Page 64 of Claimed By Her Forbidden Duke
“Edmund, Lord Langwaite is coming down the hallway. Let me in, you scoundrel.”
Penelope’s breathing was shallow as she drew back, but Edmund cupped her face once more, giving her one last, searing kiss that made her stumble back into the night.
Before she could blink, he had shut the balcony doors and let the curtains in the library sweep over them, concealing her.
The night air pushed through the dreamy fog Edmund had left in his wake, and Penelope finally burst into action, fleeing back to the ballroom from the garden.
ChapterFourteen
Edmund still hadn’t collected his thoughts by the time Benjamin rattled the doorknob, and he finally hurried to open the door. Grabbing his cousin by the front of his waistcoat, he yanked him inside.
“What are you doing?” he hissed.
“Saving your backside, I believe!” Benjamin hissed right back. “Do you think I did not see you escaping the ballroom right after Lady Penelope left? I just saved you both and—Lord Langwaite!”
Finley filled the doorway, his face contorted in anger, his cheeks red with sweat and fury. “Where is she?”
Edmund’s hands clenched into fists at the commanding tone, the possessiveness in the Marquess’s voice, but before he could lash out in response, Benjamin chuckled. It was a sort of manic sound, one that had both Edmund and Finley staring at him.
“Oh,” he slurred, turning slightly cross-eyed. “Oh, you mean the maiden? Ah, well, I do believe she is right here.” All his vowels were drawn out as he stumbled over to the nearest bookcase, grabbing the first thing he saw. He scowled. “Oh, Heavens, no, not her. You do not want to find her, Lord Langwaite—she is a bit of a tearaway.”
He laughed again, and Edmund realized he was pretending to be drunk.
This cousin of mine, he thought, pinching the bridge of his nose for effect.
“Forgive my cousin, Lord Langwaite,” he muttered. “I am assuming you are looking for Lady Penelope, but I have not seen her.”I have seen everything and I crave her.“I have been in here, preventing my cousin from embarrassing himself in the ballroom.”
“Embarrassing myself!” Benjamin cried out, jabbing a finger into Edmund’s chest. Edmund grabbed it and shoved him off. “Oh, you big, nasty Duke, throwing your title around with lesser men like me. I was a duke once, you know!”
He made a convincing, rambling act, distracting Finley from his search and leaving him looking confused and irritated.
“Yes, yes, Cousin, we know, and you were excellent at it.” Edmund rolled his eyes, playing along. “Forgive him, Lord Langwaite, he is… Well, I could read a dictionary and still not find enough words to describe my annoyance. Nevertheless, he is family.”
“Indeed, and family saves one another,” Benjamin muttered, his jaw slack and his eyes wide as he pretended to drunkenly stare off into the distance. “I believe I can see the North Star from here. Lord Langwaite, do you see it?”
The three of them peered up at the painted ceiling with no stars in sight.
Finley made a hard noise in the back of his throat. “I will not have my night wasted by a man who cannot hold his wine. Blackstone, do keep your cousin in check before he causes any aggravation.”
Smiling sarcastically, Edmund grabbed the back of Benjamin’s collar. “Of course, Lord Langwaite. He is unruly.”
Benjamin shot him a scathing look.
“So you have not seen Lady Penelope?” Finley asked, returning to his reason for being there, as if Benjamin had succeeded in distracting him.
“No,” Edmund told him. “Neither has my cousin.”
For a second, Finley looked ready to tear the library apart as if his sister was another maiden hiding in a book, but he only growled and turned on his heel, stalking out.
As soon as he was gone, Benjamin rounded on Edmund. “I saved you, and you were cruel!”
“You embarrassed yourself,” Edmund countered.
“Would you rather he had been me, walking in on Heavens-know-what? What were you doing in here with Lady Penelope in the first place?”
“Do you see her, Benjamin?”
Edmund let his cousin look around. He didn’t want to lie, but he couldn’t risk confirming that he had indeed been in here, pumping his fingers into Penelope.
