Loving The Lost Duke (Dangerous Deceptions #1)(61)

Only this was not a lesser man. Jared kept hold of his foil, twisted, met Cal’s eyes and Cal, reading the message, let his own grip weaken. His foil was flicked away and the blunt end of Jared’s blade touched his throat.

As a ripple of applause went round the room Cal threw up his hands, palm out, in the signal for surrender and headed for a chair, collapsing in it with a show of exhaustion that needed no playacting. ‘You’re too good, Hunt.’

‘You are not bad yourself, Your Grace.’ Jared had hardly broken a sweat. ‘But then I did teach you.’ Amidst laughter he turned to the other men. ‘Who is next?’

‘I’ll try.’ Jonathan Ransome picked up a foil and sauntered into the centre of the room as a movement by the door drew Cal’s gaze.

Sophie? She was white to the lips, but she slipped in, behind the row of men who were all watching the new contest begin, and knelt by the side of his chair unobserved.

‘What are you doing?’ she demanded in a furious whisper. ‘You should be lying down, not exerting yourself, let alone fighting.’

‘Making a point,’ he whispered back, enjoying the sensation of moving his lips so close to her ear, feeling her curls tickle his nose, inhaling the light, spicy perfume she wore. ‘And the exercise has done me good, sweated the rest of the poison out.’

‘I was looking for you, and then I heard the clash of the foils – I was anxious.’

‘Thought Jared would spit me, did you?’ He kept his hand on her shoulder as she knelt by his chair. She shouldn’t be here, not in this room full of men, and he was not going to draw attention to her by standing up and giving her his chair. In a moment he was going to have to get her out of the room, but he enjoyed the feel of her warm skin under his hand.

‘I don’t know,’ she muttered resentfully, even as she arched her neck to give him better access. ‘You men seem to duel at the slightest provocation. Who is he fighting now? Oh.’

‘Don’t you like Ransome?’

Sophie shrugged. ‘He is too full of himself.’

‘Very handsome, or so I am told.’

She made a complicated sound, a cross between a snort and a huff. ‘I really don’t notice him.’

And that is a lie. His hand went still on her shoulder. Sophie did not lie to him, he would have sworn. But that was untrue. Her body was stiff now and last night she had deliberately ignored Ransome although he had reacted to her. All the suspicions of the night before flooded back. ‘Sophie…’ No, this was neither the time nor the place.

Jared was focused on Ransome who was a showy fencer, but good, Cal admitted grudgingly. There was a intensity about him, backed up by solid skills, that would make him very dangerous indeed. Just as he thought it there was a flurry of movement, Jared lunged and Ransome’s feet went from under him, landing him on the floor with a thud.

‘That was luck on my side.’ Jared extended his hand. ‘You turned your heel on that uneven slab.’

Not a good loser, Cal thought, seeing the fury in the man’s eyes, the artificiality of his smile as he waved away Jared’s hand and got himself to his feet. Sophie had joined in the applause with a will. He was going to get to the bottom of this. But not yet.

‘You had better slip out again,’ he murmured in her ear. ‘I’m leaving too, to see Isobel, you go first.’

She got to her feet and tiptoed out and Cal got to his feet, collecting the attention of the guests who had been in the middle of a technical discussion of Jared’s last move. ‘I need to go and check up on a few things. If you’ll excuse me gentlemen. Ring if you want refreshment.’

He pulled on his coat and caught up with Sophie around the first corner. She turned at the sound of his feet on the flagstones, then flung her arms around his neck and kissed him, full on the mouth. Cal let the impetus carry him back to the wall, propped his shoulders against the panelling and enjoyed the sensation of being fiercely kissed by a furious woman.

‘I could hit you,’ she stormed at him when he came up for air. ‘You should be in bed resting and what do you do? You start a fight. And you were magnificent and I thought it was exciting and I am furious with myself and with you.’

‘Magnificent? Jared disarmed me.’

‘He is a professional, and besides, you let him get the better of you right at the end. I have never seen men fence before and you – ’ She broke off, biting her lip. ‘I found your… muscles quite distracting.’

How ridiculously flattering. Cal got his grin under control, bent his head and kissed Sophie very thoroughly to make certain she was as excited and distracted as could be before he let her go. ‘I really must go and see Isobel now.’

‘I will come.’

‘Jared made an exhibition out of Ransome just now,’ he observed, giving her an opening if she chose to use it.

‘Yes,’ she agreed indifferently.

‘I can’t say I take to the man. I would have thought Sir Toby would have better judgement. Ransome’s shallow.’

‘Toby hasn’t seen him for years, I expect he forgot what he’s like.’

‘Did you know him before?’

‘Yes, I met him when he was last in Town.’ Her voice was completely colourless.

Confide in me, for Heaven’s sake, woman! She had told him nothing about her lover that he could take violent exception to on her behalf. If he was right and Ransome was the man then he had to ignore it unless she asked him to send him away or the man offered her some insult or unwanted intimacy. But he could wish she would talk to him. The nagging thought that now she had caught her duke she would then stop being honest with him was disturbing. Sophie’s openness with him was something he found he valued deeply.