Tempting the Duke by Yasmine Nash

Author:Yasmine Nash [Nash, Yasmine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2020-06-30T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Jon restlessly turned the pages of a book he should have been reading. He’d been trying to read since he’d returned from dinner at the club embarrassingly early, but he’d barely taken in one word in five. He glanced at his pocket watch. Nearly midnight. He might as well try to get some sleep, although he wasn’t optimistic.

He’d had trouble sleeping the past few nights. Guilt over abandoning Louisa without even a word. He tried to tell himself he was perfectly within his rights to do as he’d done, but the guilt tugged at him all the same.

That, and more than a little regret. Jon had been having trouble getting his ward’s pretty face out of his mind these last several days, especially the last image of her in his garden at night.

Louisa’s face tilted up, ready to be kissed. He’d acted for the best, Jon reminded himself yet again.

It was clear he would be getting no more reading done tonight. Placing the book on his bedside table, Jon began undressing for bed. He’d only removed his shirt and cravat when the pounding sounded on the front door downstairs. Curious, Jon bounded down the staircase, meeting his bleary-eyed manservant in the hall. The man had clearly been roused from mid-sleep.

“I’ll get the door,” Jon assured him.

It wasn’t as if he’d been close to sleep anyway. Jon half wondered whether it was his sister Mildred, come to complain about her troubles with her husband again. They wouldn’t need a witness to that.

“You go back to bed,” he told the servant, who was only too happy to oblige.

Jon swung the door open, a frown on his face as he prepared himself for whatever Mildred would have to say. But Mildred wasn’t standing there.

Instead, it took his mind several moments to understand what his eyes were seeing. Had he become so swept up in desire that he was now hallucinating seeing Louisa on his doorstep?

“Can I come in?” the hallucination asked, all breezy confidence as usual. “I’ve had the longest journey.”

So it really was Louisa? She strode inside, closing the door behind her as Jon seemed incapable of doing it himself.

“Your London home is lovely,” she said, spinning around the entrance hall to take it in properly. “I suppose Mildred helped you decorate it?” Jon was still trying to process her presence here and made no response. “Are you going to say anything?” she asked, a little hesitation in her manner now.

“What are you—? How did you get here?” Jon spluttered, unsure where to start. It was as though his thoughts about her had willed her into existence on his doorstep.

“I wasn’t going to let you get away from me that easily,” Louisa said in a low voice, stepping closer to him.

Jon could feel the heat emanating from her body and feel the warmth of her breath on his skin. That voice made him want to do very inappropriate things to her. How did she look so fresh and pretty after having

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