He knew she was trying to lighten the mood, but his frown pulled deeper. “I’ve never been the typical Roseford offspring, though, have I? I was brooding, I’ll admit it since I know you well enough to recognize you won’t let this go until I’ve given you my heart and soul.”
Selina’s brow wrinkled. “I hope I can be trusted with your words, if not the rest.”
He met her stare. It had come out the previous summer that his sister was a master thief. He’d been horrified as well as impressed, but had watched her rebuild herself ever since, with the help of Derrick.
“You can be, I know that,” he said evenly, and she smiled in thanks. “It’s not about that… I just…in the day that I’ve been here, I’ve already felt outside looking in.”
Selina pursed her lips. “Because of the duke connection? All those dukes our brother calls friends? You want to be one of them, don’t you? Marquess of Songstrum, and I’ll have to my lord you all over town.”
He shook his head. “You’ve never my lorded anyone and I doubt you’ll start with me. Yes, I…I want this. I want the title, Selina. I know you don’t understand, neither does Morgan. But I want the respect that goes along with the title. I want…I want the knowledge that certain things can’t be taken from me.”
“Taken from you?” Selina repeated. “What do you mean? What was taken from you, Nicholas, that you think you can get back with a title?”
He flinched as his mind flashed to dark blonde hair, warm brown eyes, soft lips brushing his, a honeyed tone saying his name like it was the only thing that mattered.
“Nothing specific,” he lied, pushing back to his feet and slowly making his way to the window. “I don’t know, I’m just being maudlin, ignore me.”
“I won’t ignore you, but since the subject seems a painful one I will change it. Do you think some of your feeling out of place is because all these people around you are part of couples? And not just any couples, but in love?”
He faced her, his lips tight. She was watching him closely, one fine eyebrow arched as if she already knew the answer. “Are you matchmaking, sister?”
Her smile was instant, wide and catching. “Can you imagine me as a matchmaker? I’d be rubbish! No, I’m just making the observation that you might be feeling excluded because you haven’t found someone to match with.” She stepped closer. “Is there anyone in your life who makes your heart beat faster? Have you ever wanted someone and only that someone?”
Before he could find an answer to that troubling question, there was a racket from the hallway. Servants rushing and voices calling out. Nicholas wrinkled his brow. “What’s that about?”
Selina shrugged. “I think Katherine invited a friend to join our party. She was saying something about it during our walk yesterday. Lady…Lady something or another. What was it?”
Nicholas laughed. “No one is less interested in the upper-class than you are.”
“Probably because not so long ago, I was very interested in them for what my husband says are the wrong reasons.” She shook her head.
“Well, why don’t we go see who this person is?” Nicholas said. “I won’t even mention it if you are taking a quiet inventory of the lady’s jewels.”
“Old habits,” Selina said, and took his arm. They made their way up the hall slowly and were met near the foyer by Selina’s husband.
Derrick was tall and held himself like the military man he’d once been. He nodded to Nicholas, his gaze flitting to his leg before he said, “I heard the commotion. This must be our final guest.”
Selina slipped from Nicholas’s side and took her husband’s arm instead. As she stared up at him, Nicholas couldn’t help but flinch. He’d tried to ignore his sister’s observation that some of his troubles might be because he was alone in a house full of people in love. Now he watched his sister and her husband walk in front of him, her fingers all but vibrating on Derrick’s bicep, and the twinge of jealousy ripped through him.
But there was no way to explain that to his family. No way to change it. His life was what it was, and a grand romance like the ones his siblings had lived out, continued to live out, was not in the future for him.
They walked out into the warm summer breeze together, joining Robert and Katherine and their brother Morgan and his wife Lizzie on the top stair. Down below, the carriage door had already been opened, so the crest that might have revealed the identity of their guest was obscured. But it wasn’t a moment before the footman reached inside and an elegantly slippered foot appeared from the darkness. The woman stepped out, her head bent as she paid attention to her footing. Her bonnet obscured her face and Selina laughed back at Nicholas. “I swear, it’s like a game…who is the mystery woman?”
At that moment, before Nicholas could laugh or Katherine could say the name they’d been waiting to hear, the woman tilted her head back to look up the stairs, and everything in Nicholas’s world came to a halt.
“Aurora,” he breathed out loud, because he couldn’t help it.
Derrick pivoted to face him. “What? The Aurora?”
Nicholas couldn’t answer. He couldn’t acknowledge or respond to his family’s questions as they asked him who Aurora was. As Katherine stared at him in shock and dawning horror.
No, all he could do was look down that long set of stairs at the woman who had molded and changed and guided his life since he was hardly more than a boy. The woman who had haunted him every day and every night for almost a decade.
She stared up at him, all the color gone from those cheeks, her full lips parted in just as much as shock as he felt, her hands shaking at her sides. And by God, she was more beautiful than she’d ever been. Tendrils of blonde hair curled from the edge of her bonnet, framing her oval face, drawing attention to those high cheekbones. Her gown was spring green, fresh as the new leaves, and it flowed over her supple curves, hinting at gorgeous breasts and the swell of her hips.
Nicholas she mouthed, silent, and that broke him.
He slowly made his way down the stairs, the pain that usually accompanied that action dulled by the pain of seeing her. The thrill of seeing her.
“What are you doing here?” he asked as he stopped a few feet in front of her. He couldn’t go closer. If he went closer, his itching palms might force him to reach for her. If he touched her, all was lost. All had always been lost.
She blinked at him. “Nicholas,” she repeated, this time on a shaky voice.
“What is going on?” Roseford called from above, concern plain in his voice.
They were all coming down now to join them. Nicholas felt it rather than saw it, because he couldn’t tear his gaze away from this woman. This woman he had almost convinced himself couldn’t be real. How could such perfection be real?
She ducked her head, breaking their stare at last, and somehow that broke the spell, too. He was still captivated, yes, but now other emotions made their way to the surface. He hadn’t seen this woman since that horrible evening when he realized she’d never planned to marry him, no matter what promises they made in secret. She’d lied to him and sent him on a spiral that had nearly killed him.
Looking at her, the emotion that rose in his chest, long ignored and pretended away, was anger. He was angry that she was still so irresistible. Angry that she was here at his brother’s house when she had to know their connection. Angry that she could look away from him, turn away just as she always had, when he couldn’t stop staring.
“What’s going on is a very good question,” he said, still looking at her even though he was answering Robert. “And only Lady Lovell can answer it.”
“Nicholas?” Katherine whispered, touching his arm and drawing him back to the part of the world that wasn’t Aurora. Such a small world now. Such a dull one. “Please, what is going on?”
“Lady Lovell and I knew each other as children, Katherine. Or didn’t she share that fact with you?” He noted how Aurora flinched, high color re-entering her cheeks. “Or did we know each other, my lady? Did
we ever actually know each other?”
Also by Jess Michaels
* * *
The Duke’s Bastards
The Love of a Libertine
The Heart of a Hellion
The Matter of a Marquess (Coming Fall 2020)
The Shelley Sisters
A Reluctant Bride
A Reckless Runaway
A Counterfeit Courtesan
The Scandal Sheet
The Return of Lady Jane
Stealing the Duke
Lady No Says Yes
My Fair Viscount
Guarding the Countess
The House of Pleasure
The 1797 Club
The Daring Duke
Her Favorite Duke
The Broken Duke
The Silent Duke
The Duke of Nothing
The Undercover Duke
The Duke of Hearts
The Duke Who Lied
The Duke of Desire
The Last Duke
Seasons
An Affair in Winter
A Spring Deception
One Summer of Surrender
Adored in Autumn
The Wicked Woodleys
Forbidden
Deceived
Tempted
Ruined
Seduced
Fascinated
The Notorious Flynns
The Other Duke
The Scoundrel’s Lover
The Widow Wager
No Gentleman for Georgina
A Marquis for Mary
To see a complete listing of Jess Michaels’ titles, please visit:
http://www.authorjessmichaels.com/books
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling author Jess Michaels likes geeky stuff, Vanilla Coke Zero, anything coconut, cheese, fluffy cats, smooth cats, any cats, many dogs and people who care about the welfare of their fellow humans. She is lucky enough to be married to her favorite person in the world and lives in the heart of Dallas, TX where she's trying to eat all the amazing food in the city.
When she’s not obsessively checking her steps on Fitbit or trying out new flavors of Greek yogurt, she writes historical romances with smoking hot alpha males and sassy ladies who do anything but wait to get what they want. She has written for numerous publishers and is now fully indie and loving every moment of it (well, almost every moment).
Jess loves to hear from fans! So please feel free to contact her in any of the following ways (or carrier pigeon):
www.AuthorJessMichaels.com
Email: [email protected]
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http://www.AuthorJessMichaels.com/
The Heart of a Hellion: The Duke’s Bastards Book 2 Page 25