Page 115 of The Scandalous Love of a Duke
‘That it is a barren but beautiful place.’
‘Yes, it was.’
‘Did you draw them?’
‘Yes.’
‘I did not know you could draw like this.’
He did not know what to say as her eyes held his gaze. He had spent his childhood learning to excel at everything, trying to please his grandfather.
She lifted the book out of his hands, placed it on his desk and opened it. She flicked through the pages, looking for something. She stopped on one he had drawn at Karnak. ‘I like this one,’ she said. ‘Who is the man?’
He had drawn Yassah in beside a huge statue, to display the size of it. Seeing the image took him back to that day, the dry heat of the desert and the relief of this area along the Nile, the sounds of local children playing and his men working.
John wished she could see his memories. He walked over, looked over her shoulder and braced his hand at her waist. ‘It is Yassah. He was a friend out there. I employed him, but we worked together and we had the same way of thinking. The same things excited us. He is still working out there for me. I have been paying for him to continue seeking new tombs. He writes intermittently and tells me what he has found.’
She looked at him but said nothing, then looked back at the book and flicked to the pages at the very back. Pages which had been empty when he had brought the book home.
‘Ah.’ These pages were now littered with small images of Katherine in various nude and semi-nude poses, mostly memories of their hours in the tower room.
‘Yes, ah…’ she said.
‘As I told you, I could not forget you.’
She turned around, braced his cheeks and drew his head down, then kissed him, gently.
Meeting his gaze, she said, ‘One day will you explain all your drawings to me?’
He felt a frown as confusion stirred. ‘Yes.’
‘I like the drawings you did of me, but put them somewhere safe, John.’
He took a deep breath and nodded, wondering what he had done to deserve this woman. ‘But no one touches anything on my desk, Katherine. No one would have seen them. Yet if you feel more comfortable I will keep them in my – in our – rooms.’ He bent to her ear. ‘I shall draw and paint you properly, a full nude image.’
‘No!’ She pulled away.
He laughed. ‘I will hide it away.’
‘No!’
‘We could put it in the tower at Pembroke Place and keep the door forever locked.’
She shook her head.
‘I will draw you, though. I will make a small portrait of you for myself, but I will let someone else paint you in a life-size pose and I will put it up in here and take him down.’ He looked up at the old man, at the painting he had still not got around to removing, and met the old duke’s imperious, judgemental stare.
The old man would have hated Katherine. If he were alive John would have been standing here receiving the biggest setting-down of his life. Well, his grandfather could go to hell.
He took her hand and remembered his peace offering – he had forgotten Phillip was waiting upstairs. ‘I will tell you about Egypt later. Your brother is here.’
‘Phillip?’
His smile twitched. ‘You only have one brother, as far as I recall. I asked him to dine with us. My mother said you did well today, she has declared you a success.’
‘What she means is I managed to resist the urge to insult the pompous women who called to pry and ogle me. Is that called success? Of course there is still tomorrow, and by then I may choose to throttle the lot of them instead.’
He laughed and finally found that apology ready on his tongue. ‘I am sorry I had to go this morning. I had a meeting with Mr Harvey and I?—’
