Page 48 of How to Seduce a Duke this Autumn
“The view or the host?”
The earl scoffed, then let out a chuckle. “Both, I suppose, though they’ve only been greeted with the sight of one.”
“That’s Cavendish for you, absent at his own party,” Adam said, his gaze sweeping the room for that extremely familiar beautiful face.
His eyes found her, out on the balcony, her elbows leaning against the balustrade, facing her friends.
She was there.
So blindingly exquisite.
Linsey, catching his gaze, followed his line of sight. “Shall we?”
“Of course.”
Linsey led the way toward the women, Adam staying just a step behind him. He hadn’t seen her in fourteen full days, fifteen counting this day. And he couldn’t tear his eyes away. She suddenly glanced up, their eyes locking.
The breath knocked from his lungs.
A flicker of something—relief, maybe? Though he couldn’t be certain whether that was what he wanted to see—passed through her features before she masked it with an arched brow.
“I’ve brought the wine, ladies,” Linsey said. “And the Duke of Rotheworth.”
Adam handed off one glass before handing the last one to Charlene, who accepted it with a soft thank you. The moment she took the glass from his hand, her fingers brushed his. That small contact, a touch too brief, sent a shock through him. The jolt of awareness made his skin tighten.
She tipped the glass to her lips and took a small sip. “What a surprise, Your Grace, meeting you here.”
“It can’t be that much of a surprise, can it?” he countered. Three sets of eyes bored into him, but he ignored the burn. “After all, you are here.”
Her gaze held his. “True. But I rather thought you’d be somewhere else, raking the leaves of your estate.”
Adam’s lips quirked. “And yet, here I am, trying to rake in something else.”
“Oh?” She tilted her head, studying him. “It seems you have come to the right place, but the wrong group.”
“Have I? I don’t think so.”
A slight cough came to his left, and he pursed his lips, eyes never leaving Charlene, who flushed.
He let out a quiet laugh. “Forgive me, I find myself bewitched by the sight of… fireworks.”
She arched a brow, swirling the wine in her glass. “Fireworks?”
He nodded toward the sky beyond the balcony. “Yes. They are quite an exquisite sight, wouldn’t you agree?”
Her lips parted, as if ready to challenge him, but she hesitated. Then, ever so slowly, she turned her head just enough to glance at the distant bursts of color. “Hmm. I suppose they do have a certain charm. Bright. Bold. Impossible to ignore.”
Adam tilted his head. Was that directed at him? “Sounds familiar.”
“Are you suggesting I am bright and bold, Your Grace?”
“Not at all. Merely that, like fireworks, you seem to have a way of drawing my attention.”
“Oh, dear Lord,” a female voice muttered from the side, but Adam ignored it.
Charlene let out a soft laugh, the sound rich with amusement. “Is that an attempt at poetic flirtation? I hadn’t taken you for a man of such sentiment.”
“I have depths, my lady,” Adam murmured. “I had hoped you would know that by now.”
