Page 32 of What's a Duke Got to Do With It
The duke pretended to consider Katrina, his lips pursed in thought. Katrina, for her part, felt that look straight down to her soul. Especially when his gaze transformed into something more, something decidedly admiring. Her insides turned to mush, her legs to jelly. Truthfully, her entire body went a bit soft and warm all at once.
“I daresay,” he murmured, the intimate sound of it making the liquification of her body complete, “that Miss Denby can do anything she puts her mind to.”
The moment stretched out, the warm glow in Katrina’s stomach expanding through her limbs, to the tips of her fingers and toes. It was a foreign feeling, one she had only known during her brief time in London, when she had been able to forget the harsh lessons of a lifetime that had taught her she was unimportant, that she did not matter. She had seemed to matter then. More important, she had seemed to matter tohim.
The shrill call of a seabird rent the air just then. Blinking his eyes, he rearranged his face back into the easy lines it had been in as he looked to the others.
“But the only way to find out is to try,” he said with some of that old cheerfulness and natural magnetism he’d had and that had been buried in the intervening years of hardship. “Shall we attempt to redeem ourselves, gentlemen?”
As one the group agreed heartily, moving to a flat length of sand down the beach, laughing and talking the whole while. Katrina followed behind, making her slow way across the sand, watching the others with a small smile on her face. She had not realized until now how much she had lost with Lord Landon climbing into her bedroom window back in London. For so many years she had tried not to think about how her life had changed. She had instead focused solely on moving forward, on survival.
But with Lady Tesh’s proclamation that she join in on the fun, she had begun to remember. She wondered if, later, in the privacy of her bedroom with this afternoon well behind her, she would feel grief for the direction her life had taken. Would she mourn all she used to have? Especially as this moment in time could only be just that: a moment, a brief and wonderful interlude.
But she would not think on it now. Her gaze snagged on the duke laughing with Mr. Mishra as they decided on where to draw the line in the sand, drawing her further into the memories of how life had been before the scandal that had upended her life. No, she thought with a smile, she would hold on to this moment with both hands for as long as she could.
Chapter 11
Sebastian had not thought Lady Tesh could outdo the picnic at the beach. While Bridling had been jolly enough attending the dinner party and ball, there was a new light to his eyes today, a joy and excitement Sebastian had not seen in the boy since leaving London. And not once in that long afternoon of excess and sport had Bridling mentioned his actress, the biggest proof of the victory that the day had wrought.
As the day progressed to evening, however, he found himself impressed despite himself. If any setting could tempt Bridling from settling down too early, it would be this.
The wide path sandwiched between the street and the beach with the ocean beyond was a busy, cheerful thoroughfare, no doubt a popular attraction in the summer months. Colorful lanterns were strung over the pedestrians’ heads, and as night fell they lit in glorious washes of brilliantly tinted light, bathing mirth-filled faces in all the hues of the rainbow. Groups of musicians were interspersed along the pavement, the cheerful melodies from their instruments mingling with the conversation and laughter, completing the festive air of it all. Here and there small stalls were set up, with wares ranging from meat pies to bundles of sweet nuts to painted fans to posies.
Bridling was like a puppy bouncing among the myriad members of their party, his face alight with a smile so wide his cheeks must ache. As Sebastian watched, bemused, Bridling said something to Lord Wesley, throwing his arm about the man’s shoulders and laughing uproariously, as if they had known one another all their lives. The boy had made fast friends with all the gentlemen that day, and had already made plans to meet up with them the following afternoon.
He had also begun showing a more than passing interest in the young women, his eyes going decidedly moony in appearance as he gazed at the tight group of them a short way down the path. There did not seem to be one particular woman to garner his attentions. Well, Sebastian amended with a frown, that statement was not entirely true. There had been times during that jolly afternoon when Bridling had looked at Katrina slightly longer than necessary, had laughed in a jarringly intimate way with her, had touched her arm with an air bordering on familiar.
But perhaps it had been his imagination. He was not showing any particular interest in her now; rather, he appeared to be taken with all of them as a whole. Something that brought an incredible amount of relief to Sebastian. Not because Bridling no longer seemed interested solely in Miss Denby, he told himself fiercely. He was most certainly not jealous of any attention the boy might give her. But the more the boy was dazzled by the idea of other women, the less he would think of his actress, and the more secure Sebastian’s claim on Miss Bridling would be.
Which, of course, had him thinking of Miss Denby again. Which was horribly inconvenient; there was no reason at all that thoughts of his future intended should lead him into thinking of another. God knew Miss Bridling did not deserve it. No, she deserved nothing but the utmost loyalty from him.
Yet no matter how he berated himself, he could not seem to stop his gaze from drifting to Miss Denby. She stood near the collection of young women and beside Lady Tesh, beneath a pink lantern that made it appear as if she was blushing from head to foot. Her hair, which had come undone during their long day of sports—of which she had won a fair amount, much to his delight—had been plaited and pinned at the nape of her neck in a loose chignon. Stray tendrils of pale hair curled against her cheek and along the long column of her neck, caressing those places he itched to touch.
But more powerful than all that was the brightness of her eyes, the softness of her smile. The day in the sun, laughing and running about with the others, had done wonders for her, bringing a light to her eyes that reminded him so much of the girl he had begun to fall for that his chest ached with it. But she was made all the more beautiful for the new maturity in her gaze. That maturity had not been there in their youth. Then she had been all stardust, glittering and joyful.
Now, there was a depth to her that called to him. With a gentleness and kindness that only a transcendence over heartache and pain could bring about, she had somehow drawn him from the windowless room he had locked himself in since his father’s death and into the light. He was not a fool, of course. He knew this was temporary, a mere interlude from the seriousness and worry that his life had become.
But her ability to remind him that there was still some joy left in him had been a precious gift.
“Your Grace,” Lady Tesh barked, impatience threaded through her sharp voice. “Are you ignoring me on purpose?”
Sebastian blinked, his face heating as he tore his gaze from Miss Denby and approached them. “My apologies, my lady,” he murmured.
But the diminutive dowager did not appear the least mollified, her effrontery obvious.
“You should be sorry,” she grumbled, “for I now shall have to repeat myself. I will be taking a sedan chair to visit with a dear friend, and I would have you and Miss Denby act as chaperones of sorts for this motley group. I shall meet you there when you are through. And have no fear; Miss Denby knows the house. I certainly cannot count on you to pay attention enough to remember.”
With that parting shot she made her hobbling way to the waiting sedan chair, settling within, accepting Freya from Miss Denby before starting off down the street.
Bemused, Sebastian looked Miss Denby’s way. Her eyes were dancing with laughter in the colorful glow of the lanterns.
“You must have been quite thoroughly distracted to receive such a reprimand from Lady Tesh,” she murmured.
What would she say if she knew the reason for my distraction?Giving her a wry smile, he held out his arm. “We are to act as chaperones, are we?” he murmured, attempting to ignore the jolt of electricity from the touch of her fingers on his sleeve.
She looked over at the rest of their party, who had moved to listen to a young girl singing an operetta, her voice clear and haunting. A small smile lifted her lips. “Apparently so. Though she might rethink matters if she knew that you used to be a consummate rake.”
“Oh, now, I don’t think I would have described myself as aconsummaterake. I was merely anadequaterake, I assure you.”
