Page 32 of The Duke's Return
When he reached out for her, she stepped back to avoid him. But the sundial was there. Genevieve’s breath caught as she hastily moved forward again, this time right into him. Their limbs tangled with one another even as she let out a breathless laugh with a whispered apology.
“It’s all right.” He glanced at his chest where her hand suddenly resided. She jerked, but then he covered his hand with hers to hold it there for a moment. Words struggled to make sense in his head and on his tongue. “We are married, after all.”
Genevieve’s cheeks were covered in a bright blush as she sent him a stern look before yanking herself free on the next attempt. “We want to show them we are in love. Not that we are indecent.”
“Would that be so awful?” He asked, a halfhearted tease.
She caught a curl coming loose from her hair and hastily began to mend it even as she started back through the maze. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she murmured. Amusement and softness had dissipated in the air. He sucked in a jagged breath as he followed her. “Even being inappropriate, being indecent, can make people question us. Just because you could get away with it as a bachelor doesn’t mean it’s the same when you are wed.”
“Even husbands misbehave.”
The next look was sharper than anything he knew. “A duke should not publicly be such a cad. If I were you, I would want to be the most proper mannered duke possible so there are no doubts. Wouldn’t you?”
“Well, seeing as I am the duke… Hold on. Genevieve, really, you’re going to tear out your hair,” he added reasonably as he brought her to a stop with a light hand on her shoulder. She’d torn out three pearls and half of it was coming undone. Unwilling to see it all fall apart, he took the pearl pins from her hands and began to tug her hair back into place. “You need not worry. I’m only teasing you.” He reassured her as well as himself. “I will be proper, rest assured. Everyone should be able to see my head above here, as well as part of yours. They can’t assume anything wayward.”
She shifted for a minute before sighing. “Very well. You had hope that is what they all say. If anyone asks or hints, you tell them I adore mazes and wanted to see what was in the center.”
“It’s always a sundial,” he pointed out to her.
“It is not.” She paused. “Well, not always. There could be an exception. Sometimes there is nothing.” He hummed a response, tucking a pin in his mouth to manage the last unruly curl. “You don’t have sisters, do you?”
Waiting until he had fixed the pin, Julian replied. “I don’t have any siblings. I’ve tended to my younger cousins in the past, though. Why?”
Genevieve brought a careful hand up to pat her hair, unable to see but wishing to know he hadn’t made a nest in there. It tookher a minute to decide for herself. She forced a smile and then dropped her hand.
“It’s nothing. I was only wondering. Shall we?” She motioned toward the exit.
Julian nodded and then offered his arm to her. They had a performance to give to everyone that afternoon. Trying to focus on that helped him to ignore the sound of her low laughter and how it curled into his heartbeat. It helped him forget the way her hand fit neatly into his, gloved or not.
None of that mattered, he reminded himself, because if it did, it would mean something. And moments and people that meant something would lead toward the notion of love.
Having lived much in his thirty-one years, Julian knew better than to consider love. He had seen it sour in his parents. The way it ruined relationships, serious or not. It was clear how adoration turned to resentment, how affection twisted to obligation, and how quickly devotion could turn to rot.
It's not love. And it will never be love.
CHAPTER 13
Genevieve watched Julian smile at her even as the shadows appeared in his eyes.
She felt as though the sun were setting rapidly before her. A light chill ran down her spine; she forced herself not to react.
Instead, she steeled herself against the strange feeling and she braced herself for whatever might come next at this event. Particularly, what might happen next with Julian.
What was he thinking about just then?
“Into battle we go,” he muttered, then led her forward.
The moment they stepped out of the maze, her husband was a new man. Or his original self. The transition happened so smoothly that she hadn’t realized there was another version of himself in the maze. But there he was now, smiling and charming and nodding to those who waved in their direction.
“Ah, Miss Alice beckons. I do believe she has someone new she would like us to meet,” he said airily and then guided her toward the table with drinks.
How it should amuse me that the perfect husband is one who abandons his wife. Is that the only way a man could be who he must?
Genevieve nodded along to the introductions as Miss Alice eagerly introduced her favorite aunt, a woman hardly a year older than herself. Lady Elena had come out the same year as Genevieve. It took a moment for them to recognize each other before they began to bond.
“I knew you two would like one another,” Miss Alice announced cheerfully.
“Of course, of course. After all, you are always right,” teased her aunt.
