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They stood awkwardly beneath the tree, both waiting for the other to speak.
“Should we not proceed to your gate?” Bertram asked eventually.
“Of course.” Suddenly she was standing very close to him. “But first…kiss me,” she whispered.
He stepped back in some surprise but she was too quick for him. Her mouth was pressed against his before he could blink. He rested his hands against her waist to balance himself lest he stumble backwards, before grasping hold of it more firmly in preparation to push her away.
A gasp had him tearing his mouth from hers, fearful that George might have come across them. Instead, he saw Letty stumbling backward, her face pale, eyes wide. She bumped against a tree and he stretched out a hand with a gasp, as if he could reach across the gap between them and stop her from falling. Letty’s head slammed into the tree with an audible thump and he worried that she might faint.
Instead she wheeled around and ran off. Bertram took a step to follow her but found his wrist quite resolutely detained. “Where are you going?” The Countess’ words were sharp, and on the cusp of rude.
He turned to face her, eyes narrowed, and took back possession of his wrist. “If you will excuse me, I must go. I trust you can find your gate quite well from here?”
He didn’t wait for her to reply, simply bowed and hurried off.
What must she have thought?
He could not help worrying even as he wondered why he cared. She had disappeared somewhere and he didn’t know where.
“What am I doing?” he murmured to himself as he set off for the kitchens. The loud voices of his workers streamed out of the busy kitchen and he stopped, wondering what he could possibly say even if she was there. He turned, shaking his head, and made his way to his study.
* * *
Letty stumbled out of the orchard feeling disoriented. She did not know why she felt so upset. She certainly had no claim on the Duke. She hurried past the kitchen and up to her chambers. Stopping short, she stared into the room where George was sprawled upon Mrs. Haversham’s bed, his eyes closed as she read softly to him. She turned away before they could see her and hurried up the stairs to the balcony. She slipped down to the floor, watching the sky through the balustrade, head cradled in her hands.
“What is wrong with me?”
She rubbed at her chest, feeling a curious burning sensation against her ribcage like her heart had been set on fire. A wave of cold washed over her and it felt like loneliness. There was a lump in her throat that she didn’t know what to do with.
“This is ridiculous.” She whispered to herself as she tasted the salty liquid that trickled into her mouth from her wet cheek. “Absolutely ridiculous.”
The scuff of a shoe against the stone floor had her leaping to her feet, hand reaching for the knife she always kept in her apron. She froze when she caught sight of the Duke.
“I’m sorry.”
She frowned. “Whatever for? It’syourbalcony.”
He exhaled audibly turning away. “That is not what I meant.”
Letty kept her mouth shut because she did not know how to answer him in a way that would not give her away.
“You’re perfectly free to…” her mouth opened and closed but no words volunteered themselves.
“Free to…what?” he was watching her mouth with an unreasonable amount of fascination.
“Do as you please.” She almost mouthed the words.
“Do as I please?” He took a step closer, his eyes still on her mouth. “Are you sure?”
“I…” she swallowed hard, looking from his eyes to his lips in confusion. He began to lean in, towards her as her eyes got wider and wider. The soft press of his lips against hers still came as a bit of a shock. She froze as his mouth moved against hers, tongue licking along her lip, feeling the hardness of his teeth nip at her gently. It was all so very immediate and unexpected that for a moment she had no idea what to do.
Then with a gasp she leaned backwards, hand coming up so fast she could barely think. The echo of flesh on flesh impact, her palm against his cheek, shocked her as much as it seemed to shock him. His hand rose to cover the red mark as he stared at her in disbelief.
“I…apologize,” he said quietly before turning and leaving her standing there, frozen, the breath heaving in her chest. Her hand stung where she’d slapped him and she lifted it up, staring at it as if it wasn’t part of her. Her palm was reddened and her hand shook a bit. With a shaky sigh, her knees buckled beneath her and she sank back onto the cold stone floor.
“What is happening?”
She looked around in bewilderment as if the stone or the sky would give her an answer. But there was nothing to be heard but the birds singing and the waves breaking gently on the distant shore below.
