Page 31

Eloise’s shoulders were shaking. “It is in the same place it was this morning,” she managed, muffled.

Juliet cleared her throat. “I was looking elsewhere.” She said, trying to sound as level as she possibly could, even though she could feel her cheeks heating. She hadn’t even realized she’d been moving!

Young Eloise giggled now. “You should always watch where you’re going. Papa always says so,” she said, and Juliet cleared her throat again.

Of course he would say something like that. She decided to push the conversation back to neutral ground, in an effort to bring her body’s reactions back under control. She’d already made a fool of herself in front of young Eloise; she was certain she would expire from shame should the duke himself catch her in such… straits, too.

Juliet bent to retrieve the brush. “I have always had an interest in fencing.”

A sound escaped through Eloise’s hands. “Truly?” When Juliet looked at her, her eyes were wide with excitement.

Juliet nodded. “As a discipline,” she continued. “The technique is fascinating.”

Eloise looked at the men across the fence, then at Juliet. “But…everyone says fencing is for gentlemen,” she said, and Juliet had a feeling she knew just who this ‘everyone’ was.

So she scoffed softly. “So I have been told. About most things I find interesting.”

Eloise added, “Miss Green says it is not becoming of a lady.” And Juliet blinked. Oh. It’d been the governess. How easily she forgot that woman. Now, Juliet felt a bit bad for her.

“Miss Green has never tried it.” Juliet set the brush on the fence rail and gathered her skirts. “Come with me.”

Eloise blinked. “Where are we going?”

“To ask Sergeant Flynn to show me a form or two.”

Eloise gasped, but she did not stop following. “He will not,” she said, but her tone wasn’t all that confident.

Juliet’s lips lifted at one corner. “He might.”

“He will most certainly not,” Eloise said, and followed her immediately.

Flynn and Adam were between bouts when she arrived with Eloise in tow. Flynn was resetting his stance, and Adam had his back to her.

Pulse racing, Juliet cleared her throat and saw both men freeze, then whirl around.

When Adam’s gaze locked onto hers, Juliet flinched, her breaths coming in fast pants even as she did her best to steady herself. Once again, she couldn’t look away from him, despite herself, her gaze trailing down his neck and chest now, his skin shiny with sweat, beads of which were now trailing down the blocks of his abs into his…

Heavens!

Juliet swallowed, dragging her eyes away to look back at him again…only to find him watching her.

Oh no. Had he seen her staring at him so blatantly? Now, both embarrassment and want warred for space in her chest, but that did not stop the heat from igniting between her legs once again.

She had truly lost her mind!

“Your Grace?” Flynn’s eyes were wide, constantly flicking back to look at the duke, as though he were caught between the devil and the blue sea.

“Sergeant Flynn.” She addressed him as pleasantly as she could manage. “Would you be kind enough to show me a form or two?”

Flynn lowered his blade, his expression blanching. She could see him taking stock of her form: his eyes moved across her dress, her hands, her face. His mouth twitched with an emotion close enough to amusement.

“Your Grace,” he said. “With respect. It is not a sport suited to⁠—”

“A lady,” she finished. “Yes. I have heard that.” She stepped to the fence rail and lifted a spare foil. Its hilt was leather, the grip worn smooth at the center. She tested its weight: well balanced, lighter than she had expected. “Try me.”

Flynn looked at Adam, so she did as well. He was standing five feet away with his foil at his side. His gaze moved over the foil in her hand, then up to her eyes, and the corner of his mouth pulled upward. He gave Flynn the smallest nod.

Juliet’s eyes narrowed at the gesture. He expected her to fail, and was even looking forward to it.