Page 59 of The Duke's Ultimatum

Graynor looked down in between them. “I didn’t see a bee.”

Eleanor’s eyes snapped to the Duke’s. “It must’ve flown away,” she said pointedly.

Graynor’s mouth widened into a devilish grin. He enjoyed having an effect on the ever-proper Eleanor. His mind whirled with ideas to pull her attention from the insipidly boring Viscount.

The couple resumed their walk with Graynor still at Eleanor’s side. Her focus was begrudgingly still attuned to Hountshire. Every few steps, Graynor allowed his body to sway, causing his arm to brush her shoulder.

At first it didn’t seem to bother her, but by the third time, he noticed her eyes had slid to glance at him from the corner of her eyes. Feeling her eyes on him, he acted completely oblivious of his actions. He felt her bristle at his side, and she doubled down her efforts to pay attention to Hountshire.

Their walk was interrupted by a group of the Viscount’s friends approaching them, led by a young man about Hountshire’s age.

“Lady Eleanor, may I introduce a good friend of mine, James Peterly; his family and mine are old friends.”

Ever the Lady, Eleanor dipped her head and gave a demure hello and smile.

Graynor coughed.

Now, Graynor never considered himself much for the protocol of high society, but when it came to dealing with the Viscount, he wanted to kiss whoever established such a hierarchy. Seeing the poor lad have to acknowledge not only Graynor’s presence but his station made Graynor feel like a king.

Hountshire’s eyes narrowed as he huffed out a breath. “James, may I also introduce, His Grace, the Duke of Graynor.”

Hountshire’s female friends all smiled coyly while the men in the group nearly tripped over each other to introduce themselves. So much so that Hountshire had to take a step back, so his friends didn’t knock him over.

Graynor felt uncharacteristically generous in the moment and shook each hand. After all, he was never one to tire of people telling him how impressive he was with his business dealings. Especially when a foe was in his midst. When he decided the Viscount was his opponent, he didn’t know or care to question, but in this moment, he felt as if he had the Viscount under his thumb.

Graynor looked over to Eleanor, who stood there with an unimpressed look on her face. That feeling of victory quickly dwindled.

Hountshire recaptured his friend’s attention with an inside joke to James from when they were younger. Graynor allowed the conversation to shift, more curious about Eleanor’s reaction.

To the outside world, it would look as if he were paying attention to the conversation happening in front of him, but inside, he was analyzing the woman next to him. She laughed when she needed to laugh, smiled at Hountshire when the situation called for it, and nodded when appropriate. It was as if she were just going through the motions of what was expected of her.

As if she felt him invading her mind, her spine straightened. Her eyes quickly scanned the path. Once she found what she was looking for, she touched Hountshire’s arm.

“Excuse me, but I’m feeling a bit tired. Would you mind if I go sit on that bench while you catch up?”

“Would you like me to join you?” To Hountshire’s credit, the bloke did look concerned, but Graynor couldn’t give up the opportunity to pull Eleanor away from him.

“Nonsense, Hountshire. You stay here and catch up with your friends. I’ll see to Lady Eleanor.”

Hountshire ignored Graynor and continued to look at Eleanor. “Are you sure?”

Normally, Graynor would be offended at the slight of being ignored, but at this moment, Graynor was coming out on top. If ignoring him made Hountshire feel like a man in front of Eleanor and his friends, let him have it. Graynor was the one who would be keeping Eleanor company, and to him, that was another victory.

Eleanor smiled up at Hountshire and placed her hand over his. Graynor couldn’t remove his eyes from her offending hand. That is, until he heard her words.

“I am, Simon. You stay with your friends; His Grace will attend to me. I want to be rested for our outing tomorrow night.”

She dipped her eyes and looked up at Hountshire through her lashes. Graynor’s vision exploded red with rage.What kind of evening did they have planned?

Without looking at Graynor, she turned and walked to the bench just off to the side of where Simon stood with his friends.

Graynor stood speechless, staring at the space she just vacated. When his eyes finally moved, they were met with the triumphant mockery of Hountshire’s.

Graynor’s jaw ticked as he walked over to the bench and sat down next to Eleanor.

“What are your plans for tomorrow that require you to rest so much beforehand?” Graynor tightened his hands into fists on his lap. It was all he could do from reaching out to shake sense into the woman sitting next to him.

Completely unaffected by his presence Eleanor looked ahead and smiled. “What interest is it of yours? We’ll be adequately chaperoned by my mother, so you needn’t worry about it.”

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