Page 48 of Five Nights with a Rakish Duke
“Stay with me. Just for a short while. Here on this divan.” His request was met by her nearly dropping the parchment.
“Here?” she repeated.
“Well, it’s not quite asking you to share the bed over there, is it?” he teased, pointing toward the proper bed in the corner of the room. She blushed and giggled before placing the note on a nearby table and resting both palms on his chest. “Please, Penny. Stay with me for just a short while.”
“As you wish.”
Her assent made him pull her closer into his chest, urging her to rest her head on his shoulder. As his head pounded with pain, Asher concentrated on the feeling of Penny in his arms. No matter how many times he urged his mind to be calm, it wouldn’t obey his order, and he had too many questions running through his head.
Why do I need her here with me at this moment? And who struck my head? Did they have anything to do with that note?
Chapter Sixteen
“Could they be connected?” Penelope asked Veronica as she pushed the note into her godmother’s hands.
“You need to change, dearest, before someone sees you in that dress.” Veronica lowered the pipe from her lips and pointed at Penelope’s outfit.
It was still the early hours of the morning. She had ended up falling asleep on the divan with Asher, awakening when dawn began to creep through the window. She had left him fast asleep on the divan and hurried out whilst it was still vaguely dark, rushing to Veronica’s home before anyone could see her leaving Asher’s house.
“I will; I just need to speak of this first,” Penelope said, scarcely able to sit as she walked around the parlor again. Veronica placed her pipe on the table beside her and curled her legs under the dressing gown she wore on the settee, lifting the note higher in her hands to peer at it. “What do you think of the note? Do you know the handwriting?”
“Hmm,” Veronica said nothing for a minute. As Penelope paced back the other way in the parlor though, Veronica lost her patience. She huffed and placed the note down on her lap, lifting her eyes to Penelope again. “Would you sit down before I stand up and push you into one of those chairs? I cannot think with all this pacing!”
“I’m sorry,” Penelope said, hurrying into one of the seats and perching on the very edge. As she was still wearing the gown from the night before, she was all too aware of where she had spent most of the night. She leaned forward, resting her face in her hands before she lowered one hand to her lips and traced the edges, just as Asher had done the evening before.
Last night felt different.It hadn’t just been flirtation and games of excitement. No, there had been a need there between them, and genuine care and concern. She had been so certain he cared for her too last night, only when she walked through Veronica’s door another thought struck her.
He cannot care for you. He is going to court Margaret.
“Well, I cannot say I recognize the handwriting though, from the shaky lines, I rather expect whoever wrote the note has worked to hide their handwriting as though they feared it would be recognized.” Veronica tossed the note on a nearby table and lifted her perceptive eyes to Penelope again. “You say the Duke will recover fine?”
“Yes,” Penelope said hurriedly. “He was lucky. Whoever struck the blow did not hit him cleanly. Thank God for that!” She buried her face in her hands again, trying to stop her trembling.
“Dearest?” Veronica waited until Penelope looked up from her hands. “This worries me.”
“What does?”
“This!”Veronica pointed to the state Penelope was in. “Do you mean to tell me that you have developed feelings for the Duke?”
“I – no! Of course, not.” Penelope spoke hurriedly, almost as though it were a natural thing to deny it, but deep in her heart, she knew the truth.
I do care for him. How could I not?Asher was different to any other man she had known. Yes, he may have been a rake, but he was charming, exciting, kind, passionate, and had a way of looking at the lighter side of life that was intoxicating. It was as though when she was around him, she had drunk one too many clarets. She rather liked the feeling.
“Hmm.” Veronica did not look convinced as she picked up her pipe again, puffing on the vice she worked hard to keep a secret from other members of the ton. “As you wish, then this afternoon we shall go ahead with our plan.”
“What plan?”
“Have you forgotten already, child?” Veronica said with a frown, leaning forward so agitatedly that she had to adjust the skirt of her dressing gown. “We agreed to promenade this afternoon in Hyde Park. There are many suitors that will be there today, some I think it is high time you acquainted yourself with. Others I have introduced you to, but you have turned your nose up at. We will have to find you a man to marry soon.”
“Oh, yes.”
“You had forgotten, hadn’t you?” Veronica asked quietly.
“No, I have just had other things on my mind,” Penelope answered hurriedly and sat back in the chair, closing her eyes briefly. In her mind’s eye, she was back in the Duke’s chamber, resting on the divan with him.
As he had been slipping off into sleep, he had looped the arm that was around her waist even tighter, pulling her into his side. In his dreamy state, he had whispered words she rather expected came more from a dream than his rational mind.
“Do not leave. Please.”
