Page 76 of A Duke Changes Everything
“A haunted one.”
“Some would say I deserve to be haunted.” He deposited his glass and swiped another from the footman’s tray. “And much worse.”
“I disagree.”
“Miss Thorne!” Mrs. Elmhurst called. “We’re about to begin the parlor games. Won’t you come and join us on the settee? You can sit between me and my son.” She shoved at a thin young man beside her. “Move over, Percy.”
“Do you know that woman?” Nick asked.
“We met a moment ago. I should...”
“Stay with me.” He reached for her, his fingers gentle and achingly warm against her wrist. “I pushed you away yesterday and I need to apologize. Speaking of that experience brings the memories back too sharply.”
“I’m the one who stormed in where I shouldn’t have.”
“You only asked for the truth.” That bleak look shadowed his eyes again. “You spent your whole life at Enderley. You deserve that much after the way I reacted.”
“But not if the memories cause you pain...” How could they not? How could he be anything but tortured to recall what his father had done? “I never wish to cause you pain.”
“Miss Thorne, may I be so bold?” Mrs. Elmhurst’s son came to stand at Mina’s elbow. “My mother has asked me to retrieve you and she’s quite tenacious.”
“She’ll join you in a moment.” Nick cast the young man a fearsome glare that made him stumble backward.
When the boy had gone, Mina whispered, “Don’t be boorish.”
“As you once pointed out, I rather enjoy being boorish. It may be what I do best.”
“That’s not true.”
“Selfishness, then?” He took one step closer, and Mina found herself leaning toward him.
“Are you trying to play on my sympathy?” she whispered.
“No, that’s not at all the emotion I wish to provoke in you.” He flicked a gaze toward the Elmhursts and lifted his fingers from her wrist. “Go be dutiful. You’re far better at it than I am.”
Mina headed toward the mother and son, causing both to brighten with smiles, but she couldn’t resist looking back at Nick. She could feel his gaze on her, the pull of it. Of him. Every moment with him bound them closer together and every separation was becoming more difficult.
As she stepped forward, her eyes focused on Nick, her foot snagged in the hem of her gown. She tried to correct but pitched forward. The silly heeled slippers she’d borrowed quivered as she shifted her weight. Then her right foot slid over the edge of the shoe completely.
She cried out as her ankle twisted.
Percy Elmhurst reeled back, lifting his arm to protect himself as she lunged forward.
Two arms wrapped around Mina’s middle, catching her before she slammed into the young man. Air whooshed from her lungs as Nick pulled her snug against his body. Then he bent, hooked an elbow behind her knees, and swept her up into his arms.
The incident didn’t escape the notice of the other guests. As he strode with her from the room, jaws went slack and eyes bulged. One lady flicked open her fan and began flapping the stretched fabric near her face.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked him. “You’re making a scene.”
“Wouldn’t it have been worse if you’d given what’s-his-name a black eye?”
“You can put me down.”
“Probably, but let’s get you someplace where you can breathe and try that ankle without spectators.”
But apparently they did have a spectator.
Colin exited the drawing room too, hurrying after them. “Is she all right?”
