Page 46 of Five Nights with a Rakish Duke
“You’re bleeding!”
“I will always want to flirt with you, Penny. Of that, I am certain.”
“What do you mean ‘always’?” The word made her snap her gaze up to him in surprise.
This is only supposed to last five nights, isn’t it? He has made that abundantly clear!
“On second thought, maybe I do need to see a physician,” he said quietly.
“What changed your mind?”
“Your face is all blurry.”
“Right, that settles it. Come with me.” She began to walk him back toward the ballroom when he abruptly dug his feet into the ground. “What are you doing, Asher?”
“I will not take you in there like this,” he said, turning his head down to look at her. In this position, with their arms wrapped around each other, their faces were close together. So close that Penelope could have reached up and kissed him if she wanted to. She was sorely tempted indeed, but now was not the time. “If someone sees we have been out here alone together, your reputation will be ruined.”
“You are worried about that? Even now?” she asked in surprise. With his head bleeding, she would have been happy for him to throw caution to the wind. “The most important thing now is seeing you safe and well.”
“I am discreet, remember?” he said softly. “I will not jeopardize you. Not in any way. Not even for a bump on the head.”
“Stubborn man,” she whispered playfully, turning him to walk him around the house instead.
“Ha! I would have said gallant.” He laughed with the words, pulling one lonely smile from her.
“How can you laugh at a time like this?”
“It is how we have to handle the woes of the world,” Asher said, tipping his head up to look at the dark sky and the slowly appearing moon from behind the clouds. Penelope became distracted as she looked at his face, thinking on his words.
“This is how you always handle woes?” she asked softly. “You look at the lighter side of life?”
“I have to,” he answered her, turning his head down to her. With the connection of their eyes, something happened. It was as though a bolt had passed straight through Penelope, anchoring her to the ground and stopping her from moving. His eyes flickered down to her lips, just as they parted slightly. “You help me see the lighter side of life,” he whispered the words so quietly, she was not certain she had heard him correctly.
“What did you – mff!” She didn’t get her question out, for he had leaned down and stole a kiss. It was nothing heated, nor too urgent, merely a soft press of lips together, yet the gentleness of it made Penelope want to wiggle with pleasure regardless. A coiled thrill travelled through her chest, down to her stomach, and somewhere much lower, to a private part of her body she hadn’t thought much about before she met Asher.
When he leaned back from the kiss, breathless, and lifted a hand to his head with the pain, she raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Well, you cannot be too bad if you are still kissing me at a time like this.”
“The lighter side of life, remember?” he said softly. She smiled a little before turning her eyes forward.
“Come, we need to find your carriage.” By the time they had worked their way around the whole house, Asher was growing more balanced on his feet, but he was still hissing with pain, and from the blood stain on the palm of his hand, it was clear the bleeding wasn’t stopping any time soon.
As they reached his carriage on the driveway, two footmen helped him into the bench seat. Penelope stood by the door, craning her neck to see around the footmen as best as she could. As soon as they stepped away, she moved forward, to find Asher reaching for her hand with urgency.
“Come with me,” he whispered, his face betraying the pain he was in.
“Now?” she asked in wonder, glancing back to the house. “Someone may see.”
“We are the only ones here, and you can see that. Please, Penny, come with me.” The pleading nature of his question made her yearn to follow, but her common sense told her she should return to the ballroom.
“If I leave, people will notice I am gone.”
“Send a message via the footman that you have a headache. This can be our third night, so you can rest assured that I will be a perfect gentleman,” he said with a playful smile. “I am hardly in a fit state to be anything else, am I?” He lifted his hand back to his head again, before pulling it away and revealing more blood. The sight of him in so much pain broke her.
Asher…She couldn’t stand to see him in so much agony. She beckoned a footman near and told him to deliver a message to Veronica and Adam at the ball, telling them she had a headache and was heading to Veronica’s home at once as it was closer than her own home, then she clambered into the carriage.
“Thank God for that,” Asher said, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing the back. She didn’t have time to ask what he meant. She was too busy finding a handkerchief and pressing it to the back of his head to try and stop the bleeding. He rested his head down on her shoulder as she clung onto him.
The whole journey back, they stayed there, in companionable silence together, with one arm each wrapped around each other and their other hands entwined.
