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Yet she did not boldly ask, but kept her gaze averted, afraid he would see the answering want inside her gaze.
“Tell me Theodosia, was your curiosity satisfied?”
She shifted her regard back to his, startled by the question. A deep awareness filled the air around them, encompassing throughout her body. She had a fleeting recollection of this very feeling last night, when she had stared up at him sleepily. “Yes…it was.” A misdirection she hoped he would not see through.
The duke did not reply, but his mouth curved, and that smile held a wicked kind of knowledge.
“Do I want to know what you are thinking about?”
“No.”
Theo did not understand why the very thought of wanting the duke scared her so. But it did. The idea of wanting him must never be given any serious consideration. But no amount of sensible reasoning stopped the warmth fluttering low in her belly and spreading throughout her body. Something impish rose inside of her. “I dare you…”
He sent her a sharp glance of surprise. “What?”
“I dare you to tell me…”
“Your sensibilities would be alarmed.”
“Now I am even more curious. Do you accept my dare?”Theo, stop, you are teasing a predator.
Chapter Eleven
Idare you…
The smile Theodosia sent his way was full of captivating vivacity and there lingered a dangerous sparkle in her eyes. This little lady liked living on the edge, even if she did not admit to it. Of course, Sebastian would not dare tell her the carnal thoughts and odd yearnings she roused in his heart. Such confessions had no place between them, unless she was willing to become his mistress. The very idea that she would be amenable to such an arrangement had heat stirring in his loins.
Bloody hell. He was really becoming muddled.
At his continued silence, Theodosia made an awful squawking sound, and Sebastian grinned. “The chicken really is not a coward you know. I recall visiting one of my tenant farmers with my father. I was a lad of twelve and a chicken, a hen I believed, chased me for miles. I had nightmares for weeks about that damn hen.”
Theodosia laughed, the sound light and lovely, and it caught at something tender inside Sebastian. For so long she had lacked laughter, a thing he could not imagine. Even through his family’s most painful experience, the death of his father, they had supported each other with love and recollecting of memories which had brought laughter and tears. Without laughter there must have been sadness, perhaps pain, and undoubtedly loneliness. She would have endured this without the support of those close to her, with her parents living lavishly abroad, and her brother contentedly in the countryside.
She had been used and discarded, and not only by the man she’d married.
“I supposed you were mortally embarrassed, to be fleeing from a hen!” she said with a chortle that shook her shoulders. “I cannot imagine it! You are so very proper and duke like…I cannot see you running from a chicken, your face filled with fright.”
If only she knew how improper he could be. “I admit it took me a few days before I could look my father in the eye.”
“When you did, what did he say.”
“Ah, it was a confession. That particular hen was cantankerous and had even chased my father the day before. He praised my swift thinking in retreating from a battle I would sure to lose.”
He really liked her laughter.
Theodosia stared at him, her expression suddenly contemplative. “I can tell that you miss him.”
He trotted a little closer, staying in her line of vision. “He was a good father, husband, and duke. His family loved him and so did his staff and tenants. I found myself wondering what he would have done to find Perdie. Though she barely recalls it, father doted on her.”
Theo wondered if there had been a time her father doted on her. She doubted it, truly cannot recall ever having his approval or affection. It occurred to her she did not long to see her mother or father. “What exactly are you doing to find Perdie?”
“My plan is to visit all the places Perdie is familiar with. I am hoping she will seek comfort and refuge in places she knows. We will start with all the houses that belong to the family.”
“Are there a lot of places?”
“Nine, spread throughout England, Scotland, and a chateau in France and a villa in Italy. Given that the countries are still stabilizing after Napoleon’s’ war, I do not think she would dare travel to France or anywhere abroad.”
“Have you sent the hired runners to all of your homes?”
