My Darling Duke

“Miss Danvers,” Penny said brightly. “Please tell me about your sisters. The newspapers mentioned you have three. Are any my age?”

Katherine cleared her throat, and the compassion in her eyes was a curious thing to witness. With a smile, she launched into amusing anecdotes about her sisters, especially the younger Henrietta, who had a penchant for harboring animals in their home, to their mother’s great distress.

“I never heard anything to equal it!” Penny chortled.

Soon the tension left Penny’s shoulders, but she still did not glance in his direction, as if she could not bear looking at him. Several moments passed in discourse, and he made no effort to join in, yet he did not leave the table. The animated manner in which they conversed felt peaceful.

Laughter tugged his gaze to Katherine. A broad smile had blossomed at her lips, and her eyes were alight with humor at some amusing anecdote from Eugene. Her head was turned a little away as she listened to whatever Eugene said with such polite raptness. Or was it more than politeness? Did she admire him, perhaps?

Her quick smiles and flushing cheeks, her teasing remarks to Eugene, filled Alexander with a cold, dark feeling. Is this jealousy? he wondered, having never endured the emotion before.

His cousin also seemed enthralled with her. He had a flush on his face and the look of a man about to become besotted. A moment of stark despair pierced Alexander at the awareness that they would suit each other well. Eugene would be a duke one day, and he was quite affable and kind. Miss Danvers’s wild and bold appeal would captivate him for years to come. Eugene had been blathering lately about finding a wife and settling down, and it seemed Alexander had unwittingly delivered to him a most appealing candidate.

Instead of eating and joining the different conversations—the weather in Scotland, politics, the latest fashion, gossips—he gave in to the compulsion to simply watch Miss Danvers. He observed her covertly with unabashed interest, noting every expression, the way she gave her undivided attention to Penny and Eugene, the furrow of her brows, the way she laughed with her eyes first, the indelicate way in which she devoured food that she enjoyed.

She looked up, noticing his avid regard. Katherine appeared surprised and then, faintly but unmistakably, embarrassed at the intensity of his stare. She glanced down momentarily, her eyelashes long and striking against the paleness of her skin. How had he not noticed how silky and beautiful her skin appeared?

His gaze lingered on the modest neckline of her crimson gown. The skin of her slender shoulders shone white and luminous in the candlelight. A very modest golden cross around her neck was her only decoration.

For a moment, he pictured her wearing the family jewels that had been discovered in the safe after the terrible, tragic fire that had stolen his parents from him. There were so many pieces that had never been worn since that sad day. Alexander considered whether the diamond parure would look best against her velvet dress or whether the simpler ruby necklace would accentuate her beauty to perfection.

His thoughts wandered to those of her wearing only jewels and spread upon his bed, then he drove such ideas out, sweeping them away like dust upon a floor. He could not allow himself to have such musings about Kitty Danvers.

Penny sent him a few searching glances, but he still made no effort to join in on their conversations. He was content with observation.

Dinner ended, and instead of withdrawing to his treasure room, he joined them in the music room. Penny, a very accomplished player, sat before the pianoforte and delighted them with a lively piece.

“Please join me, Kitty,” his sister called with delight.

Katherine accepted the invitation, moving to stand beside the pianoforte, and happily started to sing. She sounded awful. Alexander was nonplussed at the joy and confidence with which she sang, and from the outrageous twinkle in her eyes, the lady was quite aware she could not carry a tune.

The impudent lady had the temerity to wink at him, clearly amused by his undisguised consternation. An odd warmth arrowed through his heart. And he wished then that they were alone, and she sang only for him. Somehow, he would make his ears bear it, and bask in her smiles and evident delight.

He grunted softly at his whimsical musings. Her voice lifted, and he cringed, yet by God, he burned—everywhere.

And it was all for her.

Alexander was stupidly falling in too deep, and he was helpless against the need filling his heart for this woman. Bemused fascination filled him, for he did not fully understand this desire to keep her with him. This should not be happening, not when he had nothing to give any woman. Her presence in his life was simply to be a distraction from the tearing emptiness. Logically, he knew she could not fill that void forever, but his heart seemed to be recoiling against the notion.

Alexander thought back to the cabin. How fleeting their moments had been, yet they had been the best time of his life in the past ten years. Or even before the tragedy that had taken so much. Never before had a woman made him feel so many tangled needs that were almost impossible to unravel.

He wasn’t certain if the notion should sadden or thrill him.

“Delightful, isn’t she?” a voice murmured to his left.

He made no reply to Eugene’s observation, just silently agreed that she was, and so much more.

“I was wrong to think her a wicked user. I misjudged her. Miss Danvers will make you an excellent duchess,” his cousin said, a touch of envy in his tone. “If you are of a mind to keep her.”

Alexander’s heart tripped, then he allowed the ice to encase it and buried the warm feelings that dug at its deliberately hardened surface. For years he hadn’t allowed himself to hope or dream. Where there was no expectation, there could be no disappointment or despair.

He closed his eyes and took a long, slow breath. “I’ve not known her long, but

a woman like Katherine Danvers deserves much more than to be a duchess. A title alone would not do for a rich, vibrant soul like hers. She deserves to be a wife in more than a name; she deserves children… I daresay she deserves the world.”

His cousin sucked in a hard breath. “Are you falling for her?”

“No.” Never that.