Read Online What a Duke Wants by Lavinia Kent - Free Book Online Page A

Thinking about Foxworthy always affected her badly. And that was without the added worry of trying to understand who her pursuers were—and what they might want.
    She fluttered her lashes quickly, trying to dry them before tears could form. She did not want Mr. Smythe to see her cry . . . He was her one spot of comfort in the midst of the mess her life had become.
    W ould she still be here? Had she come at all? After his failure to arrive the night before, he would not be surprised if she stayed in her room. He paused at the back door of the inn, his hand flat upon the rough wood.
    He was nervous.
    The thought caught him off guard. He was never nervous. He’d faced cannon fire without feeling this tightness in his gut. He swung the door open and stepped out onto the stairs, the boards creaking beneath his boots.
    She was there.
    Her eyes opened wide as if he’d given her a fright. Was she as nervous as he was?
    Her hand shook slightly as she brushed at her skirt and stood.
    “I wasn’t sure you’d be here,” he said.
    “I am.” She sounded breathless.
    “Yes, but . . .” He let it hang, not wanting to mention his failure to show the night before.
    Her gaze moved from his booted feet up his thighs and belly to reach his face. More than his gut tightened. She hadn’t looked at him like that before.
    He wanted to reach out and touch her, to draw her close.
    Her words stopped him. “You didn’t tell me you were related to the duke. Why would you not?”
    “R elated to the duke?” His features were in shadow, the inn’s lamp lighting him from behind, but she could hear the confusion in his voice—and something else, that magic something that made her troubles seem so far away. “You think I am related to the duke?”
    “I don’t know why you try to pretend. I met a man last night, Douglas—he came to tell me you were dining with the Duke of Hargrove—and he told me of your relationship.”
    He looked perplexed for a moment as she drew close enough to see him more clearly in the dark. He opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again. “Douglas.”
    She nodded.
    “He didn’t tell me that he’d spoken to you.”
    “Should he not have?”
    “And he said that I was related to the duke?”
    “Not quite. He said something about a close relationship and troubles. I thought about it and decided being related was the most probable answer. And, as I said the other night, you look a little like the bit I saw of him.”
    “The tops of our hats are the same?”
    “No, I think it’s your height and general coloring. You don’t stand like he does though—all stiff and straight, like a poker. I wonder if it was bred into him?”
    “Like a poker?” He sounded quite affronted.
    “I am speaking without thinking again, aren’t I?” The sudden feelings of safety Mr. Smythe brought with him had loosened her tongue along with her nerves. “I should have realized he’s your employer and perhaps even family. What is he, some type of cousin?”
    He pressed his lips tight for a moment. “We’re rather closer than that.”
    Mr. Smythe was illegitimate. Oh, raspberries. She hadn’t even thought of that. Hadn’t even considered the possibility. She should have, but she hadn’t. Her thoughts had been on her own troubles. “I am sorry.”
    Now he just looked confused. “You’re sorry?”
    “You keep repeating what I say as question.” She was glad they seemed to be moving beyond his relationship to the duke. There were some things there was just no good way to talk about. “You look much nicer than he does.” Oh, she shouldn’t have said that. “Someday I am just going to sew my lips shut.”
    “Now that would be a shame.” Mr. Smythe stepped down a couple of steps until they were face-to-face.
    It was the perfect moment for a kiss.
    The wonder of anticipation filled her. She hadn’t realized she was longing for his kiss, but suddenly it was all she could think about. She leaned a little further.
    The