Page 28 of Nothing Compares to the Duke
How many raucous parties had there been? How many ladies?
Good grief, she’d never even been kissed.
Lifting a hand to her mouth, she willed the thought away. Then she found herself staring at his lips. His was a generous mouth, always twitching into a smileor bravado-filled smirk and rarely turning down in a frown.
But what would it be like to kiss those lips?
He let out a little chuckle, and she realized he’d caught her watching him.
Bella moved toward the messy desk in the center of the room.
Ledgers. Numbers. Those were things she understood.
She opened one of the large leather-bound books to a page that had been crumpled and torn at the edge. A tally of expenditures from four months past. Some lines had been struck through, some amounts crossed out and then rewritten. Always in a lesser amount. Either the account keeper was error prone or the cost of goods had changed drastically.
Bella lifted the book into her arms to examine some smaller notations and turned the page.
“You needn’t look at those now.” Rhys approached from behind.
Bella jumped at the sound of his voice and lost her grip on the heavy ledger. One side flipped open and bumped the others stacked precariously at the desk’s edge. As the thickest on top slid off, Rhys reached around her and caught it, his body pressed to hers.
He was all heat and firm muscle and it frightened her how much she wanted to lean into his warmth.
“I’ve got it,” Bella told him as she clasped the volume’s front cover. She pushed back against him and he retreated instantly.
It took her a moment to catch her breath.
“We can have a look at those,” he said quietly, “another time.”
“I know.”
After taking one deep breath and vowing not to let her gaze snag on his bare neck or full lips, Bella turned to face him, bumped another of the ledgers and sent the whole pile tumbling onto the carpet.
She knelt down to collect them. Rhys knelt beside her.
When she grabbed for a spine of a ledger, he reached out too and his hand brushed hers. Rather than pull back, he wrapped his fingers around hers.
“You’re trembling.” He swept his thumb over the back of her hand. “Don’t worry, Arry. I’m sure you’re right. My attendance at the party will disturb Hammersley and the others so thoroughly, they’ll scurry back to London at first morning light.”
Bella slid her fingers free of his and the friction sent a jolt of warmth along her arm. “We will see.”
She did her best to ignore him and continued gathering the ledgers. He wouldn’t let her do the task alone and moved in front of her to retrieve one that had fallen farthest.
“You don’t trust me anymore,” he said quietly.
Bella snapped her gaze to his and the pain there struck her like a blow.
“I’d like to earn that back.”
“Rhys—”
“I understand,” he said before she could finish. “You’ve put me out of your mind for years.”
Bella collected several of the ledgers and pivoted to face him.
“Here.” She held out the volumes and he took them, then she reached for the last. As she leaned forward, she felt something catch at her neck and raised a hand.
The daisy pendant was cool against her fingers. She closed her fist around it quickly, but she was too slow.
