Page 83 of My Secret Duke
“I assure you my roof is intact,” he said gravely.
Their gazes locked and wouldn’t let go. It was as if there was so much being said beneath the surface, unspoken. Memories of the past and hopes for the future. She forgot whatever else she had been about to say as Ivo devoured her with his eyes as if he couldn’t stop himself.
“I feel like a starving man. Starving for you.”
“Why have you withdrawn from society?” she asked. “I don’t see you anymore. I look, and you’re not there.”
“You know why. I need to put my affairs in order if I am ever to live up to your brother’s expectations.”
“But I miss you,” she whispered.
Her words caught at his heart like a broken nail. He wanted to wrap his arms about her and hold her against him. “I miss you,” he said. “Every moment of every day.”
She might have touched him, but Gabriel called out for her. Her lashes swept down to hide her eyes, making dark shadows on her pale cheeks, and her expression turned melancholy. “He is the best of brothers, but I wish he would relent and at least let us announce our engagement once Charles and Justina have celebrated theirs.” She glanced behind her. “I should go and see that Edwina is not getting up to any mischief.”
He accompanied her back to the house where his mother was holding court.
“I have put the youngest three in the nursery. It hasn’t been used for years, not since Ivo, which is a shame. Perhaps one day,” she added with a smiling glance at Charles and Justina.
Ivo hadn’t seen his mother so full of joie de vivre for years. It was as if she had been closed up, folded in on herself, ever since her husband died, and now she was opening out like a flower.
“Everything is prepared,” she assured everyone. “You will find no fault with my housekeeping. Although there is that annoying thing with the bunches of holly that someone keeps leaving at our door.”
Ivo raised his eyebrows. “Holly? It isn’t Christmas yet.”
His mother was distracted by the younger Ashton girls indulging in some pushing and shoving. “I wish I knew who was leaving them. There was another onethere this morning.”
Something cold stirred in Ivo. Jacob Rendall had him rattled. The holly could just be some childish prank, and nothing sinister at all, and yet it was the name of Mystere’s ship, and that felt like too big a coincidence.
Dinner was a triumph. His mother reigned supreme. They had hired extra servants for the occasion—for the first time in a long time, Ivo actually felt they could afford the expense—and it was organized chaos as everyone sat down for the first course. He was glad to have Annette by his side, just like the old days, and her chatter filled in his own silences. She had arrived with Harold, and of course Viscountess Monteith, who was Ivo’s mother’s best friend.
“Justina says her grandmother is stepping back from her position as chatelaine,” she said in an undertone, sipping her soup. “Vivienne is taking on more and more of the burden of Grantham. I don’t envy her, but she is so capable, I’m sure she will soon have everything running smoothly.”
Vivienne was conversing with her husband, her cheeks flushed as she smiled back at him. Her happiness shone out. Beside them, Will Tremeer said something that made Roberta roll her eyes in her usual unladylike fashion.
“You are very solemn tonight,” Annette said, with a sideways glance at Ivo. “This isn’t a funeral, you know.”
“Charles and Justina will be very glad to hear it.”
She wrinkled her brow. “You are becoming a sad case, Ivo.”
“That’s better than languishing in prison, surely?”
He had been thinking of Olivia and the wedding that seemed to be slipping further and further out of his grasp. And then there were the bunches of holly left by some unknown person. Should he be worried? Should he set someone to watch for the culprit?
Annette looked at him and sighed. “Of course it is, but there must be something in between. You can still be happy, can’t you? Especially on a day like this. Your brother is about to be married, and you have welcomed him into your family. Look at him!”
Ivo followed her smiling glance. Charles did look happy. He was so much a part of the Fitzsimmons family now that he could barely remember when he wasn’t. When Charles and Justina married, he would stand up with his brother and listen to him speak his vows, and perhaps in a year or so, his mother might have her wish granted about the empty nursery.
He looked down the table at Olivia and imagined a child of theirs. Dark hair like hers and his green eyes, or perhaps fair hair and blue eyes. It didn’t matter. He would love it, and he swore to himself he would never, ever, teach it the art of smuggling.
At the resolution, she looked up, and he was staring straight into those glorious blue eyes.
Now Olivia was watching him. With Adelina leaning forward to share some amusing anecdote with Harold, Ivo had a perfect view of her. Her glossy dark hair was dressed simply, and she wore a rose-colored gown, the neckline only just covering her cleavage. Ivo remembered perfectly well the shape and the softness of her breasts. The jut of her nipple against his palm as they kissed so desperately. The clasp of her body on his asthey joined together and became one in their ecstasy.
He shifted in his chair.
Bloody hell! The last thing he should be doing was ogling her like this.
