Page 22 of Trapped with the Forbidden Duke
The Duke only returned her glare, leaning closer. His proximity filled her senses, not letting her breathe.
“What I understand is that he is a careless earl who forgets honor to do God knows what while leaving his unmarried sister with no protection or security. How many times have you had to clean up his messes, Lady Edwina?”
Her words failed her for a moment as she gaped at him. Then, her eyes narrowed further, her voice hardening. “You believe you are so perfect? So above reproach?”
“Hardly,” the Duke scoffed. “But at least I do not run away from my responsibilities. Your brother knew all along that he was your father’s heir. He should have prepared better, got the fun out of his system while he still could.”
Edwina knew he had no idea what sort offunher brother had. Yes, opiates gave him delirium, mania, and laughter that spiraled out of control—but then it gave him the sickness, the shakes, the paranoia.
“I will ask you not to judge him before you get to know him as who he is.”
“I do not think a great deal will have changed.”
“It must have for you to call him lacking in honor, if that is what you once knew him to have.”
He met her gaze, his mouth tight with annoyance. “Do you enjoy always speaking back in such ways?”
“Do you enjoy always being right?”
His mouth quirked, and Edwina couldn’t help but notice how handsome satisfaction looked on his face. His green eyes sparkled with mischief.
“I was right about many things, so, yes, I do enjoy it. I like it, for it lets me know I am not being lied to.”
Edwina’s face flushed, knowing full well shewaslying—or rather, not lying, but at least omitting part of the truth.
“I see,” she murmured, “just like when you declared me a lady pretending to be otherwise.”
“You were not very good at theotherwise,” he countered. “It gave you away immediately. You would have needed more confidence were you a woman in the position you tried to convince me of. The Raven’s Den has many girls who slink through the shadows, looking for a lap to warm, a bed to revel in, but you are not one of them. For one, their hands do not shake when they serve their clients whiskey, nor do they gulp down their drinks as though they are their sole salvation.”
“You say that as if I have no confidence at all,” Edwina scoffed, insulted.
The Duke’s eyes raked over her, piercing through her. It was as though he kept her steady despite the rocking of the carriage as they returned to Montgomery Manor.
“Do be assured, Lady Edwina, that I see every inch of confidence you possess.”
“As you should,” she murmured. “I know who I am, Your Grace.”
“I see that.” His gaze dropped to her mouth, and before she realized it, he was slowly leaning in.
He paused, as if giving her a moment to back away, as if he himself was unsure why he leaned in. Her heart raced, and her mind went blank for a moment. Green eyes met her blue ones, and a hand slid over her waist, confident, strong.
Edwina thought that it was not hard at all to meet the Duke of Stormhold’s lips with hers.
He kissed her. It was not a fight of lips and tongue as she had heard of. It was hesitant, a moment that she put down only to the vulnerability of her situation, and the likely dominance the Duke knew he had over the circumstances, and her. And yet she was not perturbed by his advance.
She shifted closer until her thigh pressed against his, and she made a surprised sound in the back of her throat when his hand fell on the fullness of her upper thigh.
His mouth moved against hers gently, exploring. At the first hint of his tongue, her heart almost burst out of her chest, her head growing light, and all she could think of was the Duke and how a man with such rough words and arrogance should not kiss the way he was kissing her. As if she was the only thing he thought about at that moment. As if she was a tether.
And then he pulled back far too soon, and Edwina almost chased him if not for the shut-off, guarded look that immediately crossed his face.
She blinked, realizing she had just kissed the man who was only there to protect her, to see her safe from ruin when her brother had failed to.
Shifting, the Duke moved away from her. He cleared his throat, and Edwina had the terrible sense that she was being rejected. Frustration flooded through her.
“I will see you back to your home, and then I will continue the search alone.”
Edwina was too preoccupied with his kiss to answer. When he glanced at her, as if questioning her silence, she only looked away from him.
