Page 64 of Raising the Duke’s Unexpected Twins

“I will not make any such statements. It would injure my reputation.”

He chuckled, but then his gaze grew serious. “Where were you for so long?” he asked, his blue eyes not leaving hers.

He looked almost predatory, his voice low, and his gaze strong.

He nodded and looked to Mrs. Wright, who, with the ease of experience, curtsied and left them on their own.

Cordelia swallowed. It was really unfair of the man to look so lovely when her head was all mixed up about him. “I stayed for dinner at my family’s. They so wanted me to see the new changes in the house, and the children were happy to play. I didn’t know you were watching by the way.”

“I was sitting with Mrs. Browning for a little, to make sure she was ready, and I had expected you earlier.”

“Sorry – I just thought we’d stay to dinner. I thought you would…be gone for a long while.” She was annoyed at herself for feeling the need to apologize, and she walked past him towards the stairs. “My mother thanks you for the watch. She wished me to tell you.”

He nodded slowly.

That’s the best I can get from him for now, I suppose.

Some part of her wished to run over to hug him after what he’d done for her family and how happy they’d looked that afternoon, so at ease, and enjoying the new improvements to the house. But she remained where she was. She wanted to protect herself as well, and she did not truly know where Nicholas stood.

“I suppose I should go to bed now,” she told him as she passed, lifting her skirts to take the stairs.

“Oh?” he asked, and that one question caused goosebumps to lift on her skin, but she did not look back, hearing his heavy footsteps from behind her.

“Are you going to bed as well?”

“Perhaps.”

His one-word answers were beginning to grate on her, but she continued up the steps. “You were hasty in bringing Mrs. Browning as soon as you did.”

“She was ready to work, and we were ready to have a nanny. There was no other choice.”

She stiffened. “You could have told me that was your plan.”

“No. You rushed off.”

“I rushed off!” She spun around at the top of the stairs and nearly toppled into him. He reached out to grasp her arms and keep her steady. “You were the one who rushed off as soon as you could, as soon as you did your job of reminding me that you are no romantic hero. As if I had –” she blushed, embarrassed at what he’d thought, and she stomped away to her bedroom, pulling out of his grasp.

She was surprised when he followed her in, and her heart beat faster as she turned to see him shut the door behind him and stand back against it, his arms crossed.

“I did not ‘rush’ off,” he corrected. “I had business to attend to.”

“Again with this business. Always this business! It is the place you escape to when things get too difficult here for you, too much. When I, when the children...” she swallowed, stuttering a little over her words. “When we are too much.”

He stepped forward, walking slowly towards her, his gaze still strong on hers, his every movement lithe and powerful. He reminded her so of a lion, and yet she was not afraid. She was only mesmerized. Lifting her chin, she tried not to betray the foolish feelings of her body.

“I never said that, Cordelia, and you know it.”

She turned to the wardrobe and pulled it open, searching for her nightgowns, wishing to speed up the process of getting to bed.

“Ah, so you are searching for the nightgowns I purchased for you? Where are they by the way? I have not yet had the pleasure of seeing them worn.”

At last, her attempt at calm broke, and Cordelia spun around to stare at him. “I am in no mood to play along, Nicholas.” He paused, and she continued, taking a step toward him. “Is this who you really are? Are you an irredeemable rake who takes nothing seriously and only cares about his gambling business and bedding women? Or is there another side to you that you refuse to show anyone? That you hide so deeply inside you it is impossible to get at?”

“I told you, Cordelia, do not pin honorable on me. I am who I am.” He held his arms out wide. “And as for my business, I was honest with you from the beginning. That business has been my greatest achievement, and I will forever care for it and wish it to grow and prosper. I know it is not the way of dukes, and yet I feel it is the right way for a man, to have a true purpose.” He stepped closer, and her angry words were at the ready, but he continued before she could say anything. “You are ever ready to make judgments, thinking that you are right, only to end up disappointed when you are wrong.”

“And what have I been wrong about? That you are a good man or that you are a rake?”

He bristled, but he did not answer that question, as she expected.