But even as she thought it, she knew that such a wish was dangerous.

Theo, no matter his charm, was a rake, one who has made a sport out of charming his way into so the beds of many ladies in the ton and beyond.

While such attention might be electrifying, she did not think that she could bear the humiliation and abandonment that would come after.

Because, even though she might be naive of the ways of men and women, she knew that what she felt for Theo went a little deeper than lust, with every day she spent in his arms, she felt herself falling deeper for him in a way that would make the inevitable crash to reality excruciating.

Theo would definitely not marry her, and she would never want him to suffer from being trapped in a marriage he did not want.

She admired his freedom and spontaneity too much to let that happen.

The best decision was to stay far away from him, just as she had been doing, marry Hector, the perfect gentleman, and give birth to little blonde babies, while she locked her dark desires in a drawer that would never be opened again, just like her list was.

Even as she made that decision, it felt wrong, but life came with choices, each choice with its own price. The price for the perfect life she wanted was to lock away her forbidden desires for a certain man. She just had to hope that the life she wanted would be worth it. She had to make it enough.

"As you are aware, I lost my mother at a tender age. My brother and I hardly knew the importance of learning watercolors. We had no older female to tell us," she replied, keeping her expression carefully bland, in order not to betray her irritation.

"I apologize, my lady," Hector replied, his cheeks slightly flushed with embarrassment. "I did not mean to remind you of painful memories."

"It is all right," she said offhandedly, adjusting her skirts around her for want of something to do.

This was one of the ways the duke was different from Hector. The duke would have been too busy urging her to indulge in some wicked actions with him to wonder about her lack of some feminine skills. Unfortunately she was marrying Hector, not the duke. She had to get her head on straight.

Suddenly, Cecilia spotted a grey stallion coming towards them carrying its rider. When man and horse came even closer, she recognized it was none other than the one that had been plaguing her thoughts in recent times.

Emerton had appeared as though she had summoned him with her thoughts.

Today he was dressed for riding, his brown breeches hugging his strong calves where they pressed against the horse.

He had his shirt on with a waistcoat, but no cravat, and the top buttons of his shirt were open, granting her a peek at the bronzed skin of his chest. She watched mesmerized at the play of muscles in his torso as he alighted from his horse, running a hand through his already disheveled hair.

He was wickedly handsome and he was coming towards them.

"My lady," he greeted, when he stopped in front of them, taking her hand in his, he placed a kiss on her knuckles, one she felt all the way down to her toes and she had to do her best to suppress the shiver that ran through her, but the way he was looking at her was not helping.

The longer he looked into her eyes, the faster the world around her faded into the background, until she almost forgot that Hector was standing beside her.

Apparently the viscount was not about to let that happen, because he cleared his throat, breaking them away from their trance, but Theo took his time letting go of her hand while he stared at Hector steadily, almost as if he dared him to say something about it.

"Who is your friend , my lady?" he asked her without removing his gaze from the other man.

His tone was dark and she wondered at it because he was usually more friendly. It was her brother who had the more brooding personality around strangers.

"Your Grace, this is Lord Hickling," she said, gesturing to Hector, thanking the heavens that her voice sounded halfway normal. "Lord Hickling, this is the Duke of Emerton."

Hector gave a bow and the duke inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment, while eyeing the other man with open dislike.

The tension between them was so thick it was so palpable, she was racking her brain on how to break it, when they were interrupted by Magnus.

"Emerton," he greeted. "Fancy seeing you here. You do not seem the type to visit the park, thought you would be at the salon."

"What, I am not allowed to enjoy the outdoors?" he asked with a sly smile, finally breaking his gaze on Hector.

"Of course you are," Magnus laughed with a shake of his head. "I trust you have met Lord Hickling?" he asked gesturing towards Hector.

"Yes," Theo replied, sparing Hector a passing glance, he turned back to Magnus. "Might I have a word with you, Blackmore?"

At Magnus's nod, the two men walked away, leaving her with the viscount and the barrage of questions that was sure to ensue.

Magnus was surprised to see Theo in the park. By principle, Theo rarely woke up before noon and in the rare times he did, he usually spent those early hours on the gentleman club. But his presence in the park was the least of the things about him that was surprising this morning.

Something was different about Theo today.

While Theo might have been among them when they had fought in war and shared the peculiar kind of invisible wounds they shared, he was the only one who preferred to mask his pain with chronic light heartedness.

Even thought he had always known that his behavior was a front, he had never called him out on it because in his experience, Theo seemed to be the only one who was fighting his demons in the least most destructive way.

Today there was a huge crack in that mask and while it was not quite evident. Magnus suspected that his somber aura had something to do with the Lord Hickling. Unfortunately that did not make sense since it was unlikely that the two had met before the introductions were made earlier.

"Did you wake up on the wrong side of your bed today or have you developed a sudden liking for early morning rides?"

"I wanted to meet someone in the park today, but it seems I made a mistake. I was not able to meet this person."

The way he spoke about the person he wanted to meet, was strange almost like he was doing his damnedest to avoid revealing the gender of the fellow.

"Well whoever that acquaintance of yours is, they must have unique powers to drag you out of your bed this early."

"Yes," Theo replied distractedly. "Or perhaps the reason I wanted to meet them was important."

"A good enough reason as well," Magnus replied, eyeing him with curiosity.

Turning suddenly, Theo fixed Magnus with an intense gaze that was uncharacteristic of him.

"When did your sister become acquainted with Lord Hickling? Do not tell me you are considering him as a suitor for her?"

"Yes, I am friends with Hickling and after some observation I thought he might be a good match for Cecilia. I introduced them and she likes him."

"You believed her?" Theo asked, a note of bitterness in his voice.

"She told me so herself. I did not coerce her."

"It baffles me how you have spent the last two seasons chasing away all the gentleman that sought to court your sister, only to settle for a viscount that has a sketchy identity."

"I have runners investigating his identity as we speak."

"And in the meantime?"

"I keep an eye on them while they court. I am just happy that Cecilia likes him."

"If you believe that, that means you know very little about your own sister."

"On the contrary Theo, I am the one who knows her best in the whole world. I just want the best for her."

"Then you must be an even bigger fool than I had thought," Theo shot back, walking away angrily, quickly mounting his horse and leaving them in his dust.

For a full minute after Theo left, Magnus was transfixed in confusion at the conversation he just had with Theo.

In all the years since he had been friends with Theo, he had always been laid-back, this was the first time he was seeing him this angry.

Even more puzzling was the fact that he was this angry over a topic that in no way affected him in the least.

Something was unravelling Theo and he was going to find out when he visited him next. For now he just needed to get Cecilia home and intensify his efforts to get information about the strange Lord Hickling that had just appeared on the ton's scene like he had fallen from the sky.

His conversation with Theo, while it still confused him, brought him to the realization of the lapses in his knowledge about the man that he was trying to marry to Cecilia.

"My apologies, Lord Hickling," he said when he walked up to Cecilia and Lord Hickling where they stood staring with confusion at the departing Theo. "I am afraid that I have to return home now with Cecilia. I am sure you have other activities to attend this morning."

"My thanks for your time," Hickling said with a bow, smiling at Cecilia.

"Thank you, my lord," Cecilia replied with a short curtesy, following Magnus back to where their coach was.

Even when she now sat comfortably in the seat of their family coach, her eyes still lingered on the road Theo had taken.

Even now she could still feel his touch on her skin like a living flame that even the passage of time could not extinguish.

Perhaps it told volumes of the state of her mind, that even while she watched him march away from Magnus vibrating with anger, she still wanted to draw him to her, she had wanted to feel the force of his anger transform to passion on their lips and enjoy the rapture of having him touch her.

The fact that she had such a detailed fantasy in broad daylight told her that she was long gone. Theo had a firm hold of her heart and she was wrong to think otherwise.