Page 93 of The Duke's Virgin

“You need to stop fooling yourself and go after her, Luka.”

“Wecan’t—”

“Oh, fuck thecan’ts.” He shook his head. “We’re not living a hundred years ago. Thingsaredifferent. People are different. And our parents love us enough to want us to be happy.Go after her.”

I stared at him for a long moment, not even daring to breathe.

“Go.” This time, he shook me a little.

Tossing back the brandy, I went.

Thirty-Three

Stacia

A cold fronthad moved in overnight, and the sky overhead was leaden, low-hanging clouds heavy with the promise of more rain. It was an ugly, windy day and it reflected my mood perfectly. I’d woken up with a headache, likely due to the rapid change in weather, and dreams had haunted me throughout the night, making sound sleep impossible.

My mood was too sour for me to handle being around Emmett or his family, so I was grateful when they announced they were going into Lexington.

An hour after I climbed out of bed, I walked with them to the front door where Emmett caught my hand and squeezed. “You sure you don’t want to come? You’ve spent the past few weeks trapped up in here.”

“Ilikebeing trapped up in here,” I said, forcing a light tone I didn’t feel. “I’ve spent most of my life trapped in New York. The peace and quiet here is surreal. I love it.”

“Okay.” He tugged my braid and smiled. “I gave that realtor a call. She’s supposed to get back with me later about times. Unless you want to turn your phone on so I can text her your number?”

I grimaced. “No.”

“You can’t hide from them forever.”

Behind him, his mother called. He looked back and waved. “In a minute, Mom!” When he swung back to me, there was understanding and compassion in his gaze, and it made me want to weep. “No matter how long you keep that phone off, they’ll still be waiting around, and you’ll have to figure out how to handle this.”

“They aren’twaitingaround.” Temper snapped in my voice, and I tried to bank it because it wasn’t his fault my parents were judgmental pricks. “They made it clear that it wasunacceptablefor me to bepregnant and single. I told them it wasn’t their call and left. I’m not playing their game.” Covering the hard, firm plane of my belly, I added fiercely, “Thisisn’t a game.”

“No.” He nodded at my stomach. “That’s their grandchild. They’re still looking for you. You know that. They’re worried, Stacia.”

“No, they aren’t.”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but he just sighed and shook his head. “All right. If Melinda calls about the house, how about we go see it at seven tonight?”

“Sounds great.” I forced a toothy smile, relieved he’d decided to let it go, then hugged him. From the doorway, I watched them all pile into the big SUV and pull out of the circular driveway before locking the door.

They’d be gone for hours, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my time.

* * *

Nothing soothedthe ragged edges of my mood. I tried binging on my favorite Netflix show, but the gory zombie action seemed pointless. My second favorite, a sit-com, came off as flat, and the guy’s endless pining for a girlfriend and a connection filled me with melancholy.

After striking out on evenBlack Panther, I gave up and turned the TV off, heading into the library Emmett had built for his parents with the money from a win a year earlier.

Searching the books on his mother’s side, I waffled between romance and urban fantasy, unable to find anything that really caught my eye. I finally settled on a well-loved favorite, a romantic suspense author I’d read so many times I could quote some passages by memory. Even having read her so many times, the book still enthralled me, and I managed to lose myself for almost an hour.

A blast of thunder shook the house just as the killer was looking for the heroine, though, and the unexpected sound scared the crap out of me, and I shrieked, dropping the book in alarm.

The lights flickered, and I rose to go look out the window.

Rain started to lash the glass, and I found myself smiling.

At least the weather understood me today.

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