Page 5 of The One With the Rogue Duke

“You’re clean.” He stated, plucking the last piece of hay that had embedded itself in her coiffure.

To his surprise, she didn’t reply. Just stared at him with a grim look on her face. When her eyes dipped down to his lips, and further to where his hands hung at his side, he didn’t speak. And when they sunk all the way down to his toes, and slowly meandered back up, he wanted to be smug about it and grin at her.

Instead, he waited in silence to watch what she would do about seeing him for the first time in almost a decade. He still remembered her debut. Not dancing with her had been a choice. A complex one. But he stood by his decision. She wanted everything handed to her on a silver platter because why? She was beautiful? Yes, well, that may be true—truer than he remembered because now she was a fully grown woman with curves, that he didn’t care to think about—but he wasn’t going to walk around holding a tray for her.

Dowager to duke, what would she do? What would she say? Would she be petty? She had, after all, invited him to her house party. He was quite curious to know her plans. And of all the things he thought she might have said, he certainly wasn’t expecting what she did say.

“Have you seen Grice?”

To which there was only one response. “Yes.”

“Well, tell him I’m looking for him.”

“Tell him you’re looking for him?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why would I do that?”

At first she didn’t reply, just casually perused his body. “I see what they see…but you must still show respect for the lady of the house. No matter how many ankles you break.”

“What—” And that’s when it dawned on him. She didn’t recognize him. Perhaps the decade had worn on him. Perhaps he should have kept a few ducal layers of clothing on. “All right, I should tell you—”

“Will you tell him or not?”

“Yes,” he gritted out. “Before I do that, there’s something you should know.”

“About the horses being spooked today? The groom mentioned it. He said the horses were a little bit restless today. Perhaps they just need a good ride.”

A good ride. He was pretty sure those words were going to haunt him after this conversation, but first he had to set her straight.

“I should tell you something before you go—”

A loud stamp from inside the stable cut him off.

When Verity turned to investigate, he stepped in front of her. And before she could protest, he simply said, “Since I can’t stop you from going in there, at least stay behind me.”

Her grunt in reply would have to do for now.

As the two rushed into the stable, he braced himself for what he might find, but the second they stepped foot in the building, all they could hear was the steady breathing of the horses.

“Well,” she huffed in annoyance, as if she had wanted to see something more dramatic from the horse, “the groom was obviously making too much of it. I’ll have to talk with him. I don’t care for exaggerations.”

“The lad wasn’t exaggerating. The horses have been spooked all morning. Just a short time ago, we had a groom whose life was in danger.”

Within a second of her plans to reprimand the boy in question, she did an aboutface. “Well, then I’m glad he’s all right.” The transition had him swerving, so he didn’t see her approach Blackmare before it was too late.

STAMP.

SWISH.

HUFF.

Tension filled the air, and for a split second he worried he wouldn’t get there in time and that a horse hoof was about to go through her pretty little face.

It happened in a flash. One second he was watching. Worrying. The next he was pressing her against the wall, protectively, while the horse snorted behind him.

If he thought her eyes had pierced into him before, his entire body was being sliced up now. This proximity. Her heavy breathing. Her hands on his chest. Her soft breaths against the small hollow at the bottom of his throat. Soft, inviting lips. Slightly parted.

He curled his fingers slightly, desperate to grab onto anything where they were braced against the wall on either side above her head.

Tilting her chin up, she peered up at him. Waiting. The air was thickening between them, and he could feel lust snaking through his body. There was no doubt she was a gorgeous woman. But for as much as his body wanted her, his brain reminded him of the type of woman he would settle for. She had to be kind, compassionate, and intelligent. That’s all. The rest could work itself out.