Never Kiss a Duke by Megan Frampton

Author:Megan Frampton
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2020-01-27T16:00:00+00:00

She hadn’t intended to wait up for his return. It just happened.

Octavia had gone to bed about an hour ago, rolling her eyes in disbelief when Ivy said she still had some things to go over. Carter had followed a few minutes later, stifling her yawns with her apron.

Ivy did have things to do, she always did, but she couldn’t concentrate, not with knowing he was out there and not here. The only beings who were inside were her, her sister, and his dogs.

The dogs would likely be able to help in a dangerous situation, but she would much prefer to have him here. For obvious reasons.

She smoothed her expression as she heard footsteps coming down the hall, and then his head appeared in the doorway to her office.

“You’re back!” she said, as though startled out of her work. She’d carefully put a stack of papers on her desk and had even managed to glance at some for a few seconds.

“What are you still doing up?”

His hair was disheveled, as if he’d been running his fingers through it, and he’d undone his neckcloth, revealing his bare throat.

She gestured to the stack of papers. “I was too excited about this evening to sleep, so I thought I’d work through some of this.”

He walked into the room, his expression unlike one she’d seen on his face before.

“Are you all right? Is your sister all right?”

He sat down in the chair, the one she’d begun to think of as his, swinging one leg over the other. “I am, and she is fine.”

“That’s a relief. But if you will forgive the intrusion, you don’t seem fine.”

He dropped his head to gaze at the floor. “I don’t know what I am.” A pause, and then his head shot up and he met her gaze. “And that’s the problem. I don’t know what I am.”

“Is this about being a duke or not?”

He nodded. “Yes. I’ve tried to just put it behind me, as though it was something that was in the past, and I wouldn’t have to deal with it, but it doesn’t work that way. There are always entanglements.”

“What kind of entanglements?” It hurt to see him so unlike his usual self.

“My sister, my cousin, my staff. My dogs,” he added after a moment. “I promised my sister I’d visit.”

“I was wondering why you hadn’t. But it wasn’t my place to ask.” And she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer anyway. What if one of his visits persuaded him just to return permanently?

He snorted, giving her an amused look. “So it’s perfectly fine that we’ve kissed, that I’ve put you on that very desk and had my hands on you, but you can’t ask me if I’m going to see my sister?” He shook his head in mock dismay. “Miss Ivy, you are as hypocritical as some gentlemen of my acquaintance.”

Her cheeks turned red, both from embarrassment at the truth of his words and at the words he was saying, evoking the images and feelings she’d had when they’d been doing those things.

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