Page 16 of Her Runaway Duke
“Levi,” he said, already turning around to return to his seat but she could still hear him. “Just call me Levi.”
CHAPTER 6
Why the hell did she have to be so… sweet?
Levi had been sure that revealing his scarred face would have sent her running back to London and her lecherous fiancé, but instead, she had been kind. Understanding. She had even offered her condolences for the loss of his brother.
Then she had taken herself off to the library as though nothing had changed. It was perplexing, that was for certain.
Everyone else had a rather intense reaction from their first look at his face. Some hid their grimaces, others couldn’t help but allow them to show.
But she had just continued to look at him as she always had.
Levi hardly knew what to do with himself around her now. For so long he had hidden away in his estate to avoid the pity and fright of others.
Lady Siena certainly hadn’t been scared. He could tell that his experience had upset her, but it wasn’t pity that he had seen on her face. It was understanding.
It was the way he had wanted people to react, but the first time anyone had ever accepted him for who he was and not who he had been or for what had happened to him.
He had been so rude to her that his attitude was likely what would have her running away once the rain cleared.
Unbelievable.
Unable to sit still in his study any longer, he began a slow walk down the corridor. As much as he told himself to go elsewhere, his feet had other ideas as they walked him toward the library, where Lady Siena awaited. His boots tread slowly over the carpeted floor before pausing in the doorway of the library, which had always been his favorite place in the entirety of the estate, the jewel in the otherwise dull stone of the building.
She was standing in the center of the room, her feet planted firmly on the plush carpet's circular design. With her head thrown back and her arms gracefully extended, she twirled slowly in circles, taking in the countless books that surrounded her. Levi had no claim in the design of this magnificent library, but he was determined to keep it just as it was. Reading was his only other source of joy besides riding - a way to escape from his reality for a brief moment.
He had barely scratched the surface of the vast collection before him, but he wanted to savor every section so that he would never run out of options. As he gazed at the woman now walking before the shelves, delicately running her fingers over the spines, Levi couldn't help but watch in admiration. Even though he should have entered the room and announced himself, he found he was enraptured by her presence. She radiated a peaceful energy that filled the space around her.
She stopped when she reached the writing desk, taking a seat behind it and lifting the quill pen. She ran her fingers over the feathered edges before dipping it in the inkwell and touching it to the paper. She tucked her head and began to write, her hand moving in broad strokes.
Levi wondered what she was writing, and whether the writing was for herself or others.
He couldn’t have said how long he watched her – minutes, certainly, but he had nowhere else to be – before she stopped, sat up, folded the letter together, and then dipped the seal in wax and stamped it.
She stood, and before she could turn to the door and catch him watching her, Levi slipped backward into the drawing room, stopping in an alcove as she marched by him to the dining room.
“Thornbury!” he heard her call out cheerfully. “I have a letter. When the rain clears, could you please have it posted for me?”
“Of course, Lady Siena,” he said, and when Levi heard her shoes pad softly down the hallway, he stepped out and followed the butler.
“Thornbury,” he called out when he was sure Lady Siena was out of earshot.
“Yes, Your Grace?” Thornbury said, turning around with a larger smile on his face than he had ever seen before.
“May I have that letter?”
“Which letter?” the butler asked.
“The one that the lady just gave you.”
Thornbury appeared confused but held it aloft.
“She has asked me to post it.”
“I shall do it.”
“You shall… post it?”
