Page 558 of From Rakes to Riches

“No time like the present.” Lady Artemis stepped forward and took the duchess’s hand.

As the two ladies made their way toward the horses, where Cal stood waiting to assist them, Lady Artemis tossed a wink over her shoulder at Gemma.

Lady Artemis…

About as subtle as a hammer.

And that was Lady Artemis, the Duchess of Acaster, and Cal gone back to Somerton…

And Gemma left alone with Rakesley.

He cocked a hip against the low Roman wall, crossed his arms over his chest, and stood observing her.

“That wall is older than England,” she pointed out.

He shrugged an indifferent shoulder. “Then it’ll hold.”

She snorted.

Dukes.

“Your sister knows,” she said, speaking what occupied her mind.

“I know.”

Gemma moved to the other side of the wall. Better to have a barrier between them at all times. “You lot are big on being the ones in the know.”

He shifted, keeping track of her movements. “A family failing, I’m afraid.” He wasn’t apologetic in the least.

A sudden chirrup of laughter burst from Gemma. Rakesley’s mouth twitched, then smiled, and he was laughing alongside her.

Something happened in the air when it was only the two of them. It was if the elements changed their composition.

Or perhaps it was elements exposed.

Elements that pulsed between them when it was only them.

Elements given permission to collide.

“The Duchess of Acaster…” Gemma wasn’t sure why she’d begun such a sentence or where she intended to go with it. Better to stop talking.

“She arrived an hour or so ago.” A shadow of Rakesley’s smile remained. “Unexpectedly.”

“Do duchesses often land unexpected on your doorstep?” Gemma wasn’t particularly proud of the pettish note that accompanied the question.

“It’s been known to happen.”

Of course, Gemma didn’t say. More pettishness. But, honestly, after what he and she had done in his bedroom three nights ago, she could hardly blame all those duchesses. Her body had never been the recipient of so much pleasure in all her life.

She still tingled with it.

“She’s walking her filly Light Skirt to Newmarket for the One Thousand Guineas.”

“Ah.”

Gemma doubted that was the sole reason for the duchess’s sudden arrival.

“Hannibal will be ready to leave in a few days?”

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