He didn’t open it and step back. He didn’t push through it and proceed her. He turned the knob, cracked the door, and then held it above her head. She was given no choice but to pass beneath the arch of his bicep and chest to step into the night.
She smelled him as she went, a compelling mingle of claret, and soap, andhim.
The stroke of a feathered wing brushed the pit of her stomach.
She shuffled onto the stone balcony and blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the night. Two lanterns burned low on either side of the door. Below them, stone walls hemmed in a dark rectangle of a garden. Within those walls, a smattering of mounded shrubs, winding paths, and arched benchestook vague shape in the night. Somewhere, a fountain gurgled and plopped.
Second challenge: The night was cold and her gown was bare, and she sucked in a little breath, taken by surprise. She grabbed her arms around her torso without thinking. Lachlan was behind her immediately.
“Sorry,” he said and whipped off his coat and settled it on her shoulders.
The simple offer of a warm coat from an obliging gentleman was a gesture she’d never experienced. For a moment, she wasn’t certain it was really happening. Had hedroppedthe garment by accident and it landed on her shoulders? Had he grown overwarm and needed some place to hang it?
The offer of garments did not occur to men when it came to Drewsmina Trelayne; she did not appear delicate enough to affected by the cold. And so few men’s coats would actually fit her.
The duke’s coat hung about her shoulders, perfectly large and perfectly warm. Now sheworethe smell of him. She was swamped with it. The cold was forgotten. For a long moment, everything she ever knew was forgotten.
Third challenge: the duke sprawled.
He didn’t sprawltoher ornearher, but he leaned against the thick stone banister with an elbow, and crossed his boots at the ankle. It was the standing version of the casual repose he’d enjoyed in the dining room.
He was, she’d noticed, no stranger to leaning or sprawling. Or pacing. Or laying his head against walls. Or shattering windows. The Duke of Lachlan did as he pleased in any given space, more comfortable with his large body than anyone she’d ever met.
She should not, she lectured herself, find this charming. In fact, she should make no notice of his posture, or whether he leaned, or whether he stood on his head.
She bit her lip to keep from smiling.
None of this is done to delight you, she told herself.He is who he is, and you happen to reside in his home.
Make no assumptions.
Do not grin.
“Tell me, Miss Trelayne,” he said, eyeing her, “how did you know how to... do and say all the things you’ve done and said? To the girls?”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” she said modestly. “We’ve simply shared a meal.”
He ignored this. “I thought you were inexperienced and untried. Adolphus pawned you off to me, his scandal-ridden friend, as if you have no other work. Meanwhile, you’ve been brilliant with the girls. A mesmerist.”
“There’s no magic to it, I assure you. I was simply honest with them. Perhaps honesty is so rarely afforded to young women, it feels like sorcery. Or worse. I endeavored to show some measure of humility, which I’ve found to enhance most situations, and I refused to show fear.”
He barked a laugh and now she did smile.
“Well,” he mused, looking out over the misty garden, “you were very forgiving. Most tutor-y, instructor-y sort of women would have scolded. Punished, even. Imogene is unforgivably rude. She’s damn near brought a tear to my eye on several occasions.”
Drew laughed again. “This, I highly doubt. But I do have a sense that Imogene’s been scolded and punished enough these last five years. Besides, it’s not... my way.”
She looked to him and their gazes locked. A snap of energy passed between them, a taut string pulled back andplucked. Invisible vibrations rippled the air.
Drew swallowed hard, riding it out. She didn’t look away.
“You are generous of spirit,” he mused.
“Generosity will now beyourpurview, I’m afraid,” she said. “You were listening at the door, were you not?”
“I was.”
“Then you heard me promise the moon in terms of privateinstruction for the girls? I hope I’ve not overstepped. It will be rather expensive.”
