Page 27 of Her Runaway Duke
She found herself drawn to a corner of the room where a dusty old tome sat abandoned six shelves above her. She wasn’t sure what it was about that particular book that sat at the end of the high shelf, but she needed to read what was in it.
Far out of her reach, she found the ladder that was attached by wheels to the shelves and rolled it over to where she required it.
Siena took a deep breath, shaking off her fear of heights.
“You can do this, Siena,” she told herself. “Face your fears.”
She had run away from a wedding and her family.
She could climb a ladder.
With trembling hands, she began to climb, one rung at a time, until she reached the top and was parallel with the shelf. With one hand clutching the ladder tightly, she stretched the other out and up and carefully pulled the book down, blowing away the layer of dust that obscured its title.
“Love for All Times,” Siena read aloud, her voice barely above a whisper. She should climb down the ladder and find a place in the library to begin the story, but she was too intrigued to wait. A quick look wouldn’t hurt.
She flipped open the cover and read just a few lines, which was more than enough to capture her attention as she was immediately transported into a world of magic and mystery. The words on the pages seemed to dance before her eyes, painting vivid images of lush greenery and colorful blooms.
She was so caught up that she nearly forgot where she was, and when a voice called out behind her, she whirled around with a yelp of surprise.
And lost her grip on the ladder.
Her arms fluttered around in the air, desperately trying to catch hold of the rungs, but it was no use – her momentum was taking her backward, and there was nothing she could do but prepare for the fall.
She closed her eyes, balled her body, and landed with an “oof” in strong, solid arms.
She opened her eyes slowly, wondering how she could have been saved – and found the duke’s face staring down at her.
“What were you doing?” he bit out, and she inhaled swiftly, appreciative that he had caught her and yet annoyed that he would chastise her when he had been the one to cause her to fall.
“I was finding a book.”
“You were reading a book. On a ladder.”
“Just for a moment,” she defended herself, frowning at him. “It had called to me, and I wanted to see what it was about. I never considered that you might appear and scare me as you did.”
“Scare you? By walking into my own library?”
“Yes,” she said, even though she knew he had every right to be here and had only startled her by accident. It was just thatshe didn’t like the way he was blaming her for doing nothing untoward. “You should have announced yourself.”
“I did,” he said wryly, staring down at her. She met his gaze, noting that his expression was no longer angry. In fact, it was… curious. She shifted slightly in his arms, suddenly incredibly aware that they were around her body, holding her tightly as though she weighed nothing.
Siena felt a rush of warmth as she realized that despite their casual conversation, her body was pressed against the duke’s. His solid arms held her securely against him, their faces now mere inches apart. His breath brushed against her cheek, his intense gaze locking with hers.
"I... I didn't mean to startle you," he said softly, his voice low and smooth, so different from the gruffness that usually filled it. "But what kind of book could be so captivating that it would lure you to read it while standing high upon a ladder?"
She swallowed hard as a jolt of awareness shot through her at his nearness. "It's a book... a love story,” she managed to reply, her voice barely above a whisper. “It’s handwritten and hand-drawn, which leads me to believe it might be true?”
His eyebrow raised, his gaze flickering with interest. “Handwritten, you say? That does sound intriguing."
As he spoke, Siena couldn't help but notice the way his lips moved, the slight stubble along his jawline, the scent that surrounded him, a masculine mixture of sandalwood, new fallen rain, and a sweet scent she couldn’t quite identify. Her heartbeat quickened as she became acutely aware of their closeness.
Siena's cheeks flushed as heat radiated off the duke’s body, warming hers, his gaze holding her eyes in a mesmerizing lock. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his, the strange pull toward him both exciting and terrifying her.
Feeling emboldened by the moment and the book still clutched in her hand, Siena took a deep breath and spoke softly, "Would you like to... read it with me?"
The words slipped out before she could anticipate it herself, but she didn't regret it. She longed for company, but not any company – his. There was more to this man than what he showed her and the rest of the world. She could feel it and thought that maybe he had forgotten it himself and needed a reminder.
She didn’t know what had happened to him to make him so distrustful of the world around him, but perhaps it was just that his story wasn’t finished yet.
