Page 23 of A Deal for the Duke’s Virgin

“I understand.”

He met her eyes, searching them. She returned his stare squarely, and he gave a faint nod.

Crouching before the desk, he produced a key from his pocket and slotted it into a keyhole under the desk. The wretched keyhole was never easy to find, especially with such a tiny key.

Lady Thalia watched with interest as the lock clicked and a previously unnoticed drawer slid open. The papers rested inside, weighed down with a smooth paperweight. Christian gingerly removed them, setting each page face-up on the desk. Letting out a slow sigh, he stepped back, letting her look.

“And what if I can’t interpret them?” she asked, almost off-handedly, stepping forward to inspect the papers.

Christian bit the inside of his cheek. “Then my last clue to finding my sister is gone, and I am at a loss. There is still no sign of Laura. No letter, no clue, nothing. She is simply gone. I keep reassuring my mother that she will be safe and that she will be found soon, but I confess that I cannot bring myself to believe it.”

Lady Thalia tore her gaze from the papers, clear eyes fluttering up to meet his. “You have reassured your mother?”

He blinked. “Of course. I would not have her worry. I am the head of this family. The burden lies with me.”

She cleared her throat. “Yes, of course.”

“My point is, Lady Thalia, you had better try to interpret these riddles. Try as hard as you can.”

CHAPTER 7

The wretched man was standing directly behind her.

Thalia cleared her throat, concentrating on the papers. He was so close that she could feel the warmth of his body. Perhaps if he wasn’t so ludicrously tall and large, he wouldn’t be quite so imposing.

“I shall read better without you looming over me, you know,” she remarked thinly.

“I am not looming.”

She twisted around, squinting up at him. “No?”

He peered down at her, face blank. “No.”

She gave up. They had already argued enough. Besides, she needed his carriage to get home safely. It was too far to walk, to say nothing of the fact that it was midnight.

I’ve never been out so late, not unless I was at some ball.

And the parties, of course, were so well chaperoned that she was doubtless safer than if she were in her own room at home.

For example, at those parties, she would never be alone with a man in a room with the door closed at such a late hour. She would be beyond ruined if it were discovered.

Even the butler who showed me in here gave me a strange look. I wonder if he escorts many ladies into the Duke’s study after dark?

That thought gave her an odd feeling. A sort of crumpling in her stomach, an uneasy tingle that came out of nowhere and refused to dissipate.

She cast a quick, uncertain look at the Duke. His gaze was now fixed on the papers, a faint line resting between his heavy eyebrows.

There could be no denying that he was a handsome man. Surely, he must have gotten the nickname Lord of Scandal from… well, a scandal. Men were allowed to misbehave, weren’t they?

“Your driver barely looked at me when I got into the carriage,” Thalia heard herself say.

He glanced at her, unblinking. “I beg your pardon?”

“He seemed entirely used to picking up young women from their homes in the dead of night,” she stated. “Can I assume that you often entertain ladies alone after hours?”

His eyes narrowed, but Thalia did not allow herself to look away.

“No,” he said shortly. “I do not.”