Page 25 of Her Runaway Duke
The duke began to shake his head. “Because he is cruel. But who am I to talk.”
“I do not see you as a cruel man,” she said, a smile tugging at her lips. “A little surly, perhaps.”
“Surly,” he grunted, his lips turning upward into what Siena couldn’t call a smile but just was, perhaps, not a frown. “What kind of parents do you have that they would marry you off to Mulberry?”
Siena bit her lip. She had thought the same and yet she instinctively couldn’t help but defend them.
“They were doing what they thought was best.”
He looked at her with a piercing gaze.
“You must not go back to him.”
She swallowed, wanting to ask him to expand, but she was too scared of how he might respond.
“Did you sustain your injuries in the war?” she asked, not knowing where the question came from, but she had been wondering and also wanted to change the subject.
His head snapped up at her words. “How did you know I was in the war?”
She shrugged, looking down at her plate. “Everyone knows.”
“I suppose,” he said, bristling. “You must know all about me, then.”
“Actually, not much at all,” she responded, straightening her spine. “The fact that there are so many rumours about you tell me that there is no validity to any of them. For if the truth were known, then no one would have to speculate.”
He looked at her in some disbelief. “You truly believe that?”
“I do.”
He paused as the footmen removed the soup dishes, replacing them with the first course, cold cuts of roast beef and pickled vegetables.
“I did not sustain my injuries in battle,” he said, and Siena waited for him to continue. “I have no wish to speak of them any further.”
“Very well,” she said, disappointed, not because she needed to know so badly but that he didn’t trust her. “Should you ever like to, I am a good listener.”
He nodded but didn’t continue.
Siena sensed that he had never spoken to anyone about whatever demons haunted him, and she wondered about this friend who insisted upon visiting whether the duke wanted him or not.
She hoped for the duke’s sake that he would find a way forward.
She just didn’t know if she would be anywhere near to see it.
CHAPTER 9
“Will ye be taking breakfast downstairs, Yer Grace?” McGregor asked with a smirk the next morning.
“No,” Levi said, wincing as he swung his legs out of bed. “Why would I take breakfast downstairs?”
“I heard yer dinner last night was a success. Thought maybe ye’d be joining the lady again this morning.”
“No,” Levi repeated, more tersely this time. “I will take breakfast in my bedroom as I always do. Then I will dress for riding and will take Lucky out.”
“Still a slight rain.”
“Of course there is,” he muttered under his breath as McGregor brought his tea next to the bed. “How do you know so much about my dinner, anyway? We didn’t discuss it last night.”
McGregor had asked him about it as he helped him ready for bed, but Levi had told him it was fine and left it at that.
