Page 16 of The Scarlet Lady's Duke of Desire
That much was clear from the way she marvelled over the flowers and watched the bees collecting their pollen. And though the park was overfull that day, James found he had only eyes for her.
She seemed far more at ease than she had been in the ballroom upon their first proper encounter.
“Did you know, Your Grace,” Miss Thornton said as she inclined her head towards a pair of swans that had come in to land upon the surface of the lake, “that swans mate for life?”
James cocked his head and before he could catch himself in the lie, he said, “I did not know that.” Though the moment the words were out of his lips, he had no idea why he had said them. What did it matter to her if he knew that or not?
“They do,” Miss Thornton insisted, nodding. “And if one of them should perish, the other is likely to die of a broken heart soon after.”
At her words, James' own heart clenched painfully. He had never really been one for considering true love, soulmates and mating for life, the kinds of things that young ladies were taught about to cause them to swoon at the first man who showed them a little attention.
And yet, Miss Thornton's talking about such things somehow brought new meaning to them.
“A dreadful fate indeed,” he sighed deeply, shaking his head. “Perhaps it is good that we humans are not so inclined?”
He asked the question probingly, looking at Miss Thornton out of the corner of his eye to gauge her reaction. She responded to him in kind, looking back at him out of the corner of her own eye as she said, “I don't know. I imagine there are a few humans out there who feel much the same way as swans do.”
There was almost a longing look upon Miss Thornton's face as she spoke, and it made James' gut churn.
“Do you?” James asked, the question barely more than a whisper.
As though she sensed the intimacy of the conversation they were having growing, Mrs Thornton slipped her hand from where she had been loosely gripping his arm on the opposite side of her daughter.
With just a glance in her direction as she slipped a few paces behind, James saw that she was none too concerned about their taking the lead for a little more privacy. She even smiled encouragingly at him, only glancing over her own shoulder at Lady Blackford and the others who were several paces further behind.
“I cannot say, Your Grace,” Miss Thornton said, shrugging her slender shoulders slightly. “I have not had the opportunity to find out.”
“Do you think you would take it? If it were offered?” James asked and he bit the inside of his lip as soon as he had asked the question, unsure of what was wrong with him to make him say such things.
Miss Thornton looked at him silently for several moments before James felt her squeeze his forearm as if in warning.
“Your grace, did you come here today looking to cause a little more trouble?” she asked him over-directly.
Her question caught him off guard. She was entirely more straight forward than any other young lady he had ever had the pleasure to talk with. He couldn't imagine many would be willing or brave enough to ask him so directly what his intentions were with her. Nor could he imagine many who could truly understand his motives.
Guilt clawed painfully at his gut. Was it wrong of him to approach her for such things? After all, was her life not complicated enough with all the scandal that already surrounded her family?
James quickly forced the thoughts of all that away. Taking a walk through the park with a beautiful woman was not asking for her hand in marriage, no matter what his aunt or any other member of thetonmight think.
Though James knew what he was doing was entirely questionable, even to him, he couldn't help himself. Even as he had been approaching the group when he had seen them all stopping at the edge of the lake, he had asked himself why his feet had automatically begun to carry him towards them. More than that, why they had been carrying him towardsher.
“Would it matter if I had?” he asked, meeting Miss Thornton's gaze far more confidently than he felt. In truth, his heart was hammering at the mere sight of her, especially with the way she gazed back at him. And he thought that he might be able to gaze into those grey eyes forever and a day.
Suddenly, the idea of swans mating for life did not seem nearly so ludicrous.
“You are a duke,” Miss Thornton pointed out with a nonchalant shake of her head. “You may do as you please, I suppose.”
Intrigued by how she might react, James leaned over with his hand cupping hers upon his arm—to stop her from pulling away—and whispered into her ear. “What if I were to ask you to cause a little trouble with me?”
He felt the way her hand quivered beneath his and the way her body tensed beside his own. More than that, he heard her sharp intake of breath and sensed her shock. But most of all, when he pulled back, he saw the way that she blushed. In that second, her face was almost as red as her hair.
For a second, James feared he had offended her. Then he saw the way that she gulped, her pale throat constricting, and he recognised the flicker of wantonness that danced in her stormy eyes.
It was that look which caused him to realise he had gotten under her skin. Concerningly, he also came to the knowledge that was exactly where he wished to be.
“Your Grace!” Miss Thornton hissed under her breath as though she was trying to feign offence in place of the desire she was really feeling. She could not hide it from him however because he felt it entirely too easily himself. Though he was well aware how dangerous the feeling was, he couldn't help himself.
“What is the matter, Miss Thornton?” James asked. He glanced over his shoulder for just a second to make sure that those behind them were not close enough to overhear him. Then he turned his full attention back to Miss Thornton and added, “Do I frighten you?”
