Loved by a Duke (The Heart of a Duke #4)(20)

Except, at the very least, he owed Lionel this much. The details of that night remained cloaked in a black shroud. He could not sort through the memories but for a disjointed collection of experiences that belonged to another. He and Lionel, who’d never argued, had quarreled—but about what? Ultimately, Auric had encouraged the other man to join him at the club, Auric had paid the coin for the woman who’d taken Lionel to another room, and it had been Lionel, who’d ultimately paid—with his life.

He pressed his eyes closed as a sickening wave of dizziness struck.

The orchestra plucked the haunting strands of a waltz, the discordant tune eerily suited to the dark memories. He forced his eyes open and there, across the dance floor where even now dancers assembled, his gaze collided with Daisy beside that same Scamozzi column. Only now, she was not alone. She was with Wessex. The other man had also been more of a brother to her than anything else through the years, treating her as a bothersome, younger sister.

At seeing the wide, unfettered smile that was patently Daisy turned up at the other man, an odd pressure tightened in Auric’s chest. He scoffed. Why should it matter if she was with Wessex? The viscount’s presence relieved him of responsibility. Except, there was nothing at all brotherly in Wessex’s attention now, and annoyance rolled through Auric at the truth of it.

With a determined step, Auric strode across the ballroom, bypassing marriage-minded misses and their hopeful mamas. He stopped before Daisy and Wessex. “Wessex,” he drawled in the indolent tone he’d perfected as a young boy who’d known he’d ascend to the role of duke. He ignored the narrowing of his friend’s gaze and shifted his attention to the young lady on his arm. “Hello, Daisy.”

She frowned. “Hullo, Your Grace.”

Frowned. When she’d been all smiles and boisterous laughs for Wessex, which only mattered because this was Lionel’s sister. He extended his elbow. “I believe this is my set.”

Daisy hesitated a moment and then placed her fingertips along his coat sleeve.

Wessex spread his arms and bowed. “I bid thee good evening, lady of the flowers.” That endearment set Auric’s teeth on edge. With a wink, the viscount took himself off.

Without another glance for the other man, Auric guided Daisy onto the dance floor. Friendship or not, it wouldn’t do for Wessex to go winking at the young lady in public.

“Oh, Auric, it is merely Marcus,” she said as though gently scolding a small child.

“I didn’t say anything.”

The lady’s smile was back in place. “You didn’t have to.” She gave him a wink. A single wink.

You are to wink once if you’re having a splendid time… His heart kicked up a rhythm. On the heel of the damned lightness in his chest was a surge of annoyance with himself.

“Will you slow down?” Daisy muttered at his side.

Immediately repentant, he adjusted his stride and guided them to the edge of the ballroom floor. They took their place alongside the other couples. “Wessex, is it?” he asked, placing her hand upon his shoulder and his own along her waist. The orchestra struck the chords of the bold, still frowned upon, dance.

Another red blush stained her freckled cheeks. “Wessex is what?”

A muscle ticked at the corner of his mouth. Was the blush because he’d ascertained her interest in Lord Wessex? “Never tell me the romantic hopes you carry for a love match reside with Wessex?”

A laugh escaped her full, bow-shaped lips. “I don’t imagine that is your business, Auric.”

He lifted a single eyebrow. “Everything you do is my business, Daisy.” He’d made that pledge over Lionel’s lifeless body.

A snorting laugh burst from her. “Why, I believe in all your ducal arrogance you actually believe that.” Then, this was Daisy and she’d never been impressed by his title as marquess and the promise of him becoming a future duke. She patted him on the arm. “I’ll assure you, as I assured Lord Wessex, I don’t require additional mothering.” He told himself the rush of relief had more to do with the fact that Wessex had like honorable intentions to see her cared for, and yet, why did that feel like a lie?

“What if I were to tell you it is because I care, Daisy?”



What if I were to tell you it is because I care…

Daisy’s heart sped up with that question, an admission more than anything else. If she were to answer truthfully, her response would be “I’ve been waiting for you to notice me, forever…”

Except, his words were not born of a man who carried a love for a woman. He didn’t love her. Not in the way she desperately wanted him to. She knew he cared. He’d likely lay down his life to protect her because of the connection shared between their families. But she wanted more of him than that.

He applied a gentle pressure to her waist and warmth radiated out at the point of his touch. Thrills of awareness coursed through her. His firm caress invoked a familiarity that defied the mere bonds of their familial ties and spoke to her awareness of him as a man.

Daisy wet her lips and dragged forth a suitable response. “I would say thank you,” she said simply. For even as he didn’t care for her in the way she wished, it mattered that he still remembered her existence when her own mother had forgotten.

Auric searched her face. “I do care, Daisy. I’ve been deplorably remiss these past four weeks.” Three weeks and six days.