Page 86 of Nothing Compares to the Duke
“I could feign illness,” Bella told him under her breath.
Rhys chuckled. “Falsehood is becoming far too easy for you, Miss Prescott. You needn’t lie. I’ll just tell them I want you to see Claremont House and that I’ll return you soon. We are betrothed and are allowed certain liberties.”
“Labour,” the Duke of Tremayne called out.
“Love’sLabour’sLost,” Rhys said before Meg could move on to the third word.
“Yes, that’s it.” With a look around the room, she added, “Did I not tell you my brother was good at charades?”
“Perhaps too good. It’s unfair to everyone else,” Rhys said with a hint of his usual bravado. “Rather than stay and ruin the game for everyone, I’m going to steal my fiancée away for a few minutes.”
“Absconding with my guests isn’t allowed, Your Grace.” Bella couldn’t discern whether the duchess’stone was serious or amused. “Where exactly are you taking her?”
Rhys stood and reached behind him, offering Bella his hand. “Home.”
He said the word at the same moment her fingers laced with his, and both the sentiment and his touch sent a shiver down her arm.
“If Bella is to live at Claremont House for even part of the year, she should make it her own. I thought a visit was in order.”
He tugged and Bella got to her feet.
“I’m sorry to depart so abruptly, Your Grace,” she told the duchess.
“Well, according to the Duke of Claremont, he’ll return you soon, so I’ll allow it.” She winked and took a sip of her sherry as Rhys led Bella toward the town house’s front door.
“I fear we were rude,” Bella told him, though he didn’t slow down and neither did she.
“Honestly, Bella, if I don’t get you alone and to myself soon, I would have been more than rude.”
Rhys handed Bella up the carriage step and onto a bench.
She wanted him to sit beside her. Instead he took the opposite bench. In the darkness, his expression was unreadable. He said nothing and that alone was so unlike him that she feared he was cross with her or wished to call off their engagement before her parents had even departed.
He was right in some respects. She had been avoiding him, but it wasn’t because she hadn’t wished to see him. It was because she wanted to too much.
Lifting a hand, she twisted her finger around her necklace chain. Perhaps he was angry because unlike simply telling her parents and a few villagers in Essex, the news had spread to London now and tonight he’d had to live out a lie in front of people he knew well.
“I’m sorry you have to deceive your friends.”
He’d been looking out the carriage window and snapped his head toward her. “We agreed we’d do this together. And I didn’t lie to Tremayne. I told him the truth, but you needn’t worry. Nick is a man who knows how to keep secrets.”
“You told him this is a ruse?” Bella was incredulous. He knew she’d confided in Louisa but they’d both agreed that no one else should know.
“He knows me better than most. I couldn’t hide anything from him.” He leaned toward her, inching toward the edge of his seat. “I’ve made him vow not to tell anyone, even the duchess. We can trust him.”
Before Bella could voice her worries, the very short drive to Claremont House was over. Rhys exited the carriage and helped her down. Saying nothing, he led her toward the front door and dismissed the young maid who admitted them.
“Promise we won’t divulge this secret to anyone else,” she said quietly in case any other servants might be nearby.
He turned to her, backed her up against the door, and stroked his fingers against her cheek. Then he dipped his head and kissed her.
It was against the rules they’d made. They’d vowed not to do this anymore. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t lose herself in Rhys Forester ever again.
Yet all things she knew had nothing to do with what she felt.
Hewas what she felt, the firm heated length of his body against hers. And she wanted more of him. She wanted to make him cry her name because of the way she touched him, and she wanted him to use his fingers and tongue to make her unravel again.
“Yes,” she told him, and the word came out more breath than sound. Yes, to another kiss. Yes, to more lovemaking. Yes, to breaking their rules. She’d thought of little else for days.
