He frowned and repeated “Bloody dried beef, damn but I hadn’t realized that was all you
had left.”
She saw it wasn’t a question as she watched his expressions flit over his face. He sounded annoyed which made her realize he cared to some extent, but she still could not get the snippiness out of her voice as she replied, “Indeed, dried beef and not enough of it at that.” She realized she sounded caustic and shifted her tone, giving him a fleeting smile as she added, “Chauncey got it into his head that he had to have pigeon pie and so they went off in search of it.” she chuckled.
“Of course, pigeon pie,” the duke said with a boyish grin. “And they left you behind and you are feeling a bit out of sorts.”
“They did and I am,” she agreed pleased to find he understood.
“Come Mandy, do walk with me. I should like to discuss something with you.” He offered his arm.
Mandy eyed his bent elbow. She took her knit cap up from the ground, slapped it off her thigh to shake loose any dirt and tucked her thick long hair up and under it.
She stared again at his arm, so large, so muscular and although she hesitated she did place her fingers on his arm. He took those fingers and pulled them through the crook of his arm and patted them.
His touch felt so protective and so very right. She felt that no harm could ever come to her when she was in his company. What was wrong with her? Why did she feel that way?
She peeped up at him and then down at herself and she giggled. It suddenly dawned on her that the picture they presented was absurd and she began to bend over with uncontrolled mirth.
“Whatever are you laughing at?” he asked, grinning broadly.
“If anyone were to see us…me dressed with my hair tucked under my cap and looking like a schoolboy and you…the big protective buck, oh…” she giggled and got the words out piece meal. “They…” giggle “would…think…we…present a very odd picture, indeed.”
He looked at her and said, his voice low and laced with a tone that made her shiver, “If you wish to look like a schoolboy…” he touched first the long strands of golden hair that had escaped her cap and then moved his finger gently down her neckline to where the swells of her breast were enticingly displayed because she had undid a few buttons just before he had arrived because of the heat. His eyes traveled back to her lips and then met her gaze, as he said, on a hoarse note, “you must don something a bit less revealing, for my pretty gamine, your exquisite proportions most certainly give you away.”
She felt the fire in her cheeks. She felt her body tremble with an excitement she told herself she must not feel, and then he took her hand from his arm and held it within his own and for the first time in her life, Mandy thought she might swoon.
She was wildly, insanely overcome. She was a shaking body of need. She wanted him to take her into his arms. She wanted him to want her, to kiss her, to touch her and make her a woman. Her mind, her body, her emotions were a ball of bursting need and that need was centered on him.
She lowered her eyes to the ground as he pulled her along and heard his sensuous voice as he told her, “Come, let us walk in the woods where we can not be easily discovered.”
“I…I suppose,” she faltered, bucked herself up and said, “No impropriety can be attached to my walking alone with my guardian in the woods?” If her words were meant to put him in his place, they fell short.
He snorted derisively, and then stopped to hold her shoulders. His face was drawn in a frown as he said, “No more than your meeting with Sir Owen yesterday.”
She gasped, “That was not intended.”
“I wonder,” he answered on a frown. “However, it might interest you to know that Sir Owen paid us a visit yesterday, at Wharfdale Manor…a most unusual visit.”
“What? Why?”
“Apparently Sir Owen feels that Skip is concealing something regarding his connection with Celia,” the duke offered thoughtfully.
She sighed, “He told me the same thing.”
“Do you think it possible?” he asked and she felt his penetrating gaze.
“All I know is that Celia was desperate…she was five and twenty and thought her chances to marry well were over. She was casting her lures so yes, it is possible that Skip was taken in for a time…”
“Indeed, he has admitted to having had a slight intrigue with the poor woman.”
Mandy went quiet. She may be still a maid without experiences, but she wasn’t a fool. She had seen certain glances pass between Skip and her cousin Celia when he came to visit. She sighed, “It doesn’t matter. Skip and Celia could only have been a passing fancy, nothing more.”
He frowned. “You are very loyal to him. How did he earn your high regard?”
She looked up at him and answered with a question, “He is a friend, are you not loyal to him? I thought the two of you were more than close.”
He waved it all away and said, “You are quite right. I don’t think Skip’s interest was anything but fleeting and does not have anything to do with the fix we find ourselves in.”