Page 38 of Would I Lie to the Duke
Oh, help.
Mr. Walditch shook his head before dividing his attention between his plate of cold meat and conversation with Lord Sundon.
Jess turned her attention to the people walking past the supper boxes. She easily spotted the companions.Here and there in the crowd, there were women in plainer dress, trailing behind women in elegant silk, their gazes trained on the ladies they were paid to serve. The in-between women, neither fully servant nor part of the family. They were required only because others found them useful, but their own wishes, their own desires, those were covered in holland cloth and forgotten in dusty rooms.
Wanting Noel—and she did want him—was wrong. It was selfish to put her needs before her family’s. And yet, and yet...
Wasn’t there one thing for herself? Not forever, not even for a day, but perhaps just a single hour that belonged to her alone? Couldn’t she have that?
“I can tell when you’re thinking because the smallest crease appears between your brows,” he murmured. “Just here.” He moved to touch his fingertip to that same spot, but caught himself and dropped his hand.
“Gentlemen do not point out women’s wrinkles.” Her words were censorious, but her tone was playful.
“I don’t consider them wrinkles. They’re lines on your map, leading me to all your mysterious territory.”
Her heart thudded, but she said, “Recall what maps used to say—here be dragons. You don’t know what my dragons might be, or if you can slay them.”
“I don’t want to slay your dragons. I want to feed them apples and make friends with them.”
“Dragons aren’t horses,” she felt obliged to point out. “They don’t eat apples.”
“Then I’ll feed them sheep or virginal lads, or whatever it is dragons eat. Though, I imagine thatvirginal lads don’t taste very good. Ropy and chewy and green.”
Giddy, deliciously freed fromshouldandshould not, she regarded him. “You said it would please you to serve me.”
“So it would.” His voice was deep as dreams.
“I would like you to”—she held his gaze with hers—“escort me to view the fireworks display.”
It should have been wrong or strange to issue commands to him. The difference in their true stations was impossibly wide, never to be breached. But having him serve her feltright, in a profound sense that even now she was coming to understand. Because he yielded his power to her, trusting her with it, and even as that yielding filled her with humility, she was emboldened, too.
He believed in her. He recognized her power.
His smile was wide and heart-stopping. “My lady,” he said, dark eyes shining in the light of torches and lanterns, “nothing would give me greater pleasure.”
When he rose, she also stood and took his offered arm. “Tonight is about pleasure, after all.”
They joined the crowds milling through the gardens. Noel used his size and natural authority to guide her safely through the throng. He was in all ways attentive, his gaze almost never immobile as he navigated the crowded paths. When his hand came to rest on the small of her back, she wanted to close her eyes and lean into the sensation. Thank God her garments were lightweight—they permitted her the indulgence of his touch upon her body. Perhaps it was for the bestthat there were a few layers of silk and linen between them, because if he did touch her bare skin, she would go up in flames.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked above the din.
“The best spot for viewing the fireworks. Few know of it.”
“You do.”
He leveled his gaze at her. “I know so many things.”
“So you say,” she replied airily, “but many men make claims without offering an ounce of proof.”
He stopped abruptly to face her. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”
“I know,” she confessed. “I cannot seem to stop myself. It’s just... when I’m with you... I feel...”
“You feel...?”
She stared up at him. “Like myself.”
For a moment, neither moved or spoke. Then, “This way,” he said, guiding them off one of the main paths. There were people here, too, but far fewer. Their numbers grew more and more scarce, until Jess found herself completely alone with him beside a tiny pond. Little jewellike fish swam beneath the surface of the water.
