My Darling Duke

Tentatively, Kitty slid one of her hands across the bedding and touched his clenched knuckles. She sensed the moment he surged awake. His entire body stilled, and he commanded his breathing so it no longer sounded ragged. Yet he did not pull away from her tentative touch, and she did not withdraw her hand.

“Your audacity should not be able to surprise me any longer.”

“I had to rouse you, Your Grace. You were dreaming,” she whispered.

He turned his hand in hers so they were palm to palm.

“Always…I dream every night.”

His low response hinted of torments she would never understand. But he did not sound ravaged, more accepting.

She stared at their clasped hands, uncertain if she should pull away or stay. “I’m sorry.”

“You were not the cause, Miss Danvers.”

“I’m still sorry.”

A pause. “I like my dreams.”

She shifted closer, all but climbing over the pillow that was between them. “I thought they were nightmares.”

Something naked and vulnerable flashed across his face before his expression shuttered. “When I dream of that night…I do not dream only of the fire.”

Her gaze jumped to the scarred side of his face. She could barely discern those dreadful marks. “I wondered what had caused your pain.”

“Hmm.”

He made no other reply and she did not probe, though she wished to know all his secrets, the good and the bad. A very silly yearning, but nonetheless it was there. She pulled her hand gently from his clasp and folded it beneath her chin.

“Would you share with me?”

“I’ve never shared before,” came the soft reply.

“Why not?”

“No one has ever asked.”

A jerk of her heart. “They were perhaps scared or too intimidated by you to pry,” she whispered, sensing it to be true with the force of personality she’d witnessed in the duke. “How would they dare?”

“And you are too impudent to be scared, hmm. Just as how you were not scared earlier to help me save George. I admire your bravery.”

Heat burst inside her heart. “I’m glad that you do.”

It felt as if the very air shifted, and something unknown but pleasant settled between them.

Several claps of thunder rumbled in the distance, and the rain turned into a heavier downpour. “Perhaps it is safer between strangers already sharing secrets. Upon my honor I would not betray your trust, Alexander.”

A slow curve of his lips, yet he remained silent. With a sigh, she closed her eyes, letting the pitter-patter of rain on the roof lull her back to slumber.

“My mother had the loveliest laugh. That morning as I made my way to the breakfast room, it was the first sound that greeted me. My father had shockingly stolen a kiss, and my sister, Penny, all of seven at the time, was equally delighted and appalled to have been a witness. We always broke our fast together in the morning. Penny was never banished to the schoolroom but dined with us adults.”

Kitty opened her eyes slowly, not daring to move or breathe.

“Afterward, Mother spent the morning with Penny on the lawns reading, and Father and I discussed estate matters. Then we all took a jaunt to the village in the carriage. That evening, instead of attending a local charity ball, Mother and Father stayed home. And we dined together, Penny included and quite pleased to be at the table with us. We retired to the drawing room, Mother played the pianoforte, and I sang.”

Another pregnant pause, and the rain drummed with more insistence on the roof. Kitty shifted closer and, acting on impulse, tugged some of the blanket from her side and tucked it about his waist. He said nothing, but another small smile curved his lips.

“That night, it was Penny’s distant cries that woke me. Somehow, Penny had made her way to my chamber. The drapes were already on fire, and it was a wonder we found breath in the stifling heat and smoke. I lifted her in my arms and rushed into the hallway. Fire razed the west wing of the castle, and everything was chaos. The stairs were engulfed, and the way to escape had been blocked. The only means seemed to be back into my room. I waded through the flames…and as you can see, the monster caught me. I shoved open the window…and jumped.”