“What?” he asked her.
“Oh, nothing,” she said with an innocent shrug. “Nothing at all.”
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, as if to warn her off whatever assumption she had come to in her head. But she did not look away, challenging him as she always did.
“There is another reason I wanted to join you this morning,” Evander then started as he pulled his chair in and straightened his back. “Before you became busy with today’s lessons.”
“Oh?”
“Tonight, it turns out that I have a spare ticket to the Opera. Times were that I wouldn’t bother going, too busy…” He winked at her. “But tonight, I am rather in the mood, and I was wondering…” His chest tightened as if worried. “… if you might wish to join me.”
Miss Finch balked. “Me?”
“Who else?”
“The Opera… I…” She fidgeted nervously. “Are you certain? That sounds like a rather… I am not sure if… surely, there is somebody else you could take?”
“Even if there is, I am not asking them.” He looked right at her. “It is you who I wish to take.”
“What of the boys?”
“Miss Spencer can watch them.”
“What about –”
“Do not make me order you to join me,” he cut her off. “I would rather you wanted to come.”
“I do want to come,” she said shyly, hardly able to look at him. “I really do.”
“Good, then it is settled.” He nodded once to confirm it. “We are going. As for what you will wear…” It was subtle, and with the boys there, Evander was sure to keep it so. But he allowed his eyes to flick over her once, just long enough so that she would see it. “Leave that to me.”
Miss Finch looked as if she was trying not to appear too excited about this invitation. She did her best to return to her breakfast, her focus firmly on the plate. But Evander saw her coy smile, just as he saw the flush of her cheeks.
She wanted to go, and he wanted her to go with him.
Miss Finch had done so much for Evander this past week, more than she could ever know, and it was time to repay the favor. What was more… while he could not say where this relationship might be going… Evander was excited to find out.
He was turning into a new man, and it was time that he proved it.
Chapter Twenty
“Why are you doing this?” Octavia asked the Duke suddenly.
“Excuse me?”
She looked right at him, giving him nowhere to hide. “Why are you doing this? And do not give me some lie about having a spare ticket or… or whatever else you might say to try and change the subject. I want to know why you are doing this. What is the reason?” She folded her arms, holding the Duke in her questioning gaze. “Well?”
Octavia sat opposite the Duke in the carriage as they made their way to the Opera.
Until this moment, the evening had been rather pleasant… a little too pleasant, if Octavia was being honest. True to his word, the Duke had picked out a lavish gown of silver and blue for her to wear, even finer than the yellow one she had worn threenights ago. When she had appeared at the top of the staircase, he had smiled, taken her in, and told her how beautiful she looked.
She had tried to act aloof, waving away his compliment like it had no effect on her. But the smile she wore, and the flush on her skin, told a different story.
From there, he led her to the carriage; they climbed inside, and the trip into London was a little too comfortable and easy.
Never one for conversation, the Duke had not let his tongue get away from him, but he hadn’t been closed off as he would usually be. He explained to her which performance they were seeing tonight, he told her that it was one of his favorites, and he claimed that he was excited to see her reaction.
It was just so… effortless. And while there was still a hint of hunger in the way that the Duke looked at her, the brimming desire felt between them, sitting just beneath the surface of their conversation, it was not the driving force.
