“Well that’s because you shouldn’t be here!” Leah said, although she obediently lowered her voice.
“Stand back,” he commanded, and she did. With strength she couldn’t even imagine, the Duke hoisted himself up onto thewindowsill. To her shock and embarrassment, she found her eyes going to his arms, wondering just how strong he was underneath his jacket…
She looked away just as he tumbled forward through the window and into the room.
“Be quiet!” She snapped, as he let out a soft grunt. “Someone will hear you!”
“You try climbing up lattice without letting out even the smallest sound,” the Duke grumbled, dusting himself off and then standing up. He glowered at her. “It was very difficult, I should have been groaning the entire way up!”
“No one asked you to climb up here!” she hissed. “What in heaven’s name were you thinking? Someone might have seen you! They might have thought you were a burglar and called the Bow Street Runners!”
“No one saw me,” the Duke said. His eyes met hers, and they blazed with a wild intensity. “But I had to see you.”
Leah’s mouth went dry, and it took her a moment to remember she was supposed to be angry. Crossing her arms, she said, “Then you could have come in the normal way. You are known here--you even sometimes stay the night. The servants wouldn’t have turned you away. Then you could have just snuck down the hall and knocked on my door like a normal person.”
“A normal person trying to have a liaison!” The Duke said, snorting. “That would certainly have looked bad for you had someone seen me.”
“You’re a rake,” she shot back. “I’m sure you know how to sneak over to a woman’s room without getting caught.”
The Duke flushed, then crossed his arms and gave her a superior look. “It doesn’t matter, because I couldn’t have come in the front door. The servants would have told your brother I was here, and I don’t want him to know I’m here.”
“Why?” she countered, her heart fluttering with nerves. “If this is about my lessons, he can be informed of them. You don’t have to do them in secret in the middle of the night.”
“It’s not--I just--I had to see you.” The Duke suddenly looked on edge, and he raked a hand through his tousled hair, making it even more messy. It was a good look on him. It gave him even more of a wild, adventurous look than he already had.
She swallowed, the hair on the back of her neck prickling.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, as he began to pace back and forth in front of her.
“Why do you suppose something is wrong?” the Duke asked, looking at her sideways.
She raised an eyebrow. “Because you broke into my room in the middle of the night--climbing up the side of the house, no less!--and now you look as if you have seen a ghost.” It was true. He was very pale, and there was a strange, wild look in his eyes she had never seen before.
“I--” he turned to look at her, and suddenly he froze. He was staring at her with wide eyes, his mouth slightly.
“W-what?” Leah asked, suddenly self-conscious. She glanced down at herself. That’s when she realized it: she was in a complete state of undress! In fact, she was wearing only a thin white chemise. In her alarm at finding the Duke at the window and then helping him inside, she hadn’t even thought about the fact she was wearing so little. He hadn’t seemed to realize it either. But now he was gazing at her in a way that made her feel very warm and very embarrassed.
“You--you should not see me like this,” she stammered, her arms coming to her chest as she attempted to cover herself.
“Let me,” he said, his voice very hoarse. He turned to her bed, where her dressing gown was lying across the end of it, and brought it over to her. “Lift your arms,” he murmured. She did so, unable to disobey in her state of shock and embarrassment.
He gently placed the dressing gown over her. Reaching around her, he took both ends of the tie and tied them together in front of her, all while being careful not to touch her.
Leah’s heart was in her throat. Never in her life had she been this close in proximity to a man, especially when wearing so little, and especially alone. She thought she was going to faint.
Unbidden, memories of their kiss in the garden came to her. She remembered the feel of his lips on hers, the way her whole body had responded to his touch, had wanted more, had completely betrayed every ladylike instinct that she had been taught. And she wondered, absurdly, what would happen if she were to stand up on her tiptoes now and press her lips to his.
It would certainly ruin your plans to marry Lord Eaton!She told herself sternly, even as her stomach filled with a hot, aching sensation.It would ruin everything!
And he would certainly reject her. He didn’t want to be entrapped into marriage with her. That’s why he was working his hardest to make sure she found someone else to wed. But as she gazed up at him, she was sure she saw a flicker of something in his eyes--the same intense heat she had seen in them when she had kissed him in the garden.
Time was suspended between them. His hands were still at her waist. Not touching her, but still on the tie of her dressing gown. It would be so easy for those hands to wrap around her waist and--
She couldn’t let herself think past that. It was too dangerous.
She blinked and sighed, and the Duke blinked as well. He stepped away from her, letting his hands fall to his sides. To herrelief, the look in his eyes was a little less wild and a little more kind.
“I’m sorry for scaring you,” he murmured, his voice husky, as if his throat had also gone dry. “I was desperate to see you, and I didn’t want to have to deal with questions from your brother.”
