Page 20 of How to Ruin a Duke
Did he?That sounded quite a bit better than being a come-and-go fellow who never settled to anything.“Why do you think so?”
“You tried to work with me, and then you tried a different way, and eventually I agreed.If you can win over a stubborn luthier, you can win over the people of London.So.What are we going to try next?”
What wouldn’t they try next?He had many ideas, none of them related to the shop.Grandiose ideas, romantic ideas…steady and rooted ideas.Ideas about staying, about making a home.Trying to deserve it, with his whole heart.
Rowena was still awaiting his reply.He cleared his throat.“Well.I have a suggestion that isn’t strictly business-related.”
“All right.”She picked up the violin that was missing a saddle.
“In fact, it’s not at all business-related.”
Her cheeks took on a faint color.She set the violin down at once.“You intrigue me.”
“Oh, good.You see, I would like to kiss you.Would that be all right?”
Her smile was sweet and slow, spreading like sunrise over hills.“Yes, please.Finally.”
And she took his face in her hands.Looked him in the eye.Caught up every stray bit of his soul that might be revealed, reflected it back, made it whole.
“You asked what I was won by,” she told him.“It’s this.I’m won over by this.Just you, and the questions you ask, and your trust in my reply.”
This woman, this wonderful woman.He was drowning and he was saved.
She still didn’t know who he’d once been, but she knew who he was now.Thank God, she would allow him to kiss her, because knowing her was a startling pleasure—but simply knowing her without touching her, tasting her, taking her in his arms, was nowhere close to closeness enough.
A simple kiss, a single kiss, was enough to fill his heart.The brush of lips on his, cake-sweet and laughing, held more pleasure and promise than any passionate interlude had before.
Now he was becoming alliterative again, which proved how deeply she’d wound herself into his mind.How long had he known her?Always, he thought.He’d just been waiting to meet her.
He knew, even as he held her in his arms, that it wouldn’t be long before he’d have to go.
Yet already he knew he’d never want to leave her, and that one kiss would never satisfy.
Chapter Five
“The Duke of Amorous is a man of infinite resources and infinite leisure.Alas for him, he lacks the infinite charm of manner that would allow him to take the greatest pleasure in his good fortune!”
FromHow to Ruin a Dukeby Anonymous
When Rowena drew near the town house of the Duke of Emory, she wondered whether she ought to go to the servants’ entrance or the front door.She wasn’t quite a lady, with her case of piano-tuning tools and the freedom to walk alone in public.
But shehadbeen invited to the household, albeit for a task.Two days before, the duke’s footman had brought piano-tuning request number four—and before the day was out, she’d added numbers five and six to her schedule for the week.
To the devil with it.She was a busy woman.Rowena marched up the marble steps and rapped at the front door.
When the elderly butler opened it to her, she announced, “I’m from Fairweather’s, here to tune the duchess’s pianoforte.”
“Yes, Miss Fairweather,” intoned the old servant, as stuffily as if he hadn’t seen her take tea with Edith here in past years when Edith had served as the duchess’s companion.“But Her Grace has always had the pianoforte tuned byMr.Fairweather.”
Rowena lifted her chin.“As Mr.Fairweather passed away nearly a year ago, I doubt Her Grace would find his skills adequate.And if my father was the last to tune the duchess’s pianoforte, the instrument must be sadly jangled by this time.You will be fortunate if I do not raise my rates.”
He eyed her gloved hands clasping the handle of her case of tools.“I doubt whether you will serve the purpose.”
He began to shut the door.
Rowena’s thoughts whirled.What would Simon Thorn do or say?He wouldn’t give up.He’d press from a different angle.
So she shot out a foot, catching the door against the toe of her boot.“If you refer to my unmatched set of hands,” she said crisply, “I assure you they are less relevant than my experience and skill.And if you again refer to my sex, well, Her Grace is no doubt aware how much better a woman has to be than a man to get even a fraction of the respect he’s afforded.”
