Page 37 of A Duke Changes Everything
“A beautiful gypsy.”
Her eyes glowed with interest and she took a step toward him. “And?”
“She captures the heart of many men, including one the townspeople consider a monster. He’s deformed. A hunchback. Probably not much to look at.”
She lifted a hand, toying absently with the button at the top of her gown. “What happens?”
“His love goes unrequited. No one loves a monster. It all ends in tragedy. Not like a fairy tale, Miss Thorne.”
Her forehead pinched as she frowned at him. “You clearly haven’t read many fairy tales, Your Grace. There’s plenty of tragedy, and sometimes the creature is actually an enchanted prince.” She blushed fiercely, as if she’d revealed some secret she hadn’t meant to.
Nick’s heart did a strange little stumbling dance behind his ribs.
Her eyes widened, and she did that thing he’d come to dread. Her expression became serene, drained of emotion, and she flattened her tone. “I’ll be in my office if you need to discuss the inventories.”
Nick didn’t stop her from leaving.
He struggled to bring his thoughts back to the present. To push away memories of Paris and the book about a gypsy and the monster who loved her. Pressing a hand to the back of his neck, he squeezed at the knot of muscles there.
That’s when he noticed the ribbon. A pale pink length of satin that young Mina Thorne had thought better suited to marking pages than adorning her hair.
Nick retrieved the length of fabric, stroked his finger along its satiny length, and tucked it carefully into his pocket.
Chapter Ten
Mina had managed only a few winks of sleep and her nerves jangled like the set of household keys hanging from her belt. Especially now, with Nicholas Lyon’s heated bulk at her back.
He followed, two steps behind, as she led him along the wind-whipped path of Enderley’s parapet, an old stone walkway above the house’s rear facade.
He’d surprised her by arriving in her office early, wishing to have a look at the roof and exterior wall of the ballroom. Mina intended to take the opportunity to lead him on a tour of the estate’s gardens and most interesting features. If her plan was to get him to appreciate Enderley, showing him its beauty seemed a good strategy.
Unfortunately, it also meant he’d spy all the signs of dilapidation. She was prepared to address those too. Notes tucked in her pocket contained estimates of how much the most urgent repairs would cost.
Under their feet, the stones were weathered, the mortar worn away, but the walk had endured for hundreds of years. Surely it would hold for one more day.
Mina told herself the path was safe, butdown, down, down, the edge seemed to urge. Being so high had always unnerved her. She had the constant sense of tipping over the edge, as if she possessed some rogue avian instinct to jump off and take flight.
Glancing back at the duke only worsened her sense of vertigo, and she stumbled.
His hand locked at her waist. “Have a care, Miss Thorne,” he barked, his breath a heated gust against her cheek. “Are you steady now?”
“Yes, thank you.” Mina nodded, and he released her instantly. She kept her eyes averted from the edge as they continued toward the west side of the house.
The duke didn’t acknowledge her expression of gratitude.
After five days’ acquaintance, she’d learned the man was exceedingly surly in the morning. She wondered if he slept as poorly as she had since his arrival. The skin under his eyes had taken on a darker pallor, but the color only served to highlight the cool shade of his eyes.
Glancing back, she caught him staring at the hem of her skirt. When he looked up, his eyes were shadowed, his sensuous lips pressed in a grim line.
“Are you not fond of heights either?” she asked, wondering if he was feeling the same dizziness that plagued her.
“I don’t mind heights,” he said with mock cheerfulness. “I just prefer them to be in London, where the sea air doesn’t chill you to the bone.”
“Just a bit farther.” Mina infused her tone with as much sunniness as she could manage. Her stomach quivered, not because she was afraid of tipping over the side, but because she was about to give the new duke a good deal more to be grumpy about.
“I know the way.” His voice dipped low and raw. “I was born in this godforsaken house.”
“Of course.” She let out a sigh and hoped he didn’t hear.
