Page 24 of Duke of Destruction
“Oh, I beg your pardon!”
The startled comment flew from her lips before she even realized whom she was addressing—she merely registered that someone was here already, sitting in the moonlight. The figure turned and?—
Of course. It was the Duke of Seaton.
For once, though, he didn’t look combative. On the contrary, he looked as though he, like she , had come from his bed. He was wearing a dressing gown, too, though—thank the Lord—she could see that he was wearing trousers beneath. It wasn’t as though she’d never seen a man’s legs before—she had brothers, and Jason in particular had been known to wander out of his bedchamber without being entirely ready for the day—but those were herbrothers. That wasdifferent.
The mere thought made her feel like she might blush, which, in turn, made her feel hideously missish. She tried to think of anything else.
“Can’t sleep?” the duke asked.
Catherine, who was thinking resolutely of the time one of their stable cats had proudly delivered a half-eaten bird to her, shook her head.
“No, but if I just stay abed and try, I’ll?—”
“Never settle,” he finished for her. His tone wasalmostwarm. “Just so. I’m the same.”
There was a beat where this admission of sameness threatened to topple the fragile peace between them, but Catherine smiled instead.
“Nevertheless, you have right of first conquest for the veranda. I’ll leave you.”
“No,” he said quickly, looking as though he had surprised himself. He didn’t recant, however. “No, you can sit, if you like. It’s…very pleasant.”
He gestured to the bench beside him, the soft, cushioned one that looked out over the moonlit gardens. It was, without question, the best seat, so Catherine took it. She would worry later about how this was not quite proper.
For a few breaths, she just took in the view. The grounds gleamed almost silver under the moon, and they looked like something out of a fairy story. Then the duke shifted slightly beside her, and she becameveryaware that they were sittingtogether, not dressed, with only a half meter of space between them.
The silence shifted from comfortable to excruciating in a heartbeat.
“I wanted to say—” she began.
“Lady Catherine, I should—” he said, his words overlapping with hers.
They both cut off, looking at one another.
Again, for a moment so brief it was almost undetectable, they were the same.
Then he ducked his head.
“Please. You go first.”
“I wanted to say thank you for earlier,” she said. “A real thank you, not an offhanded one,” she added. “I… I was being very foolish, and you were very brave, to jump in after me. I appreciate it more than I can say.”
There was a full breath before he responded. He looked down at his hands, which were folded neatly in his lap.
“No thanks are necessary,” he said at last. “I would have done it for anyone. Even an enemy does not deserve to drown.”
Just like that, Catherine felt her temper flare to life. It was almost a relief, honestly. Their acquaintance might have been short, but she already knew how to be angry with him, knew it far better than she understood how to be cordial, or, worse,friendly.
“Anenemy,” she echoed, incredulous. “I swear, the gall of you! We have only just met one another, and yet you count me anenemy. I hope you realize that it is absurd—thatyouare being utterly absurd.”
His head snapped in her direction, that frown creasing his face into familiar folds. He had a good face for frowning, she supposed. It was nothing like that devastating smile she’d glimpsed so briefly, but he didn’t get that blustery, red-faced fury that so many gentlemen seemed to adopt when things didn’t go their way. Instead, the duke looked more like…a warrior, she decided. A fierce warrior, accustomed to battle and ready to fight again.
“Naïveté does not suit you, my lady,” he returned. “I told you; it is a matter of your family?—”
“Yes, right, of course!” she interjected, throwing up her hands. “The family about which I know nothing. Tell me, Your Grace, which is it? Am I a complicit member of my evil clan, determined to do you harm? Or am I an ignorant waif, just some poor,foolish woman unable to comprehend the great, wide world and my role in it?”
He looked at her like she was the bane of his existence. Catherine wondered if there was something well and truly wrong with her, as she found this thrilling.
