Page 31 of No Duke of Mine

“I have to return to the inn now,” she declared, horrified by her last thought, pulling her cloak closer around her body as if it was all the protection she needed.

Algernon’s brows rose high. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no. But I am eager to read these new books you purchased.”

The books would be left behind when she left tomorrow, hidden in his trunks, since she had the care of them.

Algernon shook his head. “But I had intended we walk through the town together,” he argued. “The view of the river is quite breathtaking. Surely you could come and see it with me.”

She should have said she had a headache, but she was a terrible liar, and he would certainly catch her out.

“The flowers should be put in water or they will wilt,” she added. “You two go, and perhaps you’ll find a better amusement than watching me read. I will be quite dull company for the rest of the day, I’m sure, with all these to look through.”

“I have never once found you dull company, Maggie,” he argued. “Even reading. If the flowers wilt, I’ll always buy you more.”

She looked up at him again, and she could easily see by the mulish set of his jaw that he planned to argue with her. He intended to take her along with him everywhere, as he had as a young boy. But she had to put a stop to their affair somehow. “I have no trouble with being alone, unlike some I could name, Your Grace. You do not own me,” she whispered, and that made his nostrils flare. “Or have the right to say where I may go or not.”

The duke’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and he took a step in her direction.

Maggie stood her ground, determined to get her way in this. They battled wills silently, as they always had as children.

“Very well,” he said finally. “Sims will escort you back to the inn and remain nearby to fetch you anything you might need.”

“I cannot impose on his time. He should be with you. You are more important than anyone.”

He looked about to argue, but Sims cleared his throat loudly.

Only that seemed to recall Algernon to their location. They were arguing on a public street, and if it continued, other people might notice and start gossiping about the Duke and Duchess of Ravenswood. He had wanted anonymity earlier, although by his actions in the bookshop, he seemed to have forgotten the reason for it.

“I will join you for dinner tonight, no matter what you say to the contrary.”

Maggie inclined her head, resigned to that fact but not liking it. Algernon was currently paying her bills. One day, she would repay him for his generosity.

She wrestled the books from Sims, who reluctantly gave them up. “Take care of him,” she whispered, before striding off toward the inn without looking back.

Maggie breathed a sigh of relief when she arrived back in their room without being followed. She put the flowers in water and packed the books away in Algernon’s trunks.

Yet as she stood there, surrounded by his possessions and her one battered travel case, it struck her that their time together had been the happiest days of her adult life.

With him, she had forgotten her place, just like the last time they’d been together at Ravenswood. But her position in society was so low that they never should have known each other then; only Algernon could not seem to remember that.

But she did, and she was suddenly glad she might reach her father’s current place of employment tomorrow morning. The map had proved it, only an hour or so away. But what if the duke found another excuse to delay leaving?

The loss of Algernon tomorrow might break her heart, but she had to let him go without showing how she felt. Because if she gave him any encouragement, and he responded in kind, she just might want to stay with him forever, despite the scandal of it.

And that was what her younger self had dreamed of doing—running away from her father to be with Algernon again. But she’d never found her courage in the end.

Maggie reached for the solace to be found in books, but had barely begun to read when the door crashed open and Algernon strode in. “I didn’t expect our first fight to feel like that. Final.”

She closed the book. “It should be final. I think you should go on without me.”

“I’ll not leave you behind,” he protested

“But you will tomorrow. My father resides not far away, and he will expect his daughter to be dutiful and stay with him,” she informed him. “Not consort with dukes about to be married.”

Algernon stared at her. “You never mentioned we were so close to your father. Why?”

The why was easy. “Because I was not certain until I looked at a map. I had been enjoying myself for the first time in a long time. I did not want these days with you to end, but they will.”