Loving The Lost Duke (Dangerous Deceptions #1)(41)

‘Connecting doors, inside as well as those outside. Although actually it is more of a series. That is the door to your dressing room, but that, on the other side, is to your sitting room, which leads to my sitting room and then my bedchamber. Of course, it is such a walk that I am thinking of installing refreshment tables at intervals otherwise I may be too weak to do more than fall at your feet when I get here.’

‘So my virtue can be safeguarded by two doors to lock and the fact that you will be in a fainting condition even if you should breach them?’ Sophie enquired, wondering why she wasn’t as pink as a peony. Was Cal actually asking her permission to come through those doors tonight?

‘Exactly. And the fact that I believe I can rely upon you to tell me exactly what you do, and do not, want, Sophie. We have not dealt so far in false emotions and coy euphemisms but in facts and in trust.’ There was the faintest emphasis on the last word. Or was it her guilty conscience making her over-sensitive? ‘And one of those facts is that there is a certain attraction between us.’

Yes, her cheeks were definitely pink now, she could feel them warming, just as she could feel other parts of her body heating and softening. She managed to nod, not breaking contact with Cal’s heavy-lidded gaze.

‘So, given that we are going to be married very soon, what is there to prevent us acting on that attraction now? Unless that makes you uncomfortable, or it spoils how you want your wedding day to be.’

‘No. Under the circumstances I am not harbouring romantic dreams of my wedding nights.’

‘You mean after the man to whom you were unofficially engaged?’ Cal’s mouth twitched slightly at what she supposed he would describe as a coy euphemism for her lover, but his face was serious, even when she shook her head. ‘There is something, isn’t there? Am I being insensitive?’ He seemed to be asking himself the question more than her. ‘We have been practical and sensible and frank and now I am setting out to strip all the magic out of it. And there should be some magic, shouldn’t there, Sophie? Some sprinkle of star dust, some gesture to Venus and not simply a ceremony and a social event. A commercial transaction.’

Cal pushed away from the post and wandered towards the window. It looked casual, the action of a man strolling about his possessions, looking at the view, but Sophie sensed that from another man that jerk upright might have been an ornament thrown into the hearth or a fist thudding against the wall.

‘Was that what it was, your first marriage? A commercial transaction?’

‘If only it had been.’ His snort of amusement might even have been genuine, but she couldn’t see his face. ‘I thought I was getting into a monetary exchange, that I was setting up a mistress, that Madeleine was one of the sisterhood who did not expect marriage, more a solid financial recompense for their favours. I was young, and more than that, sheltered from spending so much time at home… ill. I had some experience, of course, I thought I knew my way around and perhaps I did, but not enough to recognise a respectably-raised young lady from a merchant family who was a good enough actress to counterfeit a high-class courtesan.’

‘And then her father appeared on the scene with a shotgun, I suppose.’

‘Indeed he did, just as I was about to finally claim the very expensive reward I had paid for over several weeks of negotiations. I wasn’t so green as to yield instantly. I had the family investigated and yes, they were solid Boston merchants, wealthy, well-respected. Madeleine wasn’t carrying another man’s child, she had not so much as a smudge on her character.’

‘They had discovered who you were, that you were a duke.’

‘No. They had not. No-one knew and I never told them. Madeleine had no idea that she was a duchess until she was dying. I told her then to reassure her about Isobel’s prospects. If they had known, then I think I would have walked away from it and to hell with honourable behaviour.’

‘Why didn’t you? The fact that they had no idea who you were does not make their behaviour right.’

‘Because apparently she had fallen in love with me.’ He shrugged, still looking out of the window. ‘We were introduced at some reception or another, not that I can recall it. I had made acquaintances in good Boston society soon enough. I was obviously an English gentleman of some means, so very acceptable, even though everyone thought I was Mr Thorne of nowhere in particular. I was invited to all kinds of events. Apparently I snubbed her. I’m not aware of it, it certainly wasn’t deliberate, but they were merchants and I was fresh from the London ton.’

‘And we do not mingle with cits,’ Sophie said ruefully.

‘Exactly. So she decided to make me take notice. I think she assumed that once we had made love, once I had properly got to know her, I would want to marry her. But her father wasn’t so hopeful, so he precipitated matters.’

‘She must have felt dreadful.’

‘I have no idea. I wasn’t feeling too wonderful myself. I was cold and I was angry and I made it quite clear that I was a gentleman – hence my agreeing to marry her – but they were inferior, as demonstrated by their behaviour.’

Cal paced back from the window and resumed his position propped against the bedpost. ‘Jared tried to talk me out of it, said we should just walk away, catch the next boat to Buenos Aires, but I was on my high horse by then. I would show these colonials how an English gentleman behaved and so on and so forth and so idiotic.’