Page 14 of The Scandalous Love of a Duke
His attention wholly captured, he felt desire slip into his blood as his groin grew heavy with hunger.
He supposed this was a consequence of abstinence. He had never had a fancy for fair, fay women before. He had a fancy for this fair, fay woman.
She did not look the sort for a fling though, certainly not the she-wolf type who stalked the foreign fields. His mind began rattling through his guest list, but no name fit her, and her clothing did not speak of affluence. Who was she?
He smiled as he walked nearer, then realised he was staring and shifted his gaze to the others in the group. It was then he noticed Phillip.My God.The sight of his former friend dragged him back through the years to happier memories.
‘Your Grace.’ Phillip smiled and nodded.
‘Phillip.’ John hoped Phillip had not come here with a selfish motive. John was in no mood to hear oily grovelling from a friend. His heart thumped in cold anger, not gladness. Then he looked at the blonde beauty and his breath caught as recognition whispered in his head.Kate.
Her wide, bright gaze soaked him up, then her eyelids blinked subconsciously as the soft warmth in her cheeks became blooming roses of a strong pink colour.
Katherine Spencer, Phillip’s shy little sister, full grown.She had blossomed. John’s heartbeat stuttered; coveting Phillip’s little sister was not a good thing.
John gritted his back teeth, forced a smile and lifted his hand to shake Phillip’s as he tried to remember how old she would be now. She must be married.Shame.
Or perhaps it was better she was, maybe she had tired of her husband already and would be tempted by a little dalliance. ‘I did not expect to see you here,’ John said to Phillip.
‘We have come to express our condolences, Your Grace.’
John shrugged. Phillip knew the true nature of John’s volatile relationship with his grandfather, there was hardly any point in pretending to be sad. But the word ‘our’ gave John the opportunity to turn to Katherine.
A sharp, sweet pain pierced his chest when he saw those vivid blue eyes up close. Her turquoise gaze was framed by pale brown lashes. Her beauty was delicate – subtle. He was unused to that, compared to his family.
He had an urge to touch her face. He did not, of course, but he did take her hand and lift it to his lips as she dropped a low curtsy.
Her kid leather gloves were warm from the heat of her skin beneath.
He brushed a finger across her wrist that was scented with rose water and felt her shiver.
She was blushing deeply when she straightened up.
When had he last known a woman who could blush?
‘Your Grace.’
‘Katherine.’ He’d more often called her Kate when they’d been young but Katherine seemed to suit her so much more now. ‘You look well.’ Her husband, whoever he was, was a lucky man. John doubted she was the sort to stray.A pity.
With a gentle tug she pulled her fingers free of his.
‘H… how are you?’ she stuttered, her gaze descending to his cravat pin.
‘Well enough.’ He could not take his eyes off her and it clearly made her feel uncomfortable. ‘A little dumbfounded by the speed of things, I suppose. I only returned to England a fortnight ago, and my grandfather died that night.’
Her gaze lifted momentarily and compassion burned there before her eyes lowered again. ‘I’m sorry, Your Grace.’
‘Don’t be, he was old, he had to die eventually and I doubt he shall be much missed.’
‘Here, here,’ Eleanor stated. ‘He was a bully, Mama always says so and John shall make a far better Duke.’
‘Tell me what you have been up to,’ John said, only wishing to know if Katherine was wed, but he threw a look at Phillip, extending the question to hide his interest.
‘Studying,’ Phillip answered. ‘I am a qualified barrister now.’
‘Congratulations.’ This must be Phillip’s reason for attending, to use their old friendship to increase his clientele. Everyone here had a reason.God, I have become a cynic.He was so well trained to play ducal host, though, it was instinctual to reply with exactly the right intonation.
‘My firm is Boscombe and Parkin.’
