That he did not come to see her told Octavia the truth of the matter, and as the day wore on, she came to accept her reality. It hurt. It stung. It was a shock to her senses, and it would not be easy to move past. But… and this was the hardest thing to accept of all… it was right.
It is for the best… A one-off… A mistake, is what it was. The Duke is right to forget about it, for Aaron’s sake, if nothing else.
Still, Octavia struggled throughout that day.
Common sense was one thing, but it did little to dull the voice in her head that cried for her to seek the Duke out and demand answers. What they had shared was more than a physical connection. He had opened up to Octavia, she had helped him through his suffering, and she truly believed that things had changed for the better between them.
Or so she had thought.
So it was that when the day came to an end, Octavia slumped into her bedroom, her mood dour, her self-esteem at an all-timelow. It was one thing to know that this was right, but to accept it, to live with it, was something else entirely.
That was when she saw it.
The gown lay across her bed, positioned so the late-day sun streamed across its silk weave and made it glow. Its color was dark yellow, woven with silver hems, a floral pattern growing from the skirt and climbing toward the neckline like vines wrapping a tree. A pair of white gloves lay beside it, as did a silver necklace positioned so that Octavia could just imagine how it might look hanging from her own neck.
She started at the sight of the gown, wondering for a brief moment if she had walked into the wrong room.
Surely not… this must be a mistake…
She inched deeper into the room, not once looking away as if to do so might see the gown vanish. But it called to her, beckoning for her to come closer, to touch it, to take it, to hold it against her skin and claim it as her own.
Octavia’s heart started to race.
At the edge of the bed, Octavia yearned to reach out and touch the dress. But she hesitated, still unsure. All day, she had worked tirelessly to convince herself that what had happened between her and the Duke was a one-time thing and that he would see itthat way. It was a mistake. It could not happen again. He would not want it too!
But that gown… it told a different story entirely.
“It won’t bite you,” a deep voice spoke from over her shoulder.
Octavia’s heart rose and then exploded from her chest, and she turned to find the Duke standing in the doorway. He did not smile. He did not smirk. He just looked at her, those dark eyes drinking her in as if she were a tonic.
“It… the gown…” She tried to keep her smile hidden, still not willing to believe what she knew to be true. “Who is it for?”
“Who do you think it is for?” he said.
“That is not an answer.”
He shook his head and sighed loudly. “Just this once, can you not be so… stubborn?”
She allowed a smirk to touch her lips. “I thought that was what you liked about me?”
“I like many things about you, Miss Finch.” The Duke started into the room, each step slowly taken, and not once did he break his stare from her. “But I think the sight of you in that dress is something I will like, especially.”
“It’s for me?”
He came within a few feet of her before stopping. Her breath caught in her throat, faint memories of last evening crashing down on her as they had all day. Her eyes flicked to his hands, wanting them to take her. Her eyes flicked to his lips, wanting them to claim her.
“Tonight, I am hosting a small…” He paused, his eyes roaming her body, a smirk finally finding his lips. “A social drum with some friends. I expect Aaron to attend, if only for a short time, which means that your presence will be required also.”
Octavia might have liked to have told herself that he was only doing as expected, because she was his governess, and if Aaron was to be attending, then she needed to as well. But that explanation felt forced, and from the hungry look in the Duke’s eyes, she knew it was not the true reason.
An excuse he has made, perhaps, but not what he truly wants.
He wanted her there. He wanted her with him. He wanted to show her off, to have her on his arm, to pick up from where they had left things the previous evening. That was the only possible explanation.
Just like that, Octavia knew exactly where she stood in the Duke’s eyes, just as she knew what was to come. And her excitement at this realization felt so good that she nearly wept.
“It is lucky then that I suddenly have something to wear,” she said with a coy smirk of her own.
