“He did what!” Eleanor gaped as Bridget came from her warm bath. “Thatrapscallion!”
“It was not his fault,” Bridget defended as her borrowed maid curled her dried hair in cloth strips. “Well, it was his dogs, but he did not push me into the river. Besides, he jumped in to fetch me from it. That should count for something, shouldn’t it? And he sent his personal physician to assess me.”
“I don’t think that matters,” Josephine said quietly. “This is the second interaction you have had with him, is it not?”
She frowned. “Yes, but why does that matter?”He does not know it was me at the masquerade.Her eyes flickered between her two friends. “Do you think there is some sort of master plot afoot? It was a coincidence, you two. If anything, he might have been more inclined to annoy Grah—Lord Hansen. His Lordship told me he actively reviled His Grace when they attended Oxford.”
Shifting to put her book to the side, Ellie asked, “You truly think this was a coincidence?”
“An unhappy one, but yes,” Bridget sighed. “I cannot fathom what the gossip and rumors will be by tomorrow.”
“Hmph,” Eleanor snorted. “If he had any decency, he would rubbish any rumors and keep your reputation spotless. Lord Hansen, without a doubt, would make sure that everyone knew there was no impropriety. Even more, you had your chaperone with you. No one would dare call your character into question.”
“Pardon me, my ladies,” the maid said. “I am finished. Is there anything else I may do for you?”
“Yes, would you please place the medicine Dr. Falderal left for me on the end table of my room? Thank you,” Bridget said kindly as the young girl curtsied and hurried off.
“Regardless, tomorrow we shall see the outcome,” Ellie replied. “And if the devil duke does not defend you, we shall have words.”
Giggling at her friend's righteous anger, Bridget said, “I would love to see you go toe-to-toe with a duke.”
“My shoes have heels on them, dear,” Ellie smirked. “Toe-to-toe is not accurate; he will be at a disadvantage.”
An hour later, when Bridget retired to her rooms, she went to the chair where Duke Arlington’s jacket was thrown over the back of it. The dark jacket, made from the best cloth, was dry now, and, without clear reason, she lifted it to her face.
Even faded, his subtle, expensive cologne drifted into her nostrils, but as tantalizing as it was, his scent sparked herirritation—why did he have to smell like the very essence of virility?
She remembered hitting the water and sinking by a pounding heartbeat. Then—hard arms closed over her and suddenly, she was reversing direction. The veil of murky darkness shattered, exposing her to harsh brightness and cold air.
She blinked up into a halo of light. Was she dead? Was this heaven?
“Do not let go,” a deep voice commanded her. “I will not let you go.”
Dropping the jacket back in place, she left for her bed and slipped between the sheets. Her eyes grew hot and gritty. She did not know why the man affected her so profoundly.
She had not known the duke for long and yet… she dreamed of him almost every night and thought about him during the day, but not for the best reasons. She could not deny the intense attraction she felt toward him; his raw masculinity was irresistible, but he was the very opposite of the man she should yearn for.
Hansen was just as entitled, just as handsome, and certainly just as smart—so why did she feel the pull toward the duke?
Maybe it’s because he was my first kiss.
He is a wicked man—but he saved my life.
He kissed me with such passion and tenderness—but for a rake like him, he probably kissed women like that all the time.
Turning on her belly, she pressed her face into the down-filled pillow and refrained from screaming in frustration. What had been his reasoning for kissing her the second time? It was not as if she had managed to give him a distraction in a dark alley for him to escape two cutthroats, no, what had happened at the masquerade was a mystery.
Was it for him to establish his dominance—and her showcase her inexperience—when it came to sexual matters? If so, he’d succeeded spectacularly.
Her lips pressed together.Fool me once.
“Keep your thoughts on Hansen,” she repeated to herself. “He is the only reasonable match for you.”
She drifted off with those words circulating through her mind, but then woke in the misty hours of the morning, and while her head was convinced, her heart was still at war. Even worse, when she washed and headed to breakfast, her steps slowed at knowing the gossip columns would have her name splashed all over them.
Ellie was in the breakfast room when she entered and her friend smiled. “Have you girded your loins?”
“Is it that bad?” she asked while making her tea. After sitting, she reached for that morning’s issue of the Times and turned to the scandal pages.
