Page 32 of A Scandalous Love for the Enticing Duke
“Ouuhh!” he cried, his eyes fluttering closed. Who knew his fair maiden had a feisty side to her? It hurt like hell!
As soon as he opened his eyes again, he saw the candlestick coming towards him, and he immediately sprang backwards, shouting for dear life. “Eleanor! Stop! It’s me, Nicholas!”
She retracted her assault, and he released a breath he didn’t even know he had been holding.
“Nicholas?” He chuckled at the wonder in her voice and considered what must be going through her head.
“Yes. It is I.” He finally got up on his feet and reached to touch where she had hit him. It stung as he touched it, and he quickly withdrew his hands. There was no blood, thankfully, but he knew it would cause a swelling.
“I never knew you had such a powerful strike. I would have scrambled out of the way in time, if I did.”
He saw her roll her eyes. She chose to ignore those words for her reply was a question, totally unrelated. “What are you doing here, Nicholas? You have got the wrong room. Come on, I can manage to sneak you into Agnes’s room. Everyone is asleep by now.”
She was already walking away from him, so his hand shot out and caught hers. She turned sharply to regard him, her eyes narrowed in question. That was not the only thing he could read in those eyes. He could see shock, and he could see pain. The other made his heart ache in his chest. The last thing he wanted to do was to cause her pain, yet, he always managed to do that so effortlessly.
“I am certain I’ve got the right chamber, Eleanor. It is not Agnes I have come to see, it is you.”
She yanked her arm out of his hands upon hearing that. Her voice was filled with incredulity when she spoke.
“Have you lost your mind? You climbed up that wall, through my window, in the dead of the night, to see me when your fiancée sleeps barely thirty feet away from me? Where have you left your senses?” Her voice was a whisper, yet it felt like a scream in Nicholas’s ears, so much that he found himself flinching as she emphasised each word.
“You are right. I have lost my mind. I only wanted to see you, Eleanor, desperately.”
Her jaws dropped at his word. “What part of I do not ever want to be alone with you, did you not get? Why do you continue to do this, Nicholas?”
His face fell. He had been expecting this welcome but had hoped it wouldn’t be so bad. Eleanor sounded like she truly wanted him gone. Mayhap, he should have thought this through one more time. He had only considered himself, his feelings. He had not thought of how this would affect Eleanor. She had pleaded with him, and her voice had almost trembled. Yet what had he done? He had completely disregarded her pleas in the guise of being smitten by her.
Disappointed, he saw what a mistake this had been. There was only one thing left to do now, turn around and leave – for good. It was the only way around this. He had to be responsible with his feelings. He had not asked to fall in love with her, and indeed, he had – but she had not asked for it either.
“You must forgive me, My Lady. I had thought I had given this a proper thought, that I was doing what seemed right, but now I realise my mistake. I shall take my leave now; I am terribly sorry for any ill I have caused you, since our first meeting until now. You have my word that I will cease to trouble you from now on.” With that, he spun and began to ready himself for descent. His bones still weighed a ton. He had not fathomed that he would be making his descent so soon, but he would have to manage it somehow. He flexed his limbs and neck, making sure to avoid his temple. Nothing was said; she had not even deemed it fit to give a response to his pronouncement, but that was fine. She did not have to say anything else.
Feeling as though he was finally ready to begin his descent, he moved closer to the window. He was just about to throw one leg over when she finally spoke. He froze even before processing her words.
“What?” he asked as he regarded her from his side view, half-turned. He needed to be sure that he had heard right.
“I asked you to wait. You have gone through all this trouble to get here, and I hit you – in my defence, I was only protecting myself –” a pause, and she looked as though she was searching for words to say, then taking a breath, she continued, “You must be tired. Since you are already here, I think it would only be right for me to at least take a look at your head. You could rest and regain your strength for the descent.”
She had avoided his gaze all through, but that did not keep him from feeling warm and fuzzy inside. He stopped himself from smiling, though. It was quite thoughtful of her, but he would not allow for more opportunity to hurt her further. Being in his presence was hard for her; he would ease her of that burden, not add to it. As much as the offer was tempting, as much as he wanted to accept, he could not.
“Thank you, Eleanor. That is quite thoughtful of you, but I think it would be best if I took my leave now. I have given you my –”
“I insist. What could a few minutes possibly change?”
He could see the stubborn line her lips were set in. He knew he could not win this fight he did not really want to win in the first place. He finally let a small smile take over his face.
“Well, if you insist. I suppose a few minutes would not hurt, and I am indeed in need of that rest.” With that, he let her lead him further into her chambers, to her bed. As he settled on the four poster princess bed, she went about returning the lamp to its position, which was a nail in the wall. She dropped the candle stand on her vanity and disappeared behind her bath doors. She returned with a bowl of water and a small piece of clothing.
“Let me have a look at that. I would have preferred to use warm water, howbeit we cannot afford to awake anyone to heat the water for us. This will have to do.”
He nodded and turned his head to the side so that she could take a look at her handiwork. He heard her sharp intake of breath as she saw it, and he instantly became alarmed.
“Is it awful? Tell me; I can take it.”
She looked down at him, her mouth slightly opened, and he prepared his heart for the worse. He was not vain, had never been overly concerned about his looks. But then again, if it was so awful, he would have to give explanations, and for the life of him, at this moment, he could not think of a single scenario that would not be mortifying. He flushed just thinking of Benjamin’s reactions.
“Quit stalling Eleanor. Out with it.”
“Oh, pardon me. It is only that, I am afraid, it really is horrible. It is so swollen, the size of a very big button, and it’s coloured wrongly. Crimson with hues of black. So nasty!”
