Don’t Judge a Duke by His Cover by Murdoch Emily E K

Author:Murdoch, Emily E K [Murdoch, Emily E K]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2023-01-04T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Lawrence groaned as he raised his hand to his mouth. “Oh God, this bruise is going to ache forever!”

It was her laughter that revived him.

Lawrence watched, transfixed, as Julia laughed so hard she snorted. Whipping a hand to her mouth in horror as she realized the unladylike noise she had made, it only seemed to make her laugh worse.

“Oh, you’ll survive,” she said amiably, nudging him with her shoulder and making sparks of longing tingle down his arm. “It’s only a bruise, after all.”

Lawrence decided not to show her the terrible bruise that was already, just a few hours after the bout with Tom, starting to purple his side.

Partly because he did not want her sympathy. Well, fine, he wanted her sympathy, but not in that manner. He was no uncouth farmhand trying to impress a milkmaid. He was a duke.

No, Lawrence corrected himself ruefully. He was undercover. His cover was that of a simple man.

Partly because it would be rather unexpected for a man, let alone a gentleman in disguise, to start revealing his actual skin to a lady.

And partly because the locale where they were situated was not entirely set up for such intimacies.

Julia grinned happily as she took another bite of the pie Lawrence had insisted on treating her to after the fight. Her feet dangled over the side of the embankment just skimming the rather murky depths of the Thames.

“A fine idea, this,” she said happily.

Lawrence could not help but smile in return. It was. Hot, steaming pork pies, the pastry absolutely coated with grease, eaten side by side as they sat on the bank of the Thames as they watched the world go by.

It was a simple pleasure he had never been afforded when in town under his true name. Eating a pie from a street seller? His father would have turned in his grave.

Yet the enticing smells had always intrigued Lawrence, and now, finally, he was able to taste their delights.

They weren’t the only delights he wanted to taste…

“Your brother didn’t wish to join us?” he asked lightly.

At least, as lightly as he could manage. Lawrence wasn’t sure whether his curiosity had been audible in his question, but he had to know.

Julia rolled her eyes as she swallowed another mouthful. “Donald, eat something that wasn’t prepared at his club, a Society dinner, or Cook at home? Never fear.”

She took another bite happily as Lawrence marveled.

Well, it was difficult not to. He had never encountered a woman of her breeding who would have done this. She was happily sat with a gentleman—a man, moreover, who was not a relative, in plain sight of the whole world.

Of the docks, no less.

Something painful stirred in his chest that had nothing to do with the successful bout he had just won at the Almonry. The Almonry Den he should still, technically, be in. How else would he find Mortimer?

Memories of a rather awkward conversation, just after he had leveled Tom to the floor, echoed in Lawrence’s mind.

“And you truly trust her?” Alan had said darkly.

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