Laura & the Duke by Grace Fletcher

Author:Grace Fletcher
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2019-08-20T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Their First Kiss

It was slightly cold outside of the walls of the castle, but Kent took comfort in the fact that he was spending time alone with Laura. She padded beside him as they strolled down the balcony of the left-wing of the manor. Sometimes she glanced at him, but as soon as their eyes met, her gaze was back to her feet.

Once they were in the middle of the balcony, he stopped walking and turned to stare at the vast meadow in front of the manor. She stepped beside him and placed her hands on the guardrails.

“Tell me, Miss Williams,” he grinned without looking at her, “are you always this coy with all your employers or it is just me?”

He had expected the long silence as well as the nervous look on her face. He kept quiet, patiently waiting for her response.

“I don’t think I am coy with you, Your Grace,” she finally said. “I only find it sometimes incredulous that you would want to….”

When she stopped speaking in mid-sentence, he smiled at her and asked, “That I would want to interact or socialize with my own employee?”

She nodded, and he nodded too, understanding her. “You underrate yourself then, Miss Williams,” he teased. “I would expect a woman well-read, and confident enough to explain to a bunch of privileged upper-class women how enjoyable reading could be, to rate herself a bit higher.”

Laura groaned at him, looking into his eyes for the first time. “I actually think I performed poorly, speaking to your guests that way, Your Grace,” she muttered.

“Oh, but you didn’t,” Kent argued. “The conversation would have taken a more ridiculing turn if you hadn’t been so proud of your background. And it has brought you here, haven’t you?”

Laura bit her lips, obviously surprised by his encouraging words. She finally smiled and stared at the meadow with him.

“I am glad you asked for us to take a walk, Your Grace,” she said. “I needed to be out of the hall before someone else asked to dance with me.”

“Well, you suddenly became the center attraction of the party,” Kent laughed. He also added after a second thought: “I am sure the dowager duchess isn’t happy about that.”

“No, she isn’t,” Laura sighed.

Earlier, Kent had noticed that the expression on his mother’s face shifted between pleasure and displeasure as he interacted with the guests and laughed more around his governess. Perhaps a few months ago, he would have cared about her reservations about the difference between their social class and that of Laura’s, but she had also been the one that had convinced him to move on with his life and find happiness again.

“I think leaving the party has her back in control,” he said.

Laura nodded and kept her eyes fixed to the view in front of her. Something else had begun to bother her, and he stared at her, hoping she was going to talk about it.

“Your Grace?”

His heart skipped a beat as she turned to look at him. “Speak, Miss Williams,” he encouraged.

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