Page 14 of A Duke in Pursuit of Passion
“I suppose it has,” Lord Rolfe sighed, the light dying from his eyes. He shook his head and gestured towards the bed. “You may take the bed, My Lady. I shall sleep on the floor for the duration of our journey.”
Ella bit the inside of her lip, a part of her wanting to offer him the bed, though it looked about as comfortable as the floor anyway. It had certainly felt fairly hard when she had been sitting upon it earlier.
“My Lord, I would request that you turn around while I prepare for bed,” Ella stated, glaring at him challengingly.
“I would not wish to make you feel uncomfortable,” Lord Rolfe said, shaking his head. Having risen to his feet almost the moment Ella did, he stood fairly close to the cabin door. “I shall leave you to change and rest. I fear it is still too early for me to sleep.”
Normally, Ella would have agreed with him, but after the events of the last few days, she was more exhausted than she ever could remember being.
She had to bite back the urge to thank him for leaving her in peace. It was only the gentlemanly thing to do. Not even cousins could be expected to change in front of one another.
Chapter 8
Sleep came to Ella quickly that evening, and when next she awoke, she found herself thrashing like a mad woman upon the bed, hands pressed upon her shoulders to pin her down. Screaming, she flailed and battered at the man holding her. In the near darkness, the room only lit by the moonlight coming through the portholes, Ella could barely make out her captor until she heard him speak.
“El! Please, calm down! It’s me!”
Immediately calmed by the familiarity of his voice, Ella threw herself into Nate’s arms, a hazy sensation overwhelming her head as she wondered whether she had woken from one dream into another.
Scared and worried for her sister, her dreams had been nothing but darkness. But now, in Nate’s arms, she felt as though she could breathe for a moment. And when she did, she breathed in his masculine, musky scent.
She felt the stress and tension melt away as he propped himself upon the bed beside her, holding her in his arms. The tears pricking the corners of her eyes and the soreness in her throat ebbed away. Desperate to continue the feeling, Ella snuggled into him closer, relieved by how he stroked her back comfortingly.
Just when she started to feel utterly safe, she felt his lips press ever so gently upon her hairline. It was soft and affectionate, and it caused her to lift her face slightly from his chest. And in the next moment, his lips were on hers, causing her breath to catch in her throat.
Eyes fluttering closed instinctively, she leaned into the kiss, allowing it and him to overwhelm her. After all, it was a dream. There was nothing wrong with allowing him to kiss her in a dream.
Then, she began to think, if she did not hate him, perhaps she might actually like him. After all, he had grown tremendously since last they had seen each other, going from the tall, wiry boy with pale golden blond hair to the even taller, muscularly built nobleman with ashy blond hair who sat before her. Everything about him dripped charm, good looks, and gentlemanly manners.
Even his kiss at that moment was utterly charming, and Ella breathed his scent deeply, wishing to consume every second of their kiss as though it were the air she was breathing deep into her lungs.
It was only when he raised his hand to her face, cupping her cheek, that the coolness of his touch caused her to realise everything was all too real. This could not possibly be a dream.
Screaming with the sudden weight of realisation, Ella threw herself back from him, scrambling from the bed and almost tripping over her bare feet.
"How dare you?" she demanded, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, all too aware that she was in nothing but her nightgown. "What makes you think you have any right to … to kiss me?"
Looking more than a little contrite, Lord Rolfe dropped his gaze from hers, shoving his hands into his pockets as though it was all he could do to stop himself from reaching for her again. "Forgive me. I don't know what came over me."
Nor I, Ella thought, though she would never say such words aloud. Instead, she scoffed and shook her head. "I have heard every excuse in the book, My Lord, I would warn you against attempting to make light of the situation."
"And I would warn you, My Lady, not to take such a firm tone with me," he responded, his gaze meeting hers again. She steeled herself against it, feeling her heart hammer in her chest as he gazed at her. "We were both party to that kiss. Do not deny that you felt as I did!"
Shock and anger threatened to overwhelm Ella then, and she tightened her hands into fists at her sides, tensing every muscle in her body until she was standing as straight as a toothpick. "How dare you?"
"How dareI? How dare you?" he said in a flustered manner, his cheeks growing ever redder in the moonlight that filtered through the portholes.
If she had not been so angry with him, Ella might have allowed herself to mentally comment on how he was even more handsome when he was furious with her, how the emotion in him made her want to step back into his arms.
But she was furious, and shehatedhim. She had to because it was the only way to keep herself safe.
"Since I laid eyes upon you back at Partridge House, you have done nothing but belittle me and make me feel as though I am found to be wanting," Lord Rolfe continued when Ella found she had nothing left to say, too busy trying to regain control of her emotions and thoughts. She would not allow him to get under her skin, not as he had been when they were children.
"How do you come to believe so, My Lord? You do not know me. You have not known me for quite some time."
She continued to glower at him, silently challenging him to argue back again, but instead, all the fight seemed to drain from Lord Rolfe's face.
Shaking his head until his ash blond hair fell forward from where he had pinned it behind his ears, he said, "My Lady, we do not have to get along, but you must know that we are on this journey together, stuck as we are, and there is nothing we can do about it. Perhaps it would be best if we forgot this ever happened."
