Page 75 of To Dare a Duke

“I….” Robert began, just as an almighty commotion arose just beyond the closed door. They both looked around as voices grew nearer. His butler sounded on the verge of an apoplexy.

“Madam! His grace is speaking to a visitor, you cannot simply—”

“His grace is speaking to my mistress and she needs to know—”

The door burst open, and Robert’s eyebrows flew up as he recognised Prue’s maid, the one who’d stood up to him when he’d gone to propose to her the first time around.

“Oh, miss!” the woman cried, hurrying forward, waving a rather battered copy of The Lady’s Weekly Review. “Miss, you ought to have read that story afore you saw him. It’s his story, miss, yours and his, but just like a fairy tale. I just finished it now, and….” She clutched the magazine to her chest and sighed. “It’s so romantic. He wants to marry you.”

Prue gaped, her gaze swinging between her maid and Robert.

“What? I… I don’t understand.”

“He’s proposing to you!” the woman said, throwing up her hands in frustration.

“Well,” Robert said, torn between amusement and frustration. “I would give it another try, but I seem to have been interrupted. I suppose I ought not be surprised. My proposals are never met with a deal of enthusiasm.”

“Oh, this ’un will be,” the woman assured him, folding her arms and nodding.

“Sally!” Prue exclaimed. Robert beamed at her.

“Don’t you let her leave this room till she’s said yes,” her maid continued, wagging a scolding finger at him. “She loves you and these past weeks she’s been broken hearted. I can’t stand to see two people who ought to be together tearing themselves apart. So, I figured I’d best step in and damn the consequences, your grace.” All at once the woman fell silent, as if she’d just then realised she was addressing a duke as though she was scolding a small boy.

Robert watched, fascinated, as her colour rose, and all her fire and indignation seemed to curl up and die. She looked mortified. He reached out his hand and took hers, raising it to his lips and kissing her fingers in an old fashioned, courtly gesture.

“I thank you, Miss…?”

“Sally, your grace,” she mumbled.

“Sally, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You’ve saved me a deal of anxiety, but perhaps you might leave us alone now, so I can try that proposal again.”

“Oh!” Sally exclaimed, flushing harder still and beaming at him. “Yes, indeed!”

“Jenkins,” Robert said, addressing the butler who had witnessed the scene without showing a hint of surprise or interest, as his lofty station demanded. “Please, have rooms prepared for our guests.”

He turned back to Prue, who had gasped at his words. “You will stay, won’t you, love? Please. Don’t run away from me again.”

His heart calmed the rapid-fire clattering in his chest as she gave a tremulous smile and nodded. He waited until they were alone once more, still breathing a little fast as he turned back to her. The room was still, save for the sound of their breathing, and his own pulse rushing in his ears.

“Hello,” he said softly, moving closer, and then reaching out and touching her cheek with the back of one finger.

“Hello.” She blinked up at him, eyes filled with wonder. God, he wanted to see her look at him like that forever. “You… you wrote me a story?”

He pulled a face, feeling awkward. “I did,” he confessed. “It’s awful,” he added, smiling as she gave an unsteady laugh.

“How lovely,” she said, smiling now. “No one ever wrote me a story before. Am I the villainess?”

“No,” Robert said, daring to put his hand on her waist and pull her a little closer. “You only think you are, to begin with.”

Silence filled the room, heavy with words unspoken, with emotions that battered him on all sides, but it was a hopeful silence.

“I asked you once if you wanted to marry me, and you said yes.”

She nodded, her eyes sparkling as her throat worked.

“Is that still true?”

“Yes,” she whispered, her lovely face flushed.