Page 68 of Five Nights with a Rakish Duke
“I was drinking that,” Asher said.
“Do you want to lose your good sense as well as your money?” Dorian asked. Asher had no answer and stared back at him.
“Let us play again.” Asher struck the table with the words, but the mousey opponent stood to his feet and shook his head.
“No, Your Grace. I have taken advantage of a heartbroken man enough for one night. I will not do it again.” He took his winnings and walked away, leaving Asher at the table with the dealer and his friends.
“I am not heartbroken,” Asher said with feeling, though he would not look up to meet his friend’s gaze.
“No shame in admitting it,” Dorian replied as he made a signal to the dealer, saying they would not be playing again tonight.
“Isn’t there?” Asher asked, barely realizing he had said it aloud.
“Come on, Asher.” Vincent stood to his feet. “Let’s get you home.”
“I do not want to go home,” Asher said firmly. Each time he walked through the door he was reminded of Penny. He couldn’t go back and stare at the Persian rug where they had been together, not now.
“Then you’ll come to my home instead,” Dorian said and hooked a hand under Asher’s arm, dragging him to his feet.
* * *
Penelope stood fiddling with the emerald necklace around her throat as she leaned on the doorframe, staring into the small study where Adam had retreated to. He hadn’t yet noticed her presence. He was too absorbed in the book he was reading with nothing but the fireplace beside him to light the pages.
Penelope bit her lip and tapped on the doorway, building up her courage for what she had to do now. She could have worn Adam’s locket for this conversation, she nearly had done, but in the end, she had found it too difficult to take the emerald necklace off.
“Penelope?” Adam said, looking up at her tap on the door. “Please, come in.” He closed the book and hurriedly put it down on the mahogany trestle table beside him, beckoning her into the room. “Is everything all right?” he asked.
Penelope glanced to the side, seeing enough of her reflection in a mirror over the fireplace hearth to realize why he had asked the question. She was pale, and her face was set in deep lines.
“Everything is fine,” she lied and stepped toward him. “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
“For you? You know I always do,” he said and gestured to the chair nearby for her to take.
She stared at the chair for a minute and thought the better of it, turning her focus to the footstool that was placed much closer to Adam instead. She sat down upon it, arranging the column skirt of her gown and busying herself with it as she grew aware of Adam sitting forward in his chair, his eyes widening in surprise at how close she had come.
“The conversation we shared on the promenade,” she began slowly, looking up to him from her skirt. “I said I needed time to think about what you had said.”
“Do you still need more time?” he whispered, his voice betraying clear dejection.
She ached to see him in pain and found herself sitting forward on the stool, closing a little of the distance between them. She supposed her heartbeat should have picked up at being so near to the man she was now planning to marry, but it did not. Her eyes tarried over his face, and whilst he was certainly a handsome man, she felt no twinge of attraction, no excitement, nothing…
I am going to marry for friendship, remember that! The excitement Asher brought is all in the past now.
“I do not need more time,” Penelope said carefully. Her mouth had gone dry, for everything in her body told her this was wrong to say.
“Penelope?” Adam said quietly, urging her on. He leaned forward and took her hand. It was a gentle and soft touch before he turned her hand over and lifted it to his lips, kissing the back. Penelope closed her eyes, trying to indulge in that kiss, but her mind only imagined Asher being the one to kiss her instead.
This is going to be difficult indeed.
“I was thinking,” she said, pausing and trying to swallow through her dry mouth. “Perhaps a courtship between us could be…” She couldn’t think of the word, yet as Adam smiled at her, she smiled too, evidently giving him all the hope he could want for.
He lifted her hand a second time and kissed the back again. “You have made me a happy man indeed, Penelope,” he said softly. He leaned closer to her.
Wait… is he going to kiss me?She couldn’t do that; she just couldn’t handle it! She parted her hand from his and jumped to her feet. He was startled, sitting back in his chair to give her the room to step away.
“I suppose we will need a chaperone when we meet from now on,” she said conversationally, trying her best to smooth over the awkwardness she had just caused. She walked to the mantelpiece above the fire and rested a hand upon it, staring down at the flames. Adam stood to his feet too and moved toward her, resting his hand over hers. It was cold to the touch.
“I suppose we will have to have one,” he said with a soft chuckle. “Yet I’ll still steal this one moment with you before things have to change.” He brushed her hand softly, but no excitement came from it. “Where is the locket?”
