Page 27 of His Highland Duchess
“Yes!” she cried loudly, realizing a second too late. She grimaced and dropped her voice and her head, smiling because they were being watched, but making sure the duke could see her meaning in her eyes. “This has less to do with our kiss and more to do with what you want from me.”
Still, the duke looked amused. “So, you wish for more than a kiss? Margaret…” He chuckled and flashed his eyes. “I had no idea you were filled with such desires.”
She glared at him.He is toyin’ with me again! And so effortlessly. For some reason, whenever we argue, he reverts to this version of himself, takin’ pleasure in seein’ how far he can push me. Worse, Margaret enjoyed it. Even as she glared, she felt her heart racing and her body flushing. Still confused, as she had no idea what he wanted or why he was acting this way, she could not stop herself from wondering what might happen if they were alone…
“We are done here,” she said, straightening up. “And with this conversation.”
“I agree,” he said, instantly dropping the humor and turning serious. “The point tonight has been made, so I think it best if we return home and –”
“Ye misunderstand me,” she said to him. “Ye and I…” She widened her eyes at him. “Ye insist on sending me mixed signals. Ye insist on refusing to be straight with me. Well, if ye will nae, then I will be.” She made sure to be looking right at him. “From now on, when we are nae in public together, I will do everything in me power to avoid ye. And I expect ye to do the same for meh.”
He frowned, caught between amusement because he likely did not believe her, and a realization that she was indeed telling the truth. “You are serious?”
“Ye should be glad,” she said. “After all, this is what ye wished for from the beginning, is it nae?”
“It is…” He sounded unsure.
“Then we are in agreement.” She nodded her head once. “Now, I am going to find my sister to say goodbye, and then I will meet ye outside.” She forced a smile and fluttered her eyelashes, putting it on in case anyone was watching. “I will see ye then, loving husband.”
And with that, she turned and strode away, through the ballroom, not daring to look back at her husband even once.
Her heart was racing. Her body was flushed warm. Even her knees shook. In the forefront of her mind, she doubled down on what she had just said, believing it to be the right thing.The smart thing. The only thing!But even she could not swallow such a lie fully.
The reason her body was reacting in such a way was the same reason she could not stop thinking about that damn kiss. The attraction she felt for her husband. The desire that wrecked her body when she was near him. But rather than exploring such desires, or daring to think she might have that chance, Margaret decided it was better to play it safe and avoid him altogether.A fool’s errand, maybe. But I have always been a slow learner…
CHAPTER NINE
“Please, Margaret. Please!” Aurelia begged, even going so far as to hold her hands clasped together before her.
“That isnae goin’ to work,” Margaret said, hands on her hips. “Please, have a little more respect for me than that.”
“Please!” Isobel joined in, mimicking her older sister.
“Father won’t find out,” Aurelia insisted. “We will not tell him.”
“Please.”
“Please, it will be so fun!”
The two girls stood with their hands clasped together as if in prayer, chins wobbling, eyes beginning to water. They were making a show of it because Margaret knew they were not nearlyas upset as they pretended to be. Merely children trying to get their way, which was something that Margaret was used to.
“I applaud the performance, but the answer is still nae.” She could not help but laugh this time. “As I told ye earlier, we can look an’ touch, but we cannae ride. Yer father would kill me if he found out.”
Their faces fell with resignation. It caused Margaret to pause, and she very nearly changed her mind, for she hated saying no to the two girls. What was more, she was eager for them to like her. But it was true that if she said yes, Lysander would be furious with her.Although that itself is almost a reason to do it.
Margaret and the two young girls were in the stables at the moment, there to pet the horses and see them fed. No more, no less, because Margaret knew that if she allowed them to ride without their father’s permission, there would be hell to pay. Not that she should have cared one way or the other. Wasn’t she set to avoid him from now on anyhow? Had she not declared that the two were finished?
It was easy to say, harder to commit to. Where I do intend to avoid me husband as much as I can, I still cannae find it in meself to dismiss his authority outright.A shudder ran through her body at the thought, one that she knew the reason for, even if she refused to accept it.
Even the fact that she was spending time with the two girls was a risk, as surely the duke would scold her for such a thing. Although maybe he would not? It was hard to say what hewanted, and Margaret wasn’t even sure that he knew the answer to that question. It was all so confusing. So unclear. She wanted to avoid the duke and be done with him –it would be easier in the long run, as I am still set to leave here come the end of the Season— while also desperate to find herself alone in his company again…
“So, ye father daesnae want ye riding horses at all?” Margaret began as she led the girls toward one of the horses. It was a white stallion, muscled and elegant both, a truly beautiful creature.
“No,” Aurelia sighed. She approached the horse without hesitation, stroking its front in a way that suggested she did this often. “Perhaps when I am older, he might let me.”
“Me too!” Lenora joined in. She was only six years old, and Margaret had noticed that she had a habit of parroting her sister.
“Perhaps I will talk to him,” Margaret said, even if she wasn’t certain that was a good idea. Again, she was supposed to be trying to avoid him…
