by Abby Ayles
* * *
“Not particularly no,” she said with a short answer; her eyes still every direction but at him.
* * *
“Then, pray tell, what brings you to a lecture on one so early in the morning?”
* * *
“Mr. Lucas asked me to attend. He is a kind friend, and so I agreed to it,” she said finally looking Raven in the eye with a thin-lipped smile.
* * *
He could easily see she was still filled with embarrassment over their last meeting. He was sure she would never look at him without shame again. How he suddenly wished to wash that moment away.
* * *
He gave her a wicked smile as a thought came to him.
* * *
“Perhaps,” he said holding out his arm for the lady to take. “You won’t mind if I escort you in as we are going to the same place. I am quite sure you are able to make the journey on your own, but I would hate just to stand by and watch this time around,” he said with a broad smile.
* * *
She looked up at him in utter shock at his words. For a second, he thought he might have fractured her constitution. One he had thought much stronger than to be injured by teasing. Luckily, he was right as Lady Alexandra lifted her chin just slightly and folded her arms in front of her.
* * *
“I am afraid that I couldn’t accept such an offer from a man I barely know,” Lady Alexandra said narrowing her honey eyes on him.
* * *
“I understand,” Raven said solemnly.
* * *
Lady Alexandra nodded once, proud with her determination, and turned to take the first step alone.
* * *
“I will just have to stand here, I suppose and watch as you make your way up,” he said in a low but deliberate breath.
* * *
Lady Alexandra turned with a visible gasp. She was now put in the corner that he had anticipated. She would either have to take his arm and let him escort her in, or openly agree to allowing him to examine her as she walked.
* * *
She took the short step back to him and thrust her arm through his own.
* * *
“I suppose if you insist, Your Grace, I have no choice but to accept your kind offer,” she spit out with little feeling beyond anger.
* * *
Raven gave a hearty chuckle at the situation. He couldn’t have imagined how much he enjoyed ruffling this lady’s feathers.
* * *
“I am sure you will find me to be an amiable company,” he said as they made their way up the steps.
* * *
“I am not sure I agree to that statement,” she said keeping her eyes straight ahead, determined not to look at the man whose arm she was on. “You seem very contradictory to me if I was to be completely honest with you.”
* * *
“I do find honesty a very vital trait,” Raven encouraged. “Please do tell me, what exactly do you find contradictory?”
* * *
“For a start, your obvious aberrance for my father’s museum, yet here you are two days in a row paying homage to it.”
* * *
“Well if you remember correctly, I never got past the steps yesterday,” Raven said, brandishing his white teeth again in a wicked grin.
* * *
“Also, for a man of such distinguished a title and serious a mannerism you do seem to enjoy terrorizing me so,” Lady Alexandra said utterly calm.
* * *
If it were not for the rose raising to her cheeks again, he would have believed her indifferent to his teasing.
* * *
“I promise you, Lady Alexandra, this is a contradiction that I can safely put to rest this moment. I may look the part of a fine duke, but I do promise you on the inside I am quite the wild adventurer,” he said leaning down and speaking just above a whisper.
* * *
Lady Alexandra turned surprised at his words, and he chuckled deep in his throat again having received the reaction he desired.
* * *
“Perhaps I should reconsider my escort if he, himself, claims to be a dangerous man.”
* * *
“Oh, not dangerous at all, I can promise you that, Lady Alexandra. Simply a man with an eye always to the horizon. I will play my part well here in London, but I can promise you that it is not who I am but who I must be.”
* * *
“Then pray tell, Your Grace, share with me your true nature.”
* * *
“I wouldn’t consider such a thing with a lady I have just yet made the acquaintance of,” he said again pretending offense at such a notion.
* * *
She turned and narrowed her eyes up at him again.
* * *
“Perhaps,” he added as they entered the building and made their way to the row of chairs at the back of the main open room, “if you would allow me to escort you home in my carriage, I would be more willing to share my true nature with you.”
* * *
“I couldn’t allow such a thing, Your Grace,” Lady Alexandra responded in shock. “It would be entirely inappropriate.”
* * *
“How so? Your maid will be right with us,” Raven said impressing that he had no ill will wished on her.
* * *
Raven wondered if he had perhaps gone too far in his teasing and the lady actually feared him to be a blackguard.
* * *
He watched as Lady Alexandra waited for a proper reason why a respectable gentleman should not give his assistance in travel to a lady in need.
* * *
“In true honesty?” Lady Alexandra finally said as they paused before the chairs. She looked up at him with her large honey eyes and swallowed back her nervousness.
* * *
“I readily encourage any honest words you might have to give me,” Raven said looking down at her and praying that she didn’t genuinely fear him as a rake.
* * *
“I don’t want you to know of my residence,” she said just above a whisper before turning away and releasing her arm from his.
* * *
It utterly stunned him to the core that he scarcely hear Mr. Lucas coming forward to greet his two distinguished guests. It cut Raven deep down to the core, and he would have rather liked to turn Lady Alexandra back to him and shake her.
* * *
He couldn’t image how shamed she must have felt to have spoken such words to him. He was even more engaged that she would actually consider her address something he would look down upon. Perhaps it was little that the woman had disguised from him in their few encounters thus far.
* * *
As much as he wanted to be offended that Lady Alexandra would think such prideful notions of him, he couldn’t fault her for it. He was after all a duke and rarely would his paths have crossed with someone such as she if it were not for that serendipitous night when he had mistaken her for another. It wasn’t that he considered himself too good to socialize with an impoverished earl’s daughter, just that their circles simply didn’t mix regularly.
* * *
In fact, he wasn’t altogether sure how his aunt would feel if she knew of his whereabouts at this very moment. There was little a duke could do to tarnish his standing with the ton. Even mixing with impoverished earls would do little to harm him. After all, did he not have a slight connection to the lady by his dear friend Lord Eagleton?
* * *
He agreed at that moment to use the connection to his advantage to show the lady there was no wrong in their association. Though they may not have naturally been in the same circles, there was no impropriety in including her in his. He was sure that though she didn’t seem to want such interactions at the moment, it was only the shock of such an unorthodox suggestion.
* * *
Most than all of this, Raven was hoping to prove to himself that this strange hold Lady Alexandra had taken on his mind was not but a
fleeting emotion. He certainly couldn’t have already gathered such affection for a lady he barely knew. It was merely the interesting circumstances of their meeting that had peaked his interest. Time alone in association with the lady would help the feelings wane and prove his hypothesis that love was nothing more than fleeting passionate feelings.
Chapter Fourteen
Lady Alexandra took her seat at the front of the very familiar large room. Often, they used the large entrance as the lecture hall. Her father had some notions that it would be so crowded with guests that a small room just wouldn’t do.
* * *
This had never been the case, but the routine of lectures in the large room carried on. In the least, the extra-high ceilings did wonders for the acoustics and carrying the presenter’s voice.
* * *
Mr. Lucas was not a timid sort of man, so he rarely had issues with those in the back row of seats hearing him. The presenter would stand on a small platform raising them slightly off of the ground with a podium in front to hold their notes.
* * *
The wooden chairs were lined in rows with a center aisle. Though there was room enough to sit at least fifty, not more than a few handfuls were seated. Most of these were fellow colleagues in the museum.
* * *
Mr. Lucas ushered Lady Alexandra to the front row with the duke not far behind. Lady Alexandra made a point to seat herself in the chair closest to the center aisle of the front row. In this way, she hoped the duke would not sit near her. After all, it might look a little scandalous for him to sit right next to a lady that he scarcely knew and had no family connections to.
* * *
As she hoped, the duke took the seat across the aisle from her, though right on the edge as she had done so that only the walkway put space between them.
* * *
Lady Alexandra did her best to keep her focus on the front of the small stage, and not the man across from her. There was little for her to see up there at present, however. Just the podium where Mr. Lucas shuffled through his notes once more and a small table next to him with the lump of a beast underneath a small sheet.
* * *
“I see that the conservatory is still in good working order,” the duke said, motioning with his fine cane the glass dome that served as the lecture’s backdrop.
* * *
“I’m sorry, your grace?” Lady Alexandra asked, having not heard him.
* * *
“I said I am rather fond of the conservatory,” he amended, this time leaning in across the walkway so the lady could hear him correctly over the other conversations echoing around the room.
* * *
“You are?” Lady Alexandra asked in surprise. She would not have expected the duke to notice the room, let alone comment on his favoring of it.
* * *
“Does this surprise you?” Raven asked with a twinkle in his dark eyes.
* * *
“It does, if I am being honest. Don’t get me wrong I love it dearly myself. In fact, it has been a sort of project of mine these last few years. I just never would have suspected that with all the other attractions, a garden house would be your favorite.”
* * *
Lady Alexandra’s eyes went automatically to the African safari room to her right.
* * *
“I suppose I could not say in all truthfulness that it is my favorite,” Raven said upon further reflection. “I am sure a great many new wonders have entered this edifice since I last saw it. And of course, you know,” he said with a bright smile, “I have yet to take a tour of it since my return. But I can honestly say,” he added quickly before Lady Alexandra could reproach him for his teasing yet again, “as a boy, it was my favorite place.”
* * *
“I suppose,” he continued on seeing that his response yet surprised the notions that Lady Alexandra had about him, “it is because inside the conservatory you were completely surrounded. It made it all so real. The other exhibits are nice in their way, but just that, an exhibit. One stands there and looks in on a world that they have yet to experience. Within the conservatory, you are immersed entirely into a beautiful oasis of beautiful flowers and delicate creatures.”
* * *
“Well then you must surely take a look at it after my lecture,” Mr. Lucas inserted himself in the conversation. “Lady Alexandra has worked tirelessly to transform it into a tropical paradise.”
* * *
The duke’s gaze didn’t leave Lady Alexandra as Mr. Lucas spoke.
* * *
“You are too kind in your praise, Mr. Lucas. I can assure you of that,” Lady Alexandra said, stealing away from the duke’s penetrating stare.
* * *
She could feel the heat physically rising up her spencer jacket collar and flushing her face.
* * *
“Do not be bashful. I know how proud you are of your endeavors,” Mr. Lucas continued. “In fact, your grace, there are often times that Lady Alexandra will go missing for hours only to find her seated within its glass walls and enjoying the sounds of the tropical creatures.”
* * *
“Creatures, you say?” Raven said turning his gaze upon the lecturer at this point.
* * *
He couldn’t help but see the admiration in Mr. Lucas as he looked down at Lady Alexandra. It took all his self-composure not to stand and smack it off the offending gentleman’s face.
* * *
“Yes,” Lucas continued with a chuckle. “She rather insisted on importing various creatures to decorate her little tropical oasis. There are several birds of paradise that enjoy making their presence known all hours of the day. It can be quite vexing when one is trying to work.”
* * *
“How interesting,” the duke agreed, letting his eyes float back to Lady Alexandra.
* * *
He could easily tell she didn’t like to be spoken of in such manner.
* * *
“I am very fond of tropical birds. Perhaps when the lecture is over, you will give me a personal tour of the conservatory, Lady Alexandra? I am sure that there are few who would know it as well as yourself, owing to Mr. Lucas’ words.”
* * *
Lady Alexandra hesitated in responding for just a half a second. It was just enough for her to glean the duke’s true intentions. Was he merely attempting to tease her again? In his dark eyes, she saw only legitimate interest and so agreed to the task.
* * *
Mr. Lucas, a little ruffled himself like a bird of paradise that he was not given the honor of presenting the Duke of Raven a personal tour of the museum, mumbled some agreement that such an arrangement would be an excellent choice before turning back to his podium.
* * *
It was only a few minutes more before the giant clock at the front of the museum (chimed the hour, struck the hour) and Lucas cleared his throat to begin his dissertation on the habits and habitat of the American porcupine.
* * *
Mr. Lucas continued on without stopping for at least an hour and a half. Lady Alexandra did her part to sit reposed in her chair and to seem at least to be listening intently to his words. Twice Mr. Lucas referenced to her and her father for providing the specimen, and she smiled at him kindly as his eyes found their way to land on her.
* * *
There was, however, another set of eyes that she was keenly aware were on her almost through the entire lecture. It was the Duke of Raven. He was not abashed at all as he continually looked over to her and studied her. It was a movement that Lady Alexandra caught out of her peripherals and with each gaze he laid on her, she was sure she could feel the stoking of a fire within her.
* * *
Lady Alexandra couldn’t deny that the Duke was a handsome, charming man, despite how much she wanted to. He apparently was also a man who had never been short on privilege or attention. There was, after all, his true intention at the ball of making acquaintance with Lady Charlotte,
and then seeing them together not more than a day ago.