The squeak of the library door made her jump, her head whipping around in time to see the broad and brooding figure of the man himself. As if she had somehow summoned him, merely by speaking of him… or perhaps by thinking of him and his tight trousers.
Jeremy came to a standstill, his black eyes glinting in the low light of the room. “Leave,” he said coldly. “Now.”
“Me?” Anna pointed to herself, knowing perfectly well that she wasn’t who he meant.
A muscle ticked in his jaw, his eyes narrowing at Mr. Miller. “Get out.”
“Mr. Miller, if you would escort me,” Anna said, as blithely as she could, rising from the reading chair.
The butler set down the books and hurried to her side, offering his arm to guide her out of the library. With a breath held in her chest, Anna summoned all her willpower to walk slowly toward the door; she wouldn’t let Jeremy see that she was anxious or unnerved by his sudden appearance.
She wasalmostat the door when Jeremy’s hand shot out and caught her by the arm. It didn’t take much for him to pull her free of the butler’s loose grip.
“Not you, Duchess,” Jeremy growled, a note of impatience in his voice.
Mr. Miller spun around in protest, opening his mouth to speak but not managing to get a word out as Jeremy nudged him, not very hard, in the chest. It had not seemed like a vicious shove, but the impact made the butler stumble backward, crossing the library threshold with wide eyes and flailing arms.
At that moment, Jeremy slammed the door shut and tugged Anna forward, spinning her around. She gasped as her shouldersbumped against the library door, her eyes widening as the Duke loomed over her, trapping her between that solid wood and his equally solid body.
Heat bloomed in her cheeks, though she couldn’t quite tell if it came from anger or embarrassment or outrage or… something else. His nearness was warming her up in a way she couldn’t control.
“Is there… something wrong?” she asked thickly, their starkly different height making it almost impossible to keep her gaze at a respectable level.
His open collar revealed that teasing triangle of bare skin once more, even though he had unfastened a few more buttons. She craned her neck in an attempt to hold his gaze but was aware of the sculpted outline of his hard muscles: the indentation down the center of his chest, the ledge of his collarbone, and just a hint of a deep line at the top of his abdomen that made her wonder how far down it went.
A touch would confirm it if she were to run her fingertips down the middle of his stomach.
For goodness’ sake! Do not think such foolish things!Her cheeks grew hotter as she scolded herself silently. Indeed, she had just made it twice as difficult for herself to keep her attention where it ought to be: on his face.
“Aye,” he replied gruffly. “Would ye care to explain to me why there’s a wee goat in me room?”
Anna drew in a shaky breath while she forced her lips into a smile. “Oh, that?” She waved a dismissive hand. “That is my gift to you. Given the fact that you could not sleep alone last night, I thought you might benefit from a companion.”
Something flickered in his dark eyes, but she didn’t know him well enough yet to tell whether it was a good omen or a bad one. He moved a quarter of a step closer, and her breath left her entirely as she watched his lips tilt upward. Not a smile, not a grimace, but something in between.
“I was sleeping alone perfectly well until ye crawled into me bed,” he replied, his still-bandaged hand coming up.
She flinched, at first in fear of being struck… and then in surprise as she felt the light brush of his thumb against the apple of her cheek.
“Let us not forget that you were inmyroom,” she argued quietly, though she didn’t have quite enough air in her lungs to protest fully.
He ignored her, the friction of his skin against hers sending a tingle right up into her brain, like a scratch that had finally been itched. “Do ye think it wise to anger me with such childish games? Do ye think it funny?”
“Anger?” She feigned innocence, her stomach twisting into knots.
Of course, she had known it was a plausible reaction, but she didn’t want tofacehis anger. Any man’s anger, for that matter.
“You misunderstand,” she added hastily. “I only wanted to please you, sir. I mean, Your Grace.”
He tilted his head to one side, his gaze sliding to her lips. “Is that so? Ye just wanted to please me?”
She nodded slowly. “Goats make for very loyal companions.”
“It’s not the goat’s loyalty that interests me,” he replied in a sultry voice, so deep and husky that it seemed to vibrate into her chest. “If ye wish to please me, does this mean ye acknowledge me as master of this house? Asyermaster?”
Anna blinked, too stunned to speak.
A dark smirk finally lifted the corner of his mouth. “Will ye do everything I say, when I say it, to please me?”
