Page 49 of Her Runaway Duke
He stopped at the window of the drawing room so abruptly that Siena ran into the back of him.
The carriage, elegantly grand, clearly carried noble passengers. Its sleek black exterior was trimmed in gold with the family crest proudly displayed on the side among intricate designs. Levi struggled to recognize to whom it belonged, but it seemed that it wasn’t here for him.
“Eliza!” Siena gasped, causing Levi to stiffen completely. He didn’t follow Siena as she ran out past him in a flurry of cream skirts, leaving the drawing room for the front foyer. She didn’t even wait for anyone to open the door for her, and it slammed heavily behind her as she ran out to embrace the richly dressed woman who disembarked from the carriage on his front drive.
So much for their interlude alone.
If there was anything he hadn’t wanted, this was it. An intrusion on the peace he had finally found. He should have known.
Happiness was just not for him.
CHAPTER 18
“Eliza, it is so good to see you!” Siena said when her friend finally released her from her close grasp. “What are you doing here?”
“You told me you were here, so I came to rescue you,” Eliza said, her arms still holding onto Siena’s, looking her up and down as though to ensure that she was still whole and uninjured.
Siena could only laugh, for she had never felt safer.
“Rescue me? I do not need rescuing. I just wanted you to know I was healthy and well so you wouldn’t worry. That was all.”
“Well, I found I had no choice but to come make sure myself.” She looked from one side to the other to make sure they were alone before she lowered her voice and dipped her head. “The Duke of Dunmore? Siena, what were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t thinking anything. It is actually quite the story. Did you come alone?”
“No, of course not,” Eliza said with a laugh. “Mother is inside the carriage, still snoozing away. I hope you do not mind.”
Siena shook her head, even as worry began to claw in her stomach. She enjoyed Eliza’s mother, who was everything that Siena would have wished her own to be, and yet she had a feelingthat Levi was not going to be thrilled about suddenly hosting an additional two guests.
Eliza leaned in and whispered, “what is he like?”
“The duke?”
“Of course the duke!”
“He is…” she began, uncertain of exactly how to describe him, but they were interrupted by the sound of hooves pounding against the gravel of the front drive.
They both turned around swiftly to see a figure pushing his horse, practically racing toward them, his dark cloak swirling behind him as though he were a prince come to rescue the fair maiden from the tower.
“I say…” Eliza said with a swift intake of breath. She had always been something of a romantic, as headstrong as she was.
“Well, well, who do we have here?” His voice was as gallant as the rest of him, the man swinging down from the horse in a rather fluid motion, although not quite as adeptly as Levi, in Siena’s opinion.
“Is that Lord Fitzroy?”
It seemed that Eliza’s mother had awoken, as she now stood on the stairs of the carriage, one hand in the footman’s, who was helping her down.
The man gave an exaggerated bow toward her, circling his hand in the air as he did so.
“Lady Willoughby, how do you do? You are looking as lovely as ever.”
Eliza’s mother used her free hand to flutter her face. “You make an old woman blush, Lord Fitzroy. Next time I see your mother, I will have to tell her that she has raised far too great of a flirt. Now, Lady Siena, I know all too well what you are doing here after my daughter finally confessed to her antics, but Lord Fitzroy, I am rather confused about you.”
“The Duke of Dunmore has always been a great friend of mine,” he said. “I visit on occasion, for he is, fortunately, so close to London.”
“That he is, thank heaven, for I am not particularly fond of long carriage rides,” she said.
Siena and Eliza exchanged a glance, rather confused by the entire exchange from which they had been excluded.
