Page 72 of Her Duke By Accident
“Oh,” Alicia breathed, nodded. “That’s good, Your Grace.”
The duke left the window, pulling a chair back at the table for her to sit. “Might we,” he paused as though he hesitated, but quickly shook his head, “be less formal this evening?”
Alicia sat as he pushed in her chair, his hands gripping the back of the seat. “In what way might we be less formal?”
“You may call me Matthew,” he spoke slowly, still behind her. “And I may call you…” the duke hesitated again, letting his voice trail off into a silence. Suddenly he moved out from behind her, taking his own seat on her right at the table. When his eyes met hers, he breathed a sigh. “I may call you Alicia, if you wish.”
Her lips parted and the smile that overtook her felt like the first true smile she had ever given him. “You may, Matthew,” she said, and his name came out more easily than she expected it to, as though she had been meant to use it all this time.
Matthew settled into his seat, giving a signal over his shoulder for the lingering servant to pour the drinks. As the wine was poured, Alicia gulped down her anxiety, watching as Matthew held his hands together below his chin. Matthew lowered his head till he covered his lips, as if he knew she was watching.
The servant left the room through a separate door, most likely to fetch their dinner.
Alicia fidgeted in her seat at the silence.
“May I ask you something?” Matthew asked.
“Of course.”
With his gaze stuck on the candelabra, and his voice slightly muffled by his hands, he spoke softly. “How did you carry her?”
Alicia blinked. “What?”
“Lucy,” he said. “How could you have carried her through the manor?”
“Well, it was just instinct, I suppose.”
Matthew lowered his hands and met her gaze. “She is not a small baby, Alicia.”
“I know that.”
“Then, how did you carry her?”
Alicia furrowed her brow. “Why does this feel like an interrogation?”
“It isn’t,” he said, lowering his voice. “I wanted to understand.”
Alicia sighed. “Growing up,” she began, a sad nostalgia tugging at her heart, “Penny prided herself on being the most reckless child imaginable. She collected rocks, waded into lakes, climbed trees.”
“Domesticated hounds,” Matthew added with a chuckle.
“Yes,” she laughed. “She was a wild girl at heart, and my parents never fought against it. They saw what lay in her heart, and let her be.” Alicia looked down at her plate as the servant brought dinner in. A dejected feeling began to seep into her. “Bless my parents for being so kind, but perhaps it would have been better for us to have kept her adventures to a minimum.”
“Why would you say that?”
“My parents allowed Penny to do whatever she pleased as long as one of her tamer siblings was there to keep her in check,” she explained. “Owen was too busy becoming the next lord of the house, which left me. And I love my sister, but it is that love that kept me on my toes every second of every day. She could jump from the treetops, and I’d be there to catch her. Each time.”
Matthew watched her intensely. “That’s how you carried Lucy,” he said.
“I suppose so,” she said with a shrug. “What else what I have done?”
“Ran to get someone else,” Matthew quickly replied. “Anyone else would have left her there to get help.”
“Well… ”
“Mr. Porter said it himself,” he interjected. “The speed of your reaction is what kept her from real harm.”
Alicia gulped, meeting the duke’s powerful stare. It bored into her with an intensity that chilled her, something she had never seen before. Matthew blinked a few times, his gaze flickering down to her lips before he abruptly leaned back into his chair, putting more space between them. Alicia tried to ignore the disappointment that flooded into her chest.
