“Your mind works far too much for such an empty life you live, Lord Gramfield. You would do well to cease such baseless assumptions. I am only here to chaperone your daughter to a garden party.” Godric said, raising his head so he could stare down at the baron.
Nora’s father nodded, unease apparent in his hunched frame, and he gestured vaguely behind him.
“I have affairs that I must attend to, Your Grace. Pardon me.”
Godric said nothing else as the man walked away, but he noticed a strange weight settle in his chest, crawling beneath his skin and screaming for justice.
“Soon,” he muttered to himself. “It will all be over soon.”
“My goodness,” Nora called from behind him, the sound of her quick footfalls on the stairs telling him that she was rushing down. “My apologies, Your Grace. I could not find the right shoes to suit my dress, so I had to settle for a different pair, and that one was a tad difficult to find. Have you been waiting for too long?”
Godric turned, intending to give her a lecture on the value of punctuality, only for the words to flee his mind at the sight of her, sinking and choking him.
Quickly, he stated, “It is fine. We would not want you roaming through London without any shoes on. That would not bode well, I fear.”
She rolled her eyes as she came to a stop by his side, meeting his gaze with that usual stubborn fierceness of hers.
“No, I imagine that it would not. Shall we?”
He barely managed to nod, unable to keep his eyes from roaming over her form.
Godric had long since come to terms with the fact that Nora was no longer that little girl who had assumed the role of her brother’s shadow. He had already acknowledged that he was dealing with a woman and had prepared himself to deal with her womanly wiles and her stubborn nature.
However, he had been greatly unprepared to face her silent seduction. It was remarkable how her beauty stunned her, how her expressions beckoned him closer, how her wild mouth asked for his with every pout and frown.
Even now, she looked like the goddess of spring, draped in a pink dress that bore an outrageous amount of chiffon that somehow made her look ethereal. Her dark brown hair had been constrained in a large braid with a bow behind it, but a few slim curls framed her face delicately, and his fingers itched to brush them away.
His whole being ached to touch her, to kiss the mole under her eye and then trail his lips to the one on her upper lip, to press their mouths together until she was exhaling his name.
With a grunt, he led the way to the carriage, his heart twisting strangely as she followed along. Once there, he held out a hand to her, intending to help her into the carriage. She stared at his palm for a moment, then she cleared her throat, slipping her fingers over his as a delicious flush filled her cheeks, and she averted her gaze.
It only made him want to tease her even more, to bring her to tears until she was writhing breathlessly beneath him with pleasure.
As they both settled in the carriage, her perfume filled the space, the soft fruity scent snuffing out the thoughts rumbling in his head.
“I expect that I do not need to advise you to be on your best behavior. You are the one on the marriage market, after all,” he stated, needing to do something to break the silence before his thoughts ran farther away with him.
“Have you ever perhaps considered that all of my misdeeds are as a result of your incessant interference?” she retorted, not to his surprise.
“You are basically saying that you need to control your temper around me. It is no fault of mine that you are easy to rile up.”
Nora closed her eyes, and Godric could not help but feel struck once more by just how beautiful she looked, somehow managing to remain nonchalant when her eyes fluttered open and she met his stare.
“I am starting to regret not accepting your offer to accompany me this afternoon,” she told him with a frown.
The corner of his lips twitched, and he quickly schooled his expression.
“It is too late. I have pledged to be your shadow for the rest of the afternoon.”
“How fortunate for me,” she scoffed, but for once she did not look as disturbed as she usually was.
That observation crawled into a corner of his mind and continued to pester him as the afternoon wore on.
The garden party was in full swing by the time they arrived.
It seemed a lot of people were still reconciling with the idea that the Duke had begun to attend social gatherings. Their arrival was welcomed by shocked stares and bewildered whispers, the masses still unsure of what they were seeing.
Godric remained as unconcerned with the opinions of others as he had always been, keeping his eyes forward as he walked through the garden. He had kept his word and lingered a few feet behind Nora at first, pretending that he was not there to ensure her safety and well-being.
