Page 57 of Claimed By Her Forbidden Duke
In her full-length mirror, she noticed how the corset pushed up her breasts, but the dress only further did so. It fit in a way that made the gown seem like it was made for her. She trailed her fingers over the lacing, as she had in the dressmaker’s, and thought of Edmund’s face as he had looked at her.
His words on the opera house’s balcony echoed in her mind, making her shiver.
“I would tear this suffocating gown off you with my teeth if I could.I thought of you wearing the gown I bought. I do not think you realize how much you—how much you made me desire you.”
As the maid finished styling more delicate waves to frame Penelope’s face, Penelope recalled how the Duke had snarled his words against her neck. She let herself imagine what it would be like to unravel beneath his hands, pulled apart by his teeth.
Let him shred through every dress I own, she thought, her face heating.If it means I get to be bared before him.
The thought made heat flare in her stomach, but it was quickly doused when she saw movement in the mirror. Gasping sharply, she whirled to face Finley, who stood in the doorway. His eyes were not as angry as she thought. No. They were…
She did not want to think about how he looked at her. As if she was an apple held above him, just out of reach, dangling from a branch.
No.No, that cannot be.
But then he coughed. “Where did you get this gown?”
Nerves replaced the desire from a moment ago as Penelope struggled to stay composed, to think of a convincing lie. “It is one of my older dresses that I have not worn in some time.”
Finley looked at her, his face tight with contemplation. “I see.”
That is all?
She held back her question, but she had expected a far harsher reaction from him.
“I like it,” she told him, as if she expected him to tell her to change.
But he didn’t. He nodded, his hands folded behind his back as he walked away. “The carriage is waiting, Pen.”
It was the first time he had not spoken to her with barbed words, and she was glad for it. Heaving a sigh, she readied herself to leave as her lady’s maid made her swift exit.
Finley was good, and she did not know the strength it took for a man to uphold his place as an aristocrat. It was hard enough for women, but for the men to carry all the financial burdens, to pay for dresses, and to oversee failed courtships…
Perhaps she had not been kind or considerate enough to her brother, who had needed to take sole guardianship of her—a parent and a brother all in one. Perhaps he was not the controlling brother everybody thought him to be, but a man simply doing his best.
Trying to keep convincing herself of that, Penelope went downstairs to join Finley in the foyer and was met with his warm smile once more as he then helped her into their carriage.
* * *
“I think I see Lady Ayersfield,” Arabella said to Edmund, knocking him out of his thoughts in the center of the ballroom at the Southgates’ residence.
He was still caught between the events of last week—from Thatcher to Cyrus Reed—all the while thinking of the print of Penelope’s lips on him. It all swirled in his head, a tangled mess that even a sleepless night could not make sense of.
“You may go socialize if that is what you are hoping for,” Edmund told Arabella.
“It was.” She laughed. “Ever since I caught you on the balcony, Brother, you have been far more amenable. Are you worried I will tell somebody?”
Edmund looked around them sharply before he scowled at her. “Do not speak so loudly. But no, that is not it. I know you will not tell, but I have listened to your pleas. I want to be a brother you can speak to and approach about things, not a brother you hide things from in fear.”
Like Penelope.
“I promise that when I find myself caught in a man’s embrace on a balcony, sharing a secret, passionate kiss, you will be the first to know.”
Edmund nodded, only to realize what his sister had said. Before he could call after her, Arabella had darted towards the group Penelope had invited her into. He was glad for it. From what he had heard, the ladies were well-to-do and would help Arabella in ways he could not.
His gaze followed Arabella to ensure she was not accosted by an unwanted suitor on her way over to her friends, only for it to land on Penelope. Suddenly, the ballroom melted away, spinning out in a dizzying rush of heat that he couldn’t tamp down.
For she was wearing the dress he had bought her.
