Moonlight and the Duke (Cherish and the Duke #2)

Chapter Twelve

A fter leaving Eden’s bedchamber, Connor strode out of his house by the kitchen door in order to avoid encountering anyone and having to answer questions. He was hot under the collar, and it had nothing to do with the heat of the day. The air was still warm, but a light breeze off the water offered modest relief. It rustled through the silvery leaves as he walked along the woodland path between Lynton Grange and Chestnut Hill. But he was headed in no particular direction, just needed to shake off his frustration.

“She’ll give me her answer after our first kiss?” he muttered while striding along and feeling completely disgruntled.

Who said that to a duke? Why would she not leap at the chance to be his wife, kiss or no kiss? After all, he was the prize everyone wanted.

Come to think of it, she had not said she loved him… Well, not in so many words. But he knew she loved him.

He had seen it in her eyes. And in her smile. Not to mention the way her exquisite body had molded to his as though they had been cast from the same lot and designed to be a pair.

The afternoon shadows were lengthening to mark the few hours of daylight left. He was not far from the infamous goose pond and could hear their honks and light splashes as they fluttered their wings in the water.

Why had he waited so long to reveal his feelings to Eden?

And now, she was making him suffer while awaiting her answer. Not on purpose, because Eden did not have a wicked or vindictive bone in her body. No, she was making him wait because she wanted her moment of magic first.

A Silver Duke’s moonlight kiss.

Was there a doubt she would accept him afterward?

First of all, he was a wealthy duke. That alone was all any other young woman needed to know to be swayed. His name was irrelevant. His looks, also irrelevant. But not for Eden. She had no need to marry someone merely because they were a bulging coin purse.

Eden needed to marry for love.

In truth, he knew she was in love with him. But she was insisting on that kiss to be certain he loved her. Knowing Eden as well as he did, she was going to reject his proposal if she thought he did not truly love her .

Well, if the problem arose, he would just have to convince her that he did care. Weren’t there many facets to a good marriage? Friendship, for certain.

This led him to the second reason why she should marry him. They were good friends. The best of friends. Was this not the solid foundation for any successful marriage? Trust and friendship. He had learned the importance of both the hard way when realizing Mary had no desire to share anything of his heart or ever allow him to share any of hers. Their marriage, while producing his beloved children, had not been built on any foundation at all.

Quite the opposite would be true with Eden. She had shared so much of her heart with him over the years, and in his own way, he had done the same with her. How often had he confided about his children and his worries that he was failing them as a father? Their conversations at times were quite intimate, exposing his deepest concerns and trusting her not to violate his confidences. He did the same for her.

The only unanswered question between him and Eden concerned the bedchamber, and this was one area in which he had no doubt at all. Eden obviously had passion and would respond to his touch.

Nor was there any doubt about his ability to have her respond, or about the fact that she liked his touch. He would always get the truth with Eden, and the way she had held on to him while crying her heart out revealed all.

Despite her reluctance to accept his offer of marriage before that first kiss, her body had already accepted him.

“Lynton!”

Connor recognized who was calling out to him and turned to await the man as he caught up. “Aubrey,” he responded with cold reserve.

“What did Eden tell you? Why was she so upset?”

“Because of you, you bloody arse.” Well, perhaps he was not quite as cool as he intended to be. He curled his hands into fists, struggling to keep his temper in check, because he meant to give Eden her first kiss and did not wish it to be done while nursing stitches to his lip after he and Aubrey bloodied each other in a brawl.

“For the life of me, Lynton, I don’t know what I did to anger her.” Aubrey raked a hand through his hair, apparently frustrated and doing a good job of pretending to be distraught. “Did she give you a reason?”

Connor nodded. “She knows your courtship was a ruse, so do not bother to pretend you care for her, because she knows the truth and will never believe you no matter how many times you deny it.”

“A ruse? I will deny it!” Then he groaned. “Did my foolish sister say something to her?”

“Eden overheard her talking to your mother. The two of them were standing by the glassblower’s tent and did not realize Eden was there.”

Aubrey groaned again. “I knew something was not right when she returned to us with that glass swan. And Eden believed what my peahen of a sister said?”

“Why wouldn’t she? Do not bother to deny you pursued Eden just to give your sister a chance with me. It was a wasted effort, I can assure you. Spoiled, manipulative debutantes are not, and have never been, my cup of tea.”

“I am quite aware of my sister’s failings. But she is still my sister, and I will admit that I steered Eden away from you that very first day to give Persephone her chance. But it took me only a few minutes to realize she had no prayer of gaining your notice or affection. So, if giving my sister those few minutes makes me guilty of conspiring in her scheme, then yes, I am guilty.”

“And you think this absolves you of hurting Eden?”

“My pursuing a courtship with Eden has nothing to do with my sister’s wishes. It has everything to do with the fact that I like her. I sincerely like her, Lynton. I’ll tell you straight out that my feelings for her run far deeper than merely a temporary acquaintance. If she will have me, I intend to marry her.”

Connor shook his head and laughed, for if he did not look upon the remark with humor, he would punch this man. “She will not have you. Nor will I give you the chance to spout more lies in her ear. Aubrey, I want you and your family out of here first thing tomorrow morning. Do not approach Eden tonight either, or I will toss you out the moment I find you within arm’s length of her.”

“Is she saying this, or is it you?”

“It is me saying it,” Eden said, coming upon them as the two men stared each other down. They had been so busy glowering at each other that neither heard her approach.

Connor’s heart lurched, for her eyes were still red from crying and she looked quite pale in the afternoon light. Still beautiful, but as fragile as the glass swan she had purchased for his daughter. “Eden…why are you out here?”

She came to his side. “I was watching from my window when I saw you leave the house, and realized there was something important I should have told you. Then I noticed Lord Aubrey follow you out and thought I had better see what was going on.”

“Nothing is going on,” Aubrey insisted. “I have no intention of raising my fists to an old man.”

“Old man,” Connor growled, knowing he was being baited and falling for it nonetheless. “I’ll show you—”

Eden placed a hand on his arm. “Honestly, Connor. You both need to behave yourselves.” She turned her back to Aubrey, completely ignoring the man while she concentrated her attention on Connor. “I will not accept you if you are damaged goods. Got it?”

He grinned as he caressed her cheek. “Yes, love. Got it.”

Aubrey gasped. “Love? Eden, is this true? Has he lied to you and told you that he loved you?”

She curled her hands into fists as she turned to face him. “Lied to me? You dare accuse him of lying to me when you are the knave who has done nothing but falsely flatter and deceive me from the moment we met? You pretended to court me. You pretended to like me. They were all lies meant to give Persephone a chance to snare her duke.”

He held his arms out in supplication. “Eden, let me explain—”

“No! Why bother to lie to me at all? It wasn’t necessary. You already had me occupied bird watching this entire day. That’s all you had to do. Keep me away from the duke so Persephone could sink her claws into him. Or did your cruelty extend so far as to plot with your sister to ruin me? Was this your wicked scheme? To seduce me and then abandon me as damaged goods, knowing the duke would never marry me once he found out?”

“Never! Eden, damn it. I would have to be the lowliest of bounders to consider something so vile.”

“Are you not?”

“For pity’s sake. I am in love with you!”

She placed her hands on her hips as she laughed in dismissal. “Ha! Am I supposed to believe you fell in love with me after a day of bird watching?”

“No,” Aubrey said, sounding obviously pained…or was he the consummate actor? “I fell in love with you within ten minutes of meeting you. Today was just meant to be enjoyed. My mind was already made up about you. I intended to propose to you at the end of this house party, but there is no point in putting it off now. Will you marry me?”

She gasped. “Oh, this is surely a divine jest. Two proposals in one day. Are either of them real?”

Having said that, she returned to the house.

Connor watched her walk away. Aubrey did the same. “You proposed to her? Why? To preserve a convenient governess? Do you even love her?”

Connor ignored the question.

Since he was not going to get any peace while Aubrey followed him around and tossed him questions, he marched back to the house. To his annoyance, Aubrey maintained his stride beside him. “Eden has every reason to be angry with me. But just because my sister asked me to distract her, doesn’t mean I agreed. Well, I did agree at first, as I admitted. But Eden is an angel. Anyone with a decent pair of eyes can see it.” He stopped and moaned. “She’ll never believe me, will she?”

Connor paused as they reached the courtyard. “No. How can she ever trust you now?”

“Help me make this right, Lynton.”

Connor laughed. “Me? You do realize I am your competition, don’t you? Why should I help you out?”

“Because you are a decent fellow. And you know my sister is a manipulative, headstrong nuisance of a girl who would not give me a moment’s peace until I agreed to distract Eden for five minutes. That’s all I intended. Everything else was real.”

“Real? Even if what you say is true, am I supposed to believe you fell in love with Eden in the span of a day?”

Aubrey frowned at him. “Why wouldn’t you believe it? Is she not obviously charming, intelligent, and achingly beautiful?”

“Yes, but…” Lord help him, it had taken Connor years to notice Eden. He’d known her practically from the moment she was born and seen her turn into the lovely young woman who was going to break hearts in her debut Season. But he had been married back then and could not ever permit himself to develop feelings for her. “Of course, she is all those things. Leave me alone, Aubrey. I’ll think about your request.”

Well, he had probably loved her all along but convinced himself it was nothing. Was he not a master at repressing and denying? Even after being free to acknowledge his feelings, he had kept silent. Why? To enjoy the life of a Silver Duke? In truth, just how much had he, Bromleigh, and Camborne enjoyed their notoriety? Not very much, for his part. He could not even bring himself to bed other women once he admitted to himself that he had feelings for Eden.

And yet he had said nothing to her and allowed his exaggerated reputation to take a life of its own and grow out of all proportion. “Thank you, Lynton. It is only fair that she knows the complete truth and makes her decision with all the facts before her. If she chooses you, then know that I will wish you both every happiness, because it would never be my desire to see her unhappy. Unfortunately, I expect she will choose you. Despite my bravado, the painful truth is that I have little chance competing against a Silver Duke.” Having said what was on his mind, Aubrey walked off.

Connor could not deny that he and his friends were treated as mythical gods. This would no longer do.

Eden needed a man to love her truly and sincerely. A real man of flesh, blood, and grit, with strong arms to hold her and protect her through good times and bad. She did not need some idol on a pedestal to be worshipped from afar. That Aubrey saw her worth so clearly in a trice was unsettling.

And yet was anything this man said true?

Connor was fairly good at spotting schemers. A man in his position always had to be on the alert. His gut instinct told him Aubrey could be trusted, but his own jealousy was skewing his opinion, and he was never going to trust this man. It was much easier to ignore the truth and consider him unworthy. Aubrey was very good in the role of lovelorn suitor, very believable, and had perfected the ability to cast sincere looks. Yes, he was quite polished.

Connor sighed, knowing he could not deny the obvious.

The poor sod had fallen in love with Eden.

What was he to do now? Tell Eden the truth? Let her be the one to choose?

Aubrey was equal to him in so many ways. Both held titles. Both were wealthy. Indeed, the Lothmeres were perhaps even wealthier than he was.

Aubrey was younger and fitter. Yes, fitter, even though Connor had beaten him at arm wrestling. He would never admit it, but his entire body ached after that exertion.

“Bah,” he muttered.

Most of his guests had retired to their quarters to prepare for tonight’s supper and dance. He was on his way up to the children’s quarters to speak to them about Eden when he remembered she had approached him on his walk because she had something important to tell him. Aubrey’s surprising marriage proposal had interrupted them.

He marched down the hall to her room and knocked at the door. “Eden, it’s me.”

“Go away!”

Oh, not that again. He knocked once more. “You had something important to tell me.”

“Yes, but I cannot tell you now.”

“Why not? Are you dressed? I’m coming in.”

“I’m not dressed!”

And that again, too. “Too bad. You have to the count of ten to make yourself decent. One…two…three…”

The door to her bedchamber flew open, revealing a bespectacled Eden wearing a plain brown robe not even an elderly grandmother would deign to wear. The thing was hideous, and yet heat shot through his veins, for she’d hastily wrapped it around her lithe body and left one shoulder slightly exposed.

His heart was banging like a hammer in his chest.

She had also unpinned her flame-red hair, no doubt preparing for her maid to fashionably style it. But for now, it flowed in a fiery cascade of red-gold fire down her back. “You are a beast, Connor,” she said, but a smile teased at the corners of her mouth. “You do know this.”

“I do,” he replied, nodding. “What was so important that you followed me out of the house to tell me?”

She sighed. “My maid will be back at any moment. You cannot be found in here.”

“I am only at your door. And what does it matter even if I were found naked in your bed? I’ve already told you that I love you and wish to marry you.”

Her eyes had widened at the mention of him naked in her bed, and now her cheeks showed a hot blush. “Now that is something I would love to write about in my diary. A Silver Duke without a stitch of clothes on in my bed? Would you mind if I embellished the moment?”

He laughed. “Go right ahead. Embellish to your heart’s content. Although my Silver Duke reputation is not completely unearned. I don’t think much embellishment will be required if ever you were to join me in that bed.”

Her cheeks burned redder.

“However, when it comes to speaking from my heart…I’m sorely lacking in that regard. I’m sorry I waited so long to reveal my feelings for you. I almost lost you because I was such a fool.”

She placed a hand to his cheek and looked up at him. “No, Connor. There was a reason you waited. Your heart simply wasn’t ready.”

He hoped that was affection he saw in her beautiful hazel eyes, and not pity because she had decided to reject him. “Let me come in, Eden. What was it you had to tell me?”

“No, you mustn’t come in.” She placed her hand on his chest to hold him off. “You are going to try to kiss me after I tell you what I need to tell you.”

“Then it is something good?”

She nodded. “But it doesn’t change a thing. I want my first kiss to be a moonlight kiss.”

“Eden, I—”

She took a deep breath and groaned. “I love you, Connor.”