Page 55 of Her Runaway Duke
“Not at all,” Eliza said, tossing her hair back behind her. “Our families are friends of course. That is all.”
“But you would tell me if there was something there?”
“Of course,” Eliza said, a smile covering her face, although Siena had the feeling that it was rather forced. “You would be the first to know.”
CHAPTER 20
Levi would have preferred to be many places other than this dinner.
But at least Siena was here. Her presence made everything he typically avoided far more bearable. Anytime he wished to escape, or caught someone scrutinizing his scars, he would look at her and calm would return.
Fitz, at least, provided entertainment for the rest of them. He could spin a story like no one else, and he had the ladies hanging onto his every word. Levi couldn’t help the jealousy that Siena was one such woman, but then, it was not as thoughhehad any intention of regaling them into laughter, now was it?
Fortunately, dinner came to a close sooner rather than later, his staff overly eager to serve a house party, although Levi’s hopes for a reprieve from the ladies and time alone with Fitz were dashed when Lady Willoughby suggested that they all retire to the drawing room together.
He was about to decline when Fitz stepped in and enthusiastically agreed, suggesting they play a few games of cards.
Before they had a chance to begin, however, Lady Eliza surprised Levi by appearing by his side and asking for a momentof his time. He paused, about to say no, but then he caught Siena’s eye from across the room. Her pink lips curled up into a small smile, and he could feel the affection shining out of her eyes toward him.
It was at that moment, he realized, that he would do absolutely anything for her.
“Very well,” he murmured, following Lady Eliza as she began a turn about the room. Levi recalled these courting rituals well, although he hadn’t missed them when he had left London.
“I appreciate you rescuing Siena in her time of need,” she said, and Levi had a sense that Lady Eliza was a woman who always came straight to her point, which he appreciated.
“There is nothing to thank me for.”
“There is, as I was the one who sent her away alone. It was foolish of me, I will admit, but I was only thinking of helping her escape from Lord Mulberry. I should have planned to accompany her, at least, or arranged for a travelling companion. I just had no idea until the very last moment that she would actually leave.”
“Lady Siena is a grown woman, Lady Eliza. She can make her own choices.”
“That she can,” Lady Eliza agreed. “Which brings me to my reason to speak to you. Siena has told me that the two of you share… feelings for one another, let’s say. I need to know if they are as true for you as they are for her. I do not want to see her heartbroken and as much as it seems as though you are a good man at heart, I cannot help but worry that you might not be able to provide her what she needs.”
Her words almost caused him to come to a stop, and he rubbed a hand over his brow, where his scar often itched him.
“If you are questioning my feelings for her, then you have nothing to worry about. They are as true as can be.”
“I sense a ‘however.’”
He gave a humorless chuckle. “You would be right.However, feelings alone don’t matter. I also have to think about what kind of life I can offer her, what it would be like for her to continue to live here, with me, shut away from the rest of the world.”
“You do nothaveto be shut away.”
“That is easy for you to say, Lady Eliza, when you are not seen as a murderous beast by theton.”
“Perhaps not, but it is not as though I am, exactly, a diamond of the first water. I am spoken about as well, although perhaps not for my appearance.”
He shook his head, sighing out his frustration. “I would never break her heart. But I worry that one day she would wake up and wonder what she is doing with me.”
“Were you not the one who just told me that she is a grown woman who can make her own decisions?”
He couldn’t help his snort. “You are quick witted, Lady Eliza, I will give you that. I just do not understand how she can bear to look at me day in and day out and not be confronted with the monster that I am.”
Eliza was silent for a moment, clearly considering her words, before she stopped and looked him straight in the eye, her voice hushed as they remained on the other side of the room, just out of hearing of the rest of their party.
“Siena has the purest heart out of anyone I have ever met, and I am not just saying that because she is my closest friend.” She leaned forward, conviction in her every word. “If there is good within you, she will find it. Her love is not a gift to be taken advantage of, nor to be wasted. Do you understand me?”
Her nostrils flared slightly with her obvious protective spirit.
