Page 35 of Duke of Destruction
“Let’s just get this over with,” she said, more huffily than was perhaps warranted—or proper.
The duke, to his credit—which she hated to give him—did not respond in kind. Instead, he handed over the list of things they were supposed to find.
Catherine skimmed it and…
“What in the blazes is this?” she asked hotly, then sucked in a breath at her own audacity. It was bad enough that this manmade her forget herself in remote corners and dark taverns, but now she was inpublic. In a crowd of her peers.
Fortunately, nobody around her seemed to notice; they were all hunched over their copies of the list, whispering excitedly with their partners.
The duke’s lips twitched in a little smile at her language, however.
Which was probably worse than being shamed before half thetonfor swearing.
“Let me see,” he demanded.
The stubborn part of her wanted to resist just on principle, but she handed him the stupid thing.
“’You must find,’” he read, “’a…’ What in the hell?”
Catherine nodded grimly.
The list was an uninterrupted litany of nonsense. They were tasked to find such objects asa pinecone that reminds you of home, andthe third prettiest wildflower.
“How are you supposed to know if a pebble used to reside in a riverbed?” the duke demanded, pointing at one of the more ridiculous items.
Catherine gave a helpless, expansive, and decidedly unladylike shrug.
“He’s your friend, isn’t he?” she asked, tilting her head toward the Duke of Wilds, who was conferring quietly with his elderly partner and watching happily as the pairings he had assembled schemed and strategized. “Can you go talk to him about this lunacy?”
The duke sighed, and, for a moment, he looked so put out that Catherine almost felt bad for him.
“There’s not really such a thing as ‘talking to’ David,” he said. “I mean, I could try. It just wouldn’t work.” He paused. “Although, if we don’t know what each of these clues mean, he cannot prove that any leaf we find isn’t—” He glanced down at the list. “—‘a leaf replete with majesty.’”
This was a logical way to get through what promised to be an utterly ridiculous activity, and yet Catherine felt an instinctive stab of horror.
“You cannot mean tocheat,” she hissed, the word far quieter than the actual oath she’d permitted to leave her lips only moments before. “That’s—that’s completely ridiculous! The competition might be mad, but we must engage in its intended spirit, for then, even if we win, our victory will be hollow, based on lies, and?—”
She cut herself off as she noted the slow smile spreading across the duke’s face.
“Are youmockingme?” she demanded.
“Notmocking,” he said. “Just a bit of light teasing, perhaps. After all, you are the woman who fell into a lake just to lose a game of pall mall?—”
“It wasa draw,” Catherine interjected.
“—so, no, I did not think that you would be interested in cheating, even at this utter farce.”
She narrowed her eyes, determined to see any trace of unkindness there, but she didn’t find any.
“I want to win,” she told him, just to test him.
“I never expected anything else,” he replied, and the words were almost…warm.
“And I won’t cheat,” she went on.
“Certainly not,” he agreed.”
“And,” she ventured, plucking the paper from his fingers, “I want to hold the list.”
