Page 39 of Taken By the Duke of Stone

"I do not think that is necessarily a bad thing."

Lavinia slapped a hand over her mouth to cover her laughter but the mirth was apparent in her eyes.

"How naughty," she said, "And here I was thinking you were a model of decorum."

He recoiled, "Whatever made you to think that?"

She gazed at him like they were alone in the world, and that nothing else outside of him mattered. It was enough to make a man a little crazy. He was used to being deferred to and seen as important everywhere he went, but never in his life had he felt such singular focus.

It made him feel greedy.

"Maybe it's just something about your-" he never got to hear the rest because at that moment, her eyes caught something in the distance.

"Oh no," she cried.

The barouche had slid to a stop because of some traffic ahead, and she took advantage of that to unlatch the door and jump out.

"Lavinia!" He roared as she raced forward.

"What is she doing?" Patrick asked but the Duke was already leaping out and racing after her.

Ahead, he saw the white ball of fur in the middle of the street and a distracted phaeton driver about to crash into it.

"Goddammit," Victor cursed under his breath. Lavinia was extremely fast for a lady and the phaeton was now dangerously close to the terrified dog. Even if she managed to rescue it, she would unlikely get hurt in the process.

"Stop! Stop!" He roared at the driver, attracting attention.

The man turned to him confused, and that was when the reckless chit jumped right in front of the vehicle and grabbed the animal.

Lavinia's impulsiveness must have been contagious, because the Duke didn't think. He jumped straight into bedlam and snatched the lady and dog out of the way.

Lavinia tumbled into him with a surprised shriek and they ended up sprawled on the side of the street, the Duke lying under her and his arms around her.

Barely a second later, the phaeton rushed past them in a blur of wheels.

"Are you well?" he asked her.

She blinked wide eyes down at him, looking lost, and then a moment later she scrambled away, color high on her cheeks, "yes, I believe I am fine.”

"Now that that is out of the way. Are you out of your senses?" Victor bit out, climbing to his feet and trying to ignore the way his heart was pounding with terror.

If he had hesitated even for a moment...

He refused to think about what could have happened.

"Me?" She reeled back, "he would have hurt poor Andrew."

He looked between her and the dog she was petting lovingly, saw her defiant stare and realized there was no use chastising her.

"You named the dog already?" he asked instead. "You do not even know if he belongs to someone."

She held the ratty thing up. "Anyone who will let their dog look so sickly does not deserve it."

The thing was already staring up at her with a disgusting amount of devotion and he made a face at the pair they made. "You would have gotten yourself killed. Never do that again."

"But the dog-"

"I do not care about the blasted dog, I care about you!" he roared.

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