Read Online What the Duke Wants by Kristin Vayden - Free Book Online

Dripping wet no less, he had practically accosted her. Only, she hadn’t run away. She’d kissed him back.
    She had kissed him back.
    Startled by the obvious realization, he felt a self-satisfied grin overtake his features. It was short lived as he remembered just how he ended the lovely exchange of a kiss.
    Yes, shame overcame him again.
    Would the carousel of emotions ever end? It was bloody exhausting, all this caring and wondering. Yet at the same time, it was blissful and exhilarating. Women chased him , where now he would be the one to pursue, if he did, indeed, choose to pursue.
    But he couldn’t.
    She was, after all, a governess. Probably from a merchant family, blue stocking to the core.
    But that kiss made him almost willing to take the chance.
    Almost.
    ****
    “Miss Lottie?” Berty asked as they sat down to dinner in the smaller dining room decorated in deep sapphire blues.
    “Yes, Berty?” Carlotta smiled at the girl, though her heart still ached. What had she been thinking? Kissing a duke? Therein lay the problem, she hadn’t been thinking. She was consoled with the idea that apparently, he hadn’t been thinking either.
    Unless.
    Carlotta’s skin erupted in goose bumps, not the pleasant kind either. Surely the duke didn’t think she was a light skirt! One that would dally with her employer? Humiliation at her naïveté washed through her, soaking her soul like the rain had soaked her dress earlier. Was that all it was? Was she simply… available? Yet, if the rumors were true, then he need not search out feminine companionship. It sought him out…
    “Miss Lottie?” Bethanny asked.
    “Yes?”
    “Are you well?” All three girls were watching her with various degrees of concern etching their beautiful faces.
    “Forgive me, I was woolgathering.” Carlotta flushed at being so absorbed in her own misery that she frightened the girls. “What were you saying, Berty?”
    “I was asking… that is, you’re still our governess, aren’t you? The duke, he wasn’t too mad at you for the picnic?” Berty asked, her question uncharacteristically observant.
    “I’m still your governess. The duke spoke with me—” She swallowed, remembering far more than his words. “But have no fear, I’m not dismissed.”
    “Good.” Beatrix nodded. “It wasn’t your fault anyway.”
    “In a way, it is my dears. I’m to train you but also keep a sharp eye on you. I failed that charge.”
    “But we all but ran away, maybe we should explain—” Bethanny began.
    “No, it’s all over and done with. Let us all start fresh, shall we?” Carlotta put on her bravest smile as she reached for her napkin and placed it in her lap.
    Yes, a fresh start for us all.
    Throughout the course of dinner Carlotta found her gaze straying to the door. When a footman would enter to take away their soup bowl or lay out another dish, her heart would thump wildly. She was at war with herself, half of her wishing for the duke to appear and gaze at her with those delicious blue eyes, and half of her hoping that he didn’t show up at all.
    As dinner ended and the duke didn’t appear, she decided that regardless, she got her wish. Though relieved, a part of her —traitorous that it was— wanted to see him, to gauge if anything had changed. As much as she tried to silence her heart, part of it hoped that maybe, maybe his quick dismissal after their kiss was his way of covering his own emotions, his own response. The kiss was quite spontaneous. It was highly doubtful he had premeditated it; therefore, it was natural to wonder if maybe he was as unsettled as she.
    But she wasn’t to know, because he wasn’t to make an appearance.
    “Come girls, let’s retire to the library to read for a spell before bed.” Carlotta rose and waited for the girls to follow suit. With a slight inclination of her head, she motioned to the door. The three girls filed out and walked quietly down the hall. Bethanny opened the large door for the rest of