Loved by a Duke (The Heart of a Duke #4)(32)

She lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. “I’m shopping.” It was true. Granted, it was no mere frippery she sought.

“The Daisy I remember loved riding astride and spitting and cursing. She detested shopping.”

She bit the inside of her cheek. Is that how he still saw her? As the small, bothersome child who’d dogged his and Lionel’s every step. And yet, he was right. A woman grown now, she still detested going shopping. With her plump frame, she’d tired of the modiste’s tsking about her generous proportions.

“What is so important that you’d come out without an escort, Daisy?” His low baritone rumbled from his chest.

Had his tone been disapproving and condescending, she’d have turned on her heel and ignored his question. But it wasn’t. Instead, it was gentle and insistent all at the same time. “I’m looking for a necklace.” After years of being relegated to the role of the forgotten, surviving child, there was something warm in knowing someone cared and was concerned.

He stuffed the bloodstained yellow fabric inside his cloak. “A particular style of necklace?”

She’d learned long ago to be suspicious of too many questions from Auric. Daisy eyed him cautiously. “Perhaps,” she said noncommittally. She braced for his stern ducal displeasure.

His lips twitched in a manner reminiscent of the teasing young man she remembered. “That is vague.” He folded his arms at his chest. And waited. And because she’d witnessed firsthand the strength of his obstinacy over the years perhaps better than anyone else, she also knew he’d stand there until the night sky slipped across the horizon many hours from now.

“Very well.” Daisy rocked back on her heels. “It is a heart pendant.” She put her fingers together. “About this big, and gold with slight etchings upon it.”

Auric glanced up and down the street at the endless rows of wagons and carts littered with peddlers’ wares. “And you expect to find this heart?”

“I do,” she said softly. She had to find this heart. For, according to Lady Anne and the lady’s sisters, to find it would mean Auric’s heart. The foolishness of such thoughts did not escape her, and yet…she still needed to believe, in something: a pendant, Auric, the dream of them. To not have this small hope she would find herself empty, with nothing. She braced for his cool grin and mocking words. He said nothing for a long while and she shuffled back and forth on her feet. She really wished he’d say something—even if it was a coolly mocking response about the futility of her search. Anything to this silence. She cast a glance about and located her maid. Agnes moved quickly among a row of carts, dutiful in her search. Daisy looked once more to Auric.

He held out his elbow.

Daisy tightened her jaw. She folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not leaving, Auric. I’ll not allow you to hand me into the carriage like I’m a recalcitrant child. I’m a grown woman and—”

“Daisy?”

“Yes?”

“Take my arm.” His smooth, refined tones gave no indication as to his thoughts.

She eyed him warily. For surely he was as perturbed with her this day as he so often was. “Why?” She’d not be tossed unceremoniously into her carriage as he’d done yesterday.

The ghost of a smile played on his lips. “You’ll need help looking for this necklace.”

Her heart paused. “What?” She hated the breathless quality to her voice.

Auric motioned to the wagons along the edge of the cobbled road. “I’d not forgive myself if I left you to your own devices hunting for a floral pendant amongst the endless number of carts.”

He wanted to join her. “It’s a heart,” she whispered. Surely it was an obligatory protectiveness on his part toward her and yet, he did not rush her back to her carriage as he’d done at their previous meeting. Instead, he remained.

He waved his elbow.

With a smile, Daisy placed her fingertips upon his coat sleeve. They continued down the street.

“A heart, you say?”

She nodded.

“What is so special about this particular necklace?”

Everything was special about the Heart of a Duke pendant. Her fingers tightened reflexively about his sleeve. She kept her gaze trained forward, lifting her hem as they stepped around a particularly deep puddle. “Well, it is…” She searched for words. “Beautiful.” As she’d never before seen the necklace she couldn’t say that with any real certainty. However, she knew what it foretold and for the fable surrounding the famed necklace, that in itself made it beautiful.

He stopped beside a cart. Daisy disentangled her arm from his and walked the perimeter of the wagon scanning the assortment of items. “Alas, I don’t see your heart pendant.”

She picked up a small quizzing glass and peered into the delicate lens. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten your quizzing glass, Your Grace?” Auric’s visage blurred before her single eye, his crooked grin moving in and out of focus.

“Can oi ’elp ye foind anythin’ fer yer lady, yer lordship?”

The quizzing glass slipped from her fingers with a soft thunk. “Oh, no. I…”

Auric sifted through the man’s goods. He held up a pair of hair combs, with a red, filigree heart etched at their center. “We shall take these.” He retrieved a sovereign and tossed it to the wide-eyed vendor. He grinned, which displayed an uneven row of stained and cracked teeth. The duke handed over the combs. She eyed them studiously, wetting her lips. The impropriety of even being discovered here with him, alone, would be ruinous, to be seen accepting a gift would be disastrous. “Take them, Daisy,” he urged.