No Other Duke but You by Valerie Bowman

Author:Valerie Bowman [Bowman, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“I’ll have you know I’ve just come from the doctor, and he has declared me completely healthy. Fit as a fiddle, he said.” Thomas sat next to Delilah in his new curricle. They were riding in the park.

Delilah was barely paying attention. Her thoughts were focused on the vial of elixir tucked inside her reticule. She’d had the stuff for nearly a day now, and she refused to let it out of her possession. It was silly, she knew. There was no guarantee that it would work. She may well have wasted her money.

As they’d left the shop yesterday with the elixir, Danielle had laughed and said, “What’s the worst that could happen?” That had set Delilah’s imagination into awful flights of fancy. She was keenly aware of the fact that all sorts of bad things could happen if she didn’t do what she was told and follow the rules. But she would follow the rules. She would. It was true that catastrophes tended to trail her about, but not this time. Not when it was so important. She would keep the elixir, use it once on Branville, make no mistakes, and if they were meant to fall in love, it would work. She’d convinced herself of it. She’d even discovered that a full moon was predicted for the night of her birthday, when they’d all be asleep under the same roof at Lucy’s estate. It was fate. It had to be. That was the last night she had left.

“Are you all right?” Thomas asked from the seat beside her. “You seem preoccupied. You aren’t feeling faint after your head injury, are you? There are many trees on this route. I wouldn’t want you to encounter another of the attack variety.”

“Shut up,” Delilah said primly. “And by the by, I cannot believe you made a jest about my needing to fend off attack trees in front of Branville at rehearsal last night.”

Thomas frowned. “He didn’t even laugh. I told you he wasn’t funny.”

Delilah fingered her reticule. She was trying to decide whether she should tell Thomas about the elixir. She’d promised Danielle to keep it a secret, but she’d absolutely burst if she didn’t tell someone. Besides, she never kept secrets from Thomas. Surely Danielle wouldn’t begrudge her having one confidant. Thomas was the perfect person to tell. He’d think it was madness. He was much more likely to scoff at it than ask to borrow it. Of course, he would relentlessly mock her, but she might need some mocking. Perhaps he would convince her to pour out the contents of the little vial and stop being ridiculous. Perhaps then this constant worry in her throat would go away.

She squeezed her eyes shut. “I … have something.”

She opened one eye in time to see Thomas turn to her, a worried look on his face. “You mean like a fever?”

She expelled a half laugh. “No. No. Nothing like that. It’s in my reticule.”

Thomas glanced warily at the little pink satin bag that sat on the seat between them.

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