Katherine bit her bottom lip trying to keep from smiling. “I was concerned for your welfare.”
“Concerned?” He tilted his head and leaned forward. “Pray tell, were you concerned before or after I was knocked out from a tree branch those many years ago?”
She managed a stoic face. “After.”
“And when I fell off the balcony?”
“Before.”
“Why before?”
“Your aunt was hunting for you that night as well, Benedict, and if memory serves, you had just wagered a thousand pounds that it would rain before morning.”
Benedict’s face turned serious. “How did you know my aunt was chasing me?”
“Oh, you looked quite frantic, which is why I offered you an escape.”
“The escape being my ultimate death?”
“I didn’t say I planned it well,” Katherine argued. At this point, her smile was going to freeze onto her face, permanent that it was.
“Minx, you’ve been trying to ruin me your whole life, admit it.”
Katherine laughed. “Perhaps you’re just upset that I ruined you first, Benedict.” His name came out as a whisper.
Eyes darkening, he leaned forward. “I didn’t know you could ruin a devil.”
“And I didn’t know you could redeem one, yet here we are.”
“Yes.” His hands moved to her shoulders and then her neck. “Here we are.”
His lips were just a breath away from hers, but the carriage jolted them out of their moment, putting a stop to whatever spell had descended upon the carriage.
“I’ll just be reading then,” Katherine said.
“…must catch up on my sleep, you understand,” he answered at the same time and quickly closed his eyes.
****
Catch up on his sleep? More like experience firsthand torture. Confound it! Benedict had again almost kissed the girl!
It wasn’t necessarily the kiss that upset him.
No, it was the way his body responded to her laugh, her every word, as if she wasn’t just conversing with him but making love to him.
Which was sheer madness! Speaking was not making love.
And yet, with Katherine it was.
Every word formed with her delicate lips, every sigh that escaped without her notice, every bat of her lashes.
Mad. He was going absolutely mad.
But kissing her? It would make things exponentially worse, for he wouldn’t stop at one kiss. He would not insult his own intelligence by justifying such an action.
With Katherine, a kiss had never been a kiss, but sheer ecstasy like he had never known. Her smell, her taste, everything about her unique and spiced.
Better than whiskey. Blast, better than sex.
Madness. When a man compared kissing to sex and kissing won out, he needed to embark on a weeklong stint of debauchery.
Yet, all he could think about was her kiss, her lips, and the simple idea that in a few short weeks she would say yes, and he could spend his days and his nights finding out what was so intriguing about the saucy minx sitting in that carriage.
Yet, a part, a small part, warned him that once he began that discovery, he would never want to stop.
Chapter Twelve
A Snowball For A Duke
Katherine was jolted awake by Benedict’s hand.
“Well? Are you going to wake up, or do I need to carry you?”
Ah, just what she needed — a reminder of why he was called the Devil Duke, why he was disagreeable, and why she was upset she wasn’t with his cousin. Katherine had needed that reminder, for her heart had felt lost on the journey, and she wasn’t sure what was happening to her. Something larger than friendship was blossoming between them.
And she wasn’t sure her heart could take the devastation of what a man like Benedict would bring. Surely she could marry him and keep herself indifferent if he was disagreeable. But what if she began to like him, to befriend him, to love him?
He would destroy her.
It would start slow. Most likely Benedict would show her firsthand exactly why women whispered about his sexual encounters. But after a few weeks or even a few months, he would get bored. His eyes would wander in the general direction of the courtesans, and he would be lost forever.
His laugh, gone.
His smile, non-existent.
And she would be heartbroken.
Which was why, when he woke her up with a smile on his face, she nudged him out of the way and stepped out of the carriage on her own.
What she didn’t know was that the ground was far closer than she realized, and she nearly lost her footing.
Thankfully, Benedict was close behind her and caught her arm, but not before it hit him square in the face with a resounding thud.
The footmen gasped.
But Katherine laughed.
Benedict cursed. “And there she is. I was wondering when your clumsy self was to make another appearance.”
She curtsied, because really there was nothing else to do in such circumstances, and wonder of all wonders the Devil Duke laughed heartily, causing the footmen to gasp for an entirely different reason.
Naturally his laugh was followed by an excessive amount of throat clearing and chest thumping. After all, the devil was to never laugh in public. Benedict had always tried to keep his manners indifferent when in the presence of the ton, far be it from them to discover he actually had a heart. The mamas would be relentless in their pursuit if they thought him anything but disagreeable.
Katherine wasn’t sure what possessed her to indulge the man in a bit of playfulness. Maybe it was the way he cloaked his merriment with a devil-may-care attitude, or the line of his shoulders when he brought them back and tried to escort her into the large house.
Perhaps, she thought as she looped her arms within his, childhood never truly leaves you. Maybe your physical body grows into what society deems acceptable, but those dreams, the itches you get to do something adventurous and dangerous never die. If anything, they are more intense in their drive, for the minute you decide to give in to the immaturity that plagued you when you were small, you are able to be free, to laugh, and to fly.
“Benedict,” she whispered out of earshot of the footman. No doubt they would expire on the spot if they heard her addressing him as such.
“Hmm?” He turned his large body toward hers. Eyebrows drawn in as if he was contemplating the meaning of life.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? Whatever for?”
With a quick tug, she had him on his back against the snowy powder of the ground.
“What the devil!” he shouted.
And then Katherine grabbed a touch of snow in her hand and drizzled it on his face as if it were sand.
He was very serious then.
Almost too serious.
Making her think she had finally gone too far.
And then with a roar, he jumped to his feet firmly packing a snowball in his hand as his eyes turned to steel. “Run.”
So she did.
As fast as her legs could carry her, she ran around the outside of the estate laughing the whole way. Snowballs flew past her head. Giggling, she found it nearly impossible to keep running as she heard him yelling threats from behind.
And then his large arms came around her, and he whispered hoarsely in her ear, “Now, it’s my turn to be sorry.”
“For wh—”
Benedict pushed her to the ground and pounced near her in the snow, he pinned her to the cold wet earth and leaned in. Panting, he lifted the snowball in his hand and laughed. “What will you give me for a truce, my lady?”
Giggling, she pushed the escaped hair away from her face and gazed into his eyes. It felt quite like she was falling, only she was nowhere near a cliff or in danger. Yet his heart screamed jump, jump, jump. “Will a kiss be acceptable?”
“No.” He threw the snowball down to the ground.
Her heart thudded in her chest to a near stop.
Benedict’s hands threaded through her hair pulling her head closer to his until their breaths were mingled. “Just one kiss is never acceptable.”
At the first touch of their lips, she felt her world spin. His kiss was playful, as his tongue wrestled with hers and then slid out of her mouth. He tilted his head at a different angle, his cold nose lighting her skin like a fire, and then warmth met her again, as he tugged her head tighter and pressed his lips harder until it was difficult to breathe.
“One kiss is never acceptable,” he repeated out of breath and held out his hand. Unashamed, and still flushed from their little game, she took his arm and walked with him back to the front of the house.
“I fear we’ve caused a bigger scandal than when the ton saw my knees,” she said changing the subject — anything to rid herself of the odd tingling sensation Benedict’s mouth had left on her person.
Benedict pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. “I’m a duke. Believe me, the footmen will be silent, and as for everyone else, it appears we are the first to arrive.”
“But what about Lord Marks? Surely he’ll see the state of our dress?” She looked into his eyes and tried to calm her breathing. Breathtakingly handsome, he merely shrugged. “That part, I already have figured out.”
“What do you mean?” Katherine asked.
“You’ll see.”
Fifteen minutes later, standing in front of the fire in her room, she knew exactly what the devil had meant. For the second Lord Marks had greeted them, Benedict had gone into detail of how Katherine, in all her clumsiness, had tripped him, causing them both to fall into the snow. He added that she often fell and took others with her, so it would be wise to watch his footing throughout the week. And then he winked.
“I should have known,” she said before they parted ways to their rooms.
“But of course, my dear. You know how I love telling falsehoods.”
“Touché.”
“Does this mean I win this round?” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed each knuckle. His eyes danced with merriment as he licked his lips.
“Yes.”
“Then, I believe we’re even. Now change out of those clothes before you catch a chill. After all, I cannot in good sport play a game with someone who’s ill.”
She withdrew her hand and curtsied but not before rolling her eyes at the handsome man. He paused, focusing on her lips and then her eyes.
“Minx.”
“Rogue.”
“I shall see you at dinner.”
“You shall.”
And again they paused, words left unsaid. But weren’t actions louder than words, for their very actions must have led everyone to believe that a minute without one another was like a thousand deaths, and so Katherine was the first to turn on her heel and enter her chambers.
She smiled at the memory of the day then cursed herself for being so infatuated. All was lost, for he already had the better part of her heart.
“Please don’t break it,” she whispered into the fire and closed her eyes as her chest constricted with that all too familiar pain of rejection. Benedict never said he wanted her, and it was clear that Paisley had still thought her a little girl. Fear squeezed the walls of her throat threatening to close it all together. Was he toying with her? Or did he truly enjoy their flirtation? And if he did, was it enough for him to marry her in earnest?