Page 81 of Dare to Love a Duke
Her hand slid away, but the warmth of her lingered in him.
He cleared his throat, and tried to speak brightly. “Might I have your assistance?” He waved to the front of the tent. “If you will be so kind.”
She stared at him for a moment. “If this is what you want.”
“It is.” He’d left his wild impulsivity behind when he’d become a duke. But here was a chance to reclaim a part of himself, if even for a brief while.
She didn’t press him further. Lucia went to stand in front of the tent and clapped her hands together.
“Uomini! Donne!Do you wish to know what tomorrow brings?” Her accent was stronger, as though she purposefully let it come through. “What is yourdestino?”
Several people passing the tent paused, considering her words. She was a surprisingly adept barker.
Tom made sure not to look at the fairgoers, gazing off into the distance as though preoccupied with forces beyond the mortal realm. All the while, his heart beat giddily. It had been too long since he’d done anything quite this mad. Tomorrow would come regardless, but now was for him and Lucia.
“Within this tent is the Prince of Riesling,” she cried. “Aimé!He’s a man exiled from his kingdom by those terrified of his mystical abilities. Hisdisgraziais to your benefit! Sit before him and he will reveal your fate!”
A lad with a young girl on his arm stopped. They glanced at each other with curiosity before the girl shrugged, clearly torn.
“Amici,the Prince of Riesling awaits your pleasure,” Lucia said.
“How much?” the lad asked.
Tom caught sight of the boy’s worn boots, and the hem of the girl’s gown, which had been let out several times.
“For you, no charge,” he said in a thick Prussian accent.
“Can’t refuse that price,” Lucia said. She guided the couple into the tent. “Please. Sit.”
The lad and girl nervously sat on more cushions arranged on the other side of the table. They held hands tightly, and whenever she looked at her beau, the young chap blushed. Behind them, Lucia watched from a discreet distance.
“Willkommen,” Tom said, striving to keep his outrageous accent moderately convincing. “Your right hands, please.”
The lad laid his palm up on the table. Slowly, the girl did the same, revealing that her own hand was misshapen, and she only had three fingers.
Tom picked her hand up gently and studied it, muttering, “Ach!” and “Ja!” before setting it down and doing the same for the lad. They both had neatly trimmed fingernails, and while the girl’s hand had a few calluses from a sewing needle, the boy’s was thick with evidence of his physical labor.
After this, Tom held their chins as he examined their unlined faces lightly dotted with pimples.
They’re little more than children.
Behind them, Lucia looked on, her expression soft as she seemed to also recognize the youth and inexperience of the couple.
“You have just begun an exciting time in your lives,ja?” Even as he spoke, the girl nodded, and the lad quickly followed suit. “It is exciting, but it also makes you nervous.”
“We were married only last week,” she said eagerly.
“Ach,of course!” Tom peered at them and they stared warily back. “Undnow, you face some difficulty. From... a friend... or a family member.”
“Her father,” the lad said at once. “He didn’t want me marrying Susie. Not this young.”
“Natürlich.” Tom stroked his chin. “You were... his apprentice.”
“At the woodshop, yes,” Susie said. “Everyone said to wait until Bill got his own place. But—”
“You could not, eh?” Tom nodded at Bill. “A prettyMädchen,how could you not ask her to be your bride?”
Pink crept into both Bill’s and Susie’s faces.
