Like now.
“Do you think me too good for this life?” she asked.
His brow crinkled. “That’s not what—”
“I’ll have you know,” she began, letting her righteousness flow. “The acting art is one of the most noble professions in all the world.”
At that very moment, an actor dressed in a harlequin costume came to a stop before the open caravan doorway, just visible to the side of Ravensworth’s rather massive form. The man gave a little wave and bow. Then on a quick, unexpected swivel, he presented his back, bent forward, and let rip the loudest, gustiest expulsion of wind anyone was ever likely to hear, before sauntering away, a satisfied swagger in his step.
Delilah only just didn’t groan as she held a hand to her mouth to stem the sudden, riotous giggle that wanted out. Ravensworth lifted a single skeptical eyebrow. The high-in-the-instep duke crouched in a caravan doorway had likely never been subjected to such a blustery bit of flatulence in all his life.
Well, in all fairness, neither had she until she joined Ye Olde Albion Players. That harlequin got around.
She cleared her throat. “Windy actors, notwithstanding.”
Ravensworth remained utterly unmoved. “Pack your belongings. You shall be coming with me tonight.”
A statement of fact.
Delilah willed calm into mind and body before responding. She would get nowhere by fuming at the blasted arrogant man. “I understand that as a duke,” she said, evenly, “you’re accustomed to issuing edicts and having them followed, butIam not yours to command, and I shall do no such thing.”
His jaw clenched and released, leaving a mulish set to his mouth.
It felt good to have put it there.
Then his golden eyes narrowed, and the solid ground shifted beneath Delilah’s feet.
“Of course,” he said, low and sure, “there is another solution.”
“Which is?” she asked, wary.
“If you stay, I stay.”
She searched his eyes for amusement within, for surely he was having her on. But it wasn’t to be found. The breath caught in her chest. The man was utterly and completely serious. But…
He couldn’t be.
He was bluffing.
“You wouldn’t dare.” She had nothing to lose by calling that bluff.
He didn’t flinch. “I hear a carpenter is needed.”
“A carpenter, yes,” she allowed. “A duke, not so much.” She canted her head. “In fact, I’m not sure what good a duke is in this world.”
“Oh, I can think of a few things,” he said. “A few of them I think you’d like very much.”
The heat she’d experienced a few minutes ago sparked into a sudden conflagration.
Unspoken words lay between the spoken ones in that sentence.
She didn’t understand.
No, that wasn’t true.
She did understand. Men spoke words like that to women—to women they wanted to seduce.
Which was why she couldn’t understand whythisman had spoken those words toher.
