Page 36 of Plucked By the Orc

While he stroked Boudica, Iris remained silent for a spell. A rare circumstance, that. At last, she asked: “Well, might I come in, then? I promise to avoid the glass.”

She was going to tell him she was leaving. Likely, she had already packed the patchwork satchel he’d espied when Mrs. Clemons had Iris’s things moved from her bedsit into his townhouse. For that reason, Duncan had no desire to allow her inside.

But there was no sense in delaying the inevitable, either. When all was said and done, emotional wounds were best treated similarly to physical wounds. Quickly and efficiently.

Duncan nodded his assent, and Iris bent down, gently placing Boudica on the floor outside the door and then making her already slight form even more slender so she could slip into the library.

He shut the door again and crossed to the other side of the room. If nothing else, he could provide Miss Gabbert with the space she desired while telling him she could no longer continue with her lessons. That he had gravely offended her, and there could be no further communication between them whatsoever.

He, Albion, and Mother were in London to maintain peaceable relations with the English, hoping to establish permanent and equitable trade relations. Just as Father had wanted. They were here primarily to betterhisworld. The Hidden Realm, which was no longer hidden thanks to blasted human prying.They couldnot leave well enough alone, at least not once they recognized the wealth to be gained from trade.

But Duncan was no fool and knew how easily such a fragile alliance might fracture and break. From what he’d seen and diligently recorded in his book, humans were wary of those who differed from them in general appearance and custom. And had no compunctions about taking that which wasn't theirs.

Then again, Iris Gabbert wasn’t like other humans. At least not those who were successful in society. As far as Duncan was concerned, she was too good for thatstuffy lot, as Iris herself would call them, the purpose of blending in with thetonbeing strictly utilitarian for them both.

With any luck, she would not threaten to take her tale to the papers: the human woman compromised by an orc. Such a tale, Duncan felt sure, would ruin all of his father’s commendable work. And it would be all Duncan’s fault.

“I am sorry to hear that people treated you so poorly when you first came to London. That Boudica was your only friend,” Iris said. “It’s a rotten business, that.”

The tender words gave him the courage to meet her eyes, those amber eyes with the glint of fire that reminded him of sapphires from his land.

“No wonder you keep yourself apart. And those who made you feel that way ought to be ashamed.”

Her lips were parted slightly, as they were whenever she was engaged in listening to someone. Really listening. Not that distracted air which passed for such in London Society.

“I can’t say I’ve ever credited most residents of this city with anything resembling good intentions,” she added. “I suppose we two have similar feelings on that matter. But you should know by now that notallhumans are terrible.”

“Regardless of our opinions of society, you must accept my deepest apologies for what occurred in the drawing room, MissGabbert,” he said, his voice overly stiff even to his own ear. “I was overcome and not myself. I never meant to offend you so terribly, and certainly not while you are under my roof and under my care.”

“Under your care?” she scoffed. “You don’t believe I came here for an apology, do you?”

He wavered. Perhaps Miss Gabbert had some blackmail scheme in mind. He’d heard rumors of such plots, aiming to threaten a gentleman’s honorable reputation were specific financial terms not met. He had not thought Iris capable of such a foul scheme, but then Duncan had not always been the best judge of character, no matter how desperately he wanted to believe otherwise.

An unwelcome memory of Lady Margaret played in his mind. Her cheeks had flushed pink, as Iris’s did at present, but the circumstances were far different. She had caressed the sensitive skin on his horns and then pulled away without a word. He shared the deepest secrets of his heart, and she laughed as though his entire life was naught but a joke to catalog and share behind a silken fan later in the evening so that her friends might laugh too.

“What do you want from me, Miss Gabbert?”

She remained on her side of the library but held his gaze. “I want to tell you that no apology is necessary.”

“Yes, it is. I compromised your honor.”

“Hardly!” She tilted her head winsomely.

Looking at Iris and using all the knowledge he gained in studying theton—whose nuances when it came to anything relating to romance seemed widely shared by all the English—he saw something far different than he’d seen in Lady Margaret or any other human woman for that matter.

Genuine affection.

That didn’t change the fact that he had behaved shockingly toward her. “I took a liberty I should never have presumed to take.”

“We both wanted what happened in the drawing room. I, for one, have no regrets.” Iris hesitated and bit her lower lip in a most beguiling manner. She blurted out the next words in a single breath. “I would be most amenable to such happening again. That’s what I came to tell you.”

Duncan swallowed hard, his entire body heated with desire. It was all he could manage not to lean forward and show her how much pleasure they could take in one another’s company.

His claws retracted once more.

Iris noticed and, at first, did nothing. However, when he made no move to hide what had occurred but let her witness the power she held over him, she smiled. How had she learned to part her lips so alluringly? And had her eyes always been this bright?

“Your desire for me is clear, your grace.”

---