Page 20 of The Wolf and the Wildflower
He lifted a brow. “The duchess hovers and stares at me with wounded eyes. I do not like it.”
“Your Grace—”
“My mother wishes to present a duke to the world in a few short weeks. That is the reason I will allow you to remain here. You are clearly adept at deception. A skill that will be invaluable to me, Mr. Southby.”
Something sharp stuck in her throat and her heart twisted. “You wish to deceive the duchess?”
An emotion she could not identify shifted in the depth of his brilliant gaze. “Do I sense your disapproval?”
The mocking way he looked at her pricked deeper at her chest. She could not escape the feeling he would be quite complicated to understand or handle. “Your Grace—”
“I wish to give the duchess and the world what they want to see.”
“But not what is real?”
The small smile that touched his mouth felt sharp.
The duke took a single step closer. “They’ll see a refined duke with a polite and respectable manner. One who will be able to tolerate their…idle chattering, balls, and social gatherings. My mother and my family must stop believing me a savage, and so as not to shame the duchess and her standing within society, thehaut tonmust also believe and accept it wholeheartedly.”
So it would all be a pretense. “You could really try,” she said with bite.
“I know who I am and know what I cannot be,” he said, those words low yet piercing.
Who are you really, then?she silently asked, feeling that sense of doubt because pretenses never lasted forever. “What do you want to be, Your Grace?”
“Only concern yourself Southby with helping me present the image that I am conformable and dignified, as you know a duke mustneverappear discomfited,” he said. “I must learn the art of allowing necessary touches and then move along as if it was not unpleasant. Especially with the lady I am to select to be my wife.”
How cold and indifferent he sounded.
Jules canted her head. “Your wife?”
His gaze gleamed. “It is to be one of my main priorities for the upcoming season.”
“I see.” A powerful and well-connected wife would go a long way in smoothing his acceptance back within his society.
“You do not like being touched?” Though she sensed it, Jules wanted to know his thoughts.
The duke flinched, and if Jules had not watched him so closely, she would have missed the reaction.
“You do not have to answer until you are ready,” she said softly.
“Disabuse yourself of the notion that you will receive a reply to every question asked. I doubt you will ever get answers to intrusive questions. I value my privacy. Recall it.”
Then how are we to help you?she almost questioned. “I will, Your Grace,” she said with careful patience, thinking he would not have to re-learn arrogance and superiority of self. Those seemed to be stamped upon his bones.
She also couldn’t escape the sense that the duke was rather intelligent. Jules wondered if he allowed any touch from his family. The science said no. Being alone for so long, learning to survive against nature and creatures of the mountain that would kill within seconds would have brutally honed the duke’s instincts. His response during any confrontation would have been more fight than flight.
“My future wife might find me a bit difficult,” he said. “Your task here is to help me assure her comfort within limits. I do not wish to hurt her.”
Her heart tapped against her breastbone, and Jules recognized the duke was not a gentleman who would easily allow his personal space to be invaded. He would naturally be more aggressive because of the survival mode he had lived with for so long. From his perspective, innocent behavior might be perceived as a threat and his reactions could be unpredictable. His lady wife might very well find him too savage.
What would he be like in an intimate relationship?
He would not be talkative. Very stoic. Possibly inherent to his nature from a child but his experience would have deepened that stoicism as he learned only to rely on himself to live.
The easiest thing for the duke might be to relearn himself and his limits in privacy, apart from the maddening crowd and desperate family. As she observed the muscles of his shoulders, the calm, controlled way he watched her, Jules realized he would find it extraordinarily difficult with social cues and situations. The duke would have a hard time processing the marriage mart. The closeness involved with dancing and chatting. It must have been painful…and continued to be painful as he adjusted to the bustle of life from his varied sensory deprivation.
“I will assist you, Your Grace,” she softly said.
