Thawing A Duke's Heart (Faces of Love Series #1)

by Jessie Bennett

  “Having a good time down there, chap?” Dunlop finally said.

  It was almost like Gaffton realized where he was. He stood quickly, brushing the hair from his hessians.

  “Interesting little thing,” he said, trying to play off what we had all just seen.

  Dunlop held out his arm for Elisabeth to take and they turned to begin a walk of the garden. I was still staring at Gaffton open-mouthed.

  “I like dogs, okay,” he finally said, offering his arm for me to take. I could tell that he didn’t want to say anymore on the matter.

  Without a moment’s thought, I naturally slipped my arm into his. He turned to lead me down the path behind Dunlop and Elisabeth. I pulled back with my arm. I had wanted just to pause for a moment to give them a head start and some privacy. I pulled too hard though, and instead yanked Gaffton so that we were facing each other.

  I still had my arm interlocked with his and our chests were nearly touching. He looked down at me with concern in his eyes. For a quick moment, I couldn’t remember why I had stopped him. I had no words in my mouth to answer his questioning brow.

  “I just wanted to give them a head start,” I finally said. His warmth was enveloping me. I had a sudden desire to take that half step closer to him and completely close the gap between us. The wind rustled his long dark hair for a moment and I caught a scent of his soap. It was rich, with a hint of sweet lemongrass.

  I leaned in just slightly as I felt the touch of his other hand on my elbow. For a moment, I thought he might pull me toward him. Even more oddly than that though, was the fact that I wanted him to do so. Finally, he turned away, breaking our gaze, and looked off toward the others.

  “I think that is a sufficient head start, don't you?” he said, looking back at me.

  It took me a moment to find my voice again. “Yes, yes, of course.”

  We turned and began our walk, with Clarisse happily trudging alongside me. I had her on a leash, which she wasn’t used to, and we became tangled on several occasions. I would have assumed that it would have been an irritant to him, but Gaffton didn’t seem to mind.

  “So, you like dogs then, Your Grace?” I asked after a long silence.

  He looked down at me with a half smile. “We had several when I was a lad. Big wire-haired things. Father would take them hunting.”

  I loved to see him speak of his father. He was so relaxed and happy. I suddenly had a desire to see him like this always. A half smile on his face, his eyes softly looking down at mine. It was moments like this that I forgot all the incorrigible things he had said. This seemed to me to be his natural self. It made me wonder what had turned him into the serious and stiff Duke he preferred to portray as himself.

  I wanted to ask him, but in that instant, Clarisse perked up and then bolted. I didn’t even have time to think or see what she was chasing after, because my hand was wrapped around her leash. I was yanked out of Gaffton’s grip and helplessly tore down the path behind Clarisse.

  “Lady Mary, let go!” I heard behind me. I couldn’t think though, as I could barely keep one foot in front of the other. Clarisse may have been short in stature, but she was thick in muscle and strong. I heard Elisabeth gasp as I whizzed past her.

  Then Clarisse took a turn off the path. I realized that she was chasing a brown rabbit. It was headed down a steep hill. It only took me a second to realize that Clarisse was going to follow, and I along with her. I did my best to struggle with the leash around my wrist.

  “Mary!” I heard Gaffton’s deep voice calling again from behind me. I was relieved to hear that he wasn’t too far behind me.

  I finally released the leash from around my hand just as I came to the steep slope of the hill. Clarisse continued to run without a moment’s hesitation. I did my best to stop myself, but still felt the momentum of the run throwing me off balance and over the hill. Just when I was certain that I was going to fall, I felt two hands wrap around my waist and pull me back to safety.

  He pulled me against his strong body and we both fell backward in the other direction. Gaffton took the brunt of the fall, with me landing on top of him. I heard the deep sound of the wind I must have knocked out of him. I could hear the footsteps of Dunlop and Elisabeth approaching from behind us.

  Before I had a moment even to register what had happened, Gaffton spun me around in his lap. He was heaving, out of breath, when he placed both of his hands on either side of my face. We were mere inches from each other. I too was out of breath from the run.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  Before I could answer, he began to inspect me. First, with his hands on my face, then he brought them down to my shoulders, and ran them alongside my arms. I could only assume that he was looking for breaks or injuries, but I was completely paralyzed by his touch. Finally, he grabbed the hand that had been attached to the leash and inspected it.

  I followed his eyes down and inspected my own hand. Up until that moment, it hadn’t hurt. Seeing the red welts left by the rope instantly sent shots of pain up my arm. Gaffton quickly pulled a cotton handkerchief from his jacket pocket and tore a strip off of it. Without saying a word, he began wrapping it around my wrist.

  Elisabeth and Dunlop reached us about the same moment that Clarisse came happily trudging back up the hill. She proceeded to lay down next to me, completely unaware of what had just happened, and apparently exhausted from her run.

  “Mary, are you alright?” Elisabeth managed to say, out of breath herself.

  I looked up at her and then back down at Gaffton, and then back up at her again. It had all happened so fast. I was so flustered that I couldn’t form any words. “Yes, yes. Of course I am,” I finally said.

  Elisabeth gave me her hands and helped me off Gaffton’s lap. I wasn’t quite as steady as I thought I would be and swayed a bit. In a flash, Gaffton was on his feet too, his two large hands around my waist again to steady me.

  Resounding in my head was the sound of his voice calling my name.

  “I think it would be best if I took Lady Mary home,” Gaffton said, straightening up and taking my unhurt hand securely in the crook of his arm.

  I looked up at him to see his cheeks flushed from the run, his hair loose from its strap and fallen around his face. He was looking down at me with a concerned furrow.

  “I promise you that I am quite alright. Just scared me, that’s all.”

  “Nonetheless,” he said matter-of-factly. He used that the Duke has spoken and that is final tone. I honestly didn’t have the energy to argue.

  “We’ll all go home,” Elisabeth said. “We can walk back together. We can see the gardens another day.”

  “No, please don’t leave on account of me.”

  “I agree,” Gaffton chimed in. “Please, you two continue your evening. I will see Lady Mary safely home.”

  Elisabeth hesitated for a moment, and then decided it was for the best, and she and Dunlop continued to the path and onward.

  Gaffton reached down and grabbed Clarisse’s leash. She sat up, preparing to go on with our walk.

  “Are you able to walk?” he asked me.

  “Of course, don't be silly,” I waved him off with my free hand. It hurt to bend my wrist. I tried to loosen my hand from his arm, but he only squeezed it tighter. He grabbed the leash tightly with his other hand.

  “I believe I will hold Clarisse,” he said with a smile.

  “I think that is the closest I have ever heard you come to joking, Your Grace.” His look turned to a frown. It was almost as if he didn’t understand why I would think him such a serious man. He opened his mouth to respond and then thought better of it.

  He instead turned his scowl to Clarisse. She was still sitting patiently, waiting to begin her walk again. “And you,” he said and pointed a stern finger at Clarisse. “Very bad girl. Shame on you. You could have seriously hurt your mistress.”

  Clarisse actually looked remorseful. She walked dutifully beside Gaffton as he led me back to the entrance of t
he park. We walked in silence, his arm tightly joined to my hand, with Clarisse huffing next to us. I couldn’t help but watch Gaffton the whole way. He was the serious Duke again, but there was something different about it this time. It made me question whether I had been seeing him wrong this whole time.

  CHAPTER 7

  Dinner That Will Ruin Me

  * * *

  Thanks to Elisabeth and Dunlop’s courtship, I had pacified my mother for the last three weeks. She was completely mollified that Dunlop had only eyes for my dear friend when she learned that I would be accompanying a Duke instead of a Marquess. It had been irritating at first, but then it kept her from nagging me. I may have stretched the truth a bit here and there to make it seem like the Duke and I were also courting, but it was worth the lie to get her off my back.

  I was sitting with Julia, drinking tea in the drawing room and aimlessly flipping through a novel I had read several times, when Mother burst into the room. Her saffron silk gown was fluttered around her in her haste.

  “You will never guess the exciting news I bring with me,” she sang as she waved a correspondence in her hand.

  I set aside my novel and Julia set aside her embroidery. When Mother was in an excited fit as she was now, it was best just to let her get it out before anything could resume as normal. Once Mother realized that she had our full attention though, she proceeded to sit and take some tea and crumpets before starting. She loved having all attention waiting on her. I did my best not to roll my eyes.

  “Well,” she finally started after finishing her first pastry. “I had been working to have the Dunlops over for a family dinner since the ball. I was hoping to give you an opportunity with Lord Dunlop. See, it would have been easy, since he is staying with the Cadwell’s, to invite them over and extend the invitation to Lord Dunlop. Things didn’t work out as expected, though quite better, if you ask me. More than I could have ever expected of you. So instead I have secured a family dinner with Duke Gaffton.”

  I sat upright in shock. Gaffton had no idea that I had been feeding my mother lies about us to pacify her, or he would be horrified to be invited for a family dinner with us. Not to mention the fact that it would be completely inappropriate for him to come to our house alone without us officially courting or engaged, and having no other reasonable connection to the family.

  “Mother, I don’t know if that is a good idea,” I started. Before I could continue though, she held up her hand to shush me. Apparently, I was going to have to hear the whole of her scheming.

  “Now of course I couldn’t just invite him for an intimate family dinner. Your father’s health wouldn’t allow for a reasonable large party dinner, not to mention all of the best nights for such activities have already been taken by other ladies of the ton.” She waved her hand as if the fact that a dinner party would push us into the poor house was of no concern. “So instead I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity. You see, the Duke is not staying with the Cadwells as Lord Dunlop is. I couldn’t just merely extend the invitation as I had hoped with Dunlop. Instead, I had to wait for the perfect night. A night when I could invite the Cadwells and the Duke.”

  Mother sat back in satisfaction, as if any of this was making sense to either of us. Julia and I exchanged confused looks, wondering if the other had caught something one might have missed.

  Mother huffed in disappointment when we didn’t understand how she could have managed to invited the Duke to a family dinner at our house. “You see, I have been going over there almost daily and visiting with Lady Cadwell. I have been biding my time for the right opportunity. It has finally come! While there, I heard Lord Dunlop speak of an engagement he has tomorrow night. I waited until the Duke was present and mentioned to Lady Cadwell that we would love to have them for dinner that particular night. Of course, not wanting to be rude,” Mother said with a little bit too much self-satisfaction. “I also invited Lord Dunlop and Duke Gaffton. Of course Lord Dunlop had to decline and the Duke had no choice but to accept.”

  Mother wiped her hands like she had just completed manual work. I crumpled down into my chair. A whole dinner with the Duke of Gaffton and my family? It was going to be a disaster. My mother would of course blab and dote on all the things she thought were happening between us. I couldn’t decide what would be worse, the humiliation of Gaffton calling me out on my lies or Mother’s incurring wrath that would no doubt follow. There was no way I would be able to get Gaffton to play along. He was not only an upright gentleman who would never dream of deception, but he was also a self-proclaimed lifelong bachelor. He would never play along with courting me to satisfy my family. As of yet, it was a purely happenstance dinner, and no one would be aware of the beguiling my mother went to in order to make it so, and I had to think of a way to make it stay that way. I debated what was the lesser of two evils, to tell my mother I had stretched the truth of the purpose of all our outings, or to ask Gaffton to fake a courtship for one night.

  Luckily, Mother announced that she must hurry along to begin tomorrow’s preparations, but more realistically, she was going to tell the whole story to anyone and everyone willing to listen. I had a sinking feeling that I was already doomed.

  “Mother?” Julia asked. “What is the paper you waved around in your hand?”

  “Oh, this. Well, the Duke hadn’t given me an answer right at that moment. He said that he would need to check with some scheduling. I just received his written response to attend. He is such a well brought up gentleman, isn’t he?

  He will make a fine son in law,” she said whimsically.

  “Mother!” I chimed in, shocked. “No such intentions have been spoken…”

  “Oh yes, yes. I know,” she said with a loving pat on my lap. “But from what you have said, and his insistence on seeing you almost every day, it is quite clear, my dear.”

  How could I tell her that his insistence was on chaperoning Dunlop and I was only there at the wish of Elisabeth? I opened my mouth to say something, to clear the air of all my wrongdoings, but no words came out. Mother gave me another loving pat and turned to hurry out again.

  What was I to do? Like a premonition, I could already see the disaster of a dinner that tomorrow night would bring. However, I had one more day, I thought determinedly. I could find a way to fix this by then. I was sure of it.

  “For someone about to have an intimate meal with one’s beau, you seem awfully troubled,” Julia said after Mother had fully cleared the room. No matter how hard I tried to hide any feelings, Julia was always able to see into my innermost thoughts.

  “He is not my beau,” I retorted sullenly.

  “Of course he is! All those drives in Hyde Park, walks in the gardens, he even dances with you at balls.”

  It was true that Duke Gaffton had often asked me to dance at various events over the last few weeks. I also hadn’t been blind to the fact that he never asked other ladies to dance. The reality of the reason had been much simpler and nothing to do with romance or courtship. Any time that the four of us had been together and Dunlop and Elisabeth had gone off to dance, the Duke had asked me. It was merely him being a gentleman and not wanting to desert me.

  “Julia, I haven’t been completely truthful with all of you. Most of those things I have just said because I wanted Mother to stop pressuring me.”

  “You mean you haven’t been going out with the Duke?”

  “Well, no, I mean yes,” I huffed a long sigh. This was going to be harder than I expected. I had always told Julia everything. I had just been so busy these last few weeks, giving Elisabeth every opportunity to find moments with Dunlop, that I now saw that I had neglected our closeness. “Let me just start from the beginning.”

  Twenty minutes later, I had finished laying out the whole of my tale. How the Duke was, yes, a very reasonable and kindly gentleman, but he also could be infuriating and maddening. More importantly though, that he in truth had no romantic interest in me. He didn’t believe in love or romance at all.

&nbs
p; Julia sat silently and patiently as I told my whole story. “That doesn't explain why he danced with you, or insisted on taking you home after your mishap at the park. I think he likes you more than you or maybe even he knows.”

  “I think you are just trying to see something where there is nothing to be seen. Even worse, you know Mother. She will be going on and on about him being my beau in front of the Cadwells and the Duke himself. I am terrified. How he will respond to that? What if he thinks I was trying to deceive him? It was never my intention. He is probably the last man on the entire earth I would be willing to marry, let alone attempt an elaborate plan to ensnare him in marriage. But he may think that is what I have done.”

  “Well, if you don't care for him, as you say you don’t, then why do you even care what he thinks?”

  I pondered this for a moment. Should I really care? Why did it twist fierce knots in my stomach? I couldn’t bear the thought that Gaffton may think me one of those frivolous girls that spend all their time tricking men for their title and riches.

  “I don’t care,” I tried to say with as much conviction as possible. One look into Julia’s blue eyes told me she wasn’t buying it. “I mean I do, but not because of what you think. Yes, he has become a friend of sorts. I don't want him to think I tricked him or trapped him. Plus, it will all just be embarrassing,” I added when I could tell that Julia didn’t believe a word I said.

  I lay in bed that night, staring at my ceiling, wondering over it. Why did I care? Was my attachment to Gaffton more than I had originally thought? Yes, the man drove me batty when he was serious and unfeeling. Nevertheless, he wasn’t like that all the time. There were times when he laughed, when he smiled and showed me a warmer loving side. I thought of him calling out my name that day in the park as I was helplessly pulled by Clarisse. It sent knots of a different kind tangling into my stomach. What was this feeling I had for him?

  It certainly couldn't be love. That was impossible. I barely liked him most of the time, how could I have possible formed such a deep emotion for him? Not to mention the fact that he had plainly declared that he would not marry. He had no belief in love. How could I desire someone who took for naught something that I had held on to and treasured for so long?