Page 45 of The Duke's Virgin
“Hours. Some sort of electrical malfunction. They offered to bring us out another way, but…” I grimaced at the memory, “it was decided that, for privacy’s sake, if the two of us were able to tolerate it and be patient, it would be better for the servicemen on site to handle the repair rather than risk bringing in more people who might talk about who all was involved. Papa hates publicity like that, and Emmett told us he was just hanging out…literally.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Bad pun.”
“Yes, he’s lousy with them.”
Blowing out a sigh, I checked my phone’s battery status. At thirty percent. I told myself to check on my friend, see how he was. But fear made me wary. What if I learned something awful? Carefully, I turned the phone face down.
“We talked about everything,” I went on, needing the added distraction of just talking to Stacia. “He told me about racing and Kentucky and badgered me until I finally told him who I was and why people were so worried about privacy and reporters finding out about two kids being trapped in an elevator. I told him and he…he just shrugged.” I laughed, still thrown by his reaction even now. “He looked at me and squinted a little, like he wasn’t sure if I was joking. Then he said, ‘A duke? Like the guys in those historical romances my mom reads?’”
Stacia laughed, a full-on joyful sound that made me laugh too.
I elbowed her in her ribs before going on. “I’ve never read one, but a duke is a duke, I suppose. I said, ‘More or less.’ And he just shrugged, then asked if I’d ever been to a Formula One race since I was so close.”
“Sounds like he already had his mind set on where he wanted to be, even then.”
“He did.” I tightened my grip on the phone.
I needed to look.
But I couldn’t.
A soft hand covered mine, and when she gently tugged the phone away, I let her.
She couldn’t unlock it, but when she held it up for me to handle it, instead of ignoring her, I obeyed her silent request.
And I sat there as she opened the browser.
“I see the article you were reading. You never closed it out. There’s an update,” she said softly. Without asking, she started to read aloud.
Fifteen seconds later, I dropped my face into my hands.
She rubbed my back. “You said he was stubborn. Sounds to me like he’s hanging on just fine.”
I didn’t let myself grab her and kiss her.
But I didn’t stop myself from fantasizing about it.
Fifteen
Stacia
The reliefon his face was so potent, it made my throat ache.
As he dropped his face into his hands, I put the phone back on his tray table and tried to fight the wave of guilt as it rose back up inside me. It was hard, though.
It wasn’t like Iknewhis friend was in the hospital, I told myself.
It was the truth, too. But it only helped a little. Normally, I preferred to have people regard me as somewhat reserved. It had never mattered to people that I was shy and slow to open up. The Ice Princess rep I’d developed because of it had eventually helped, even if it had kept me more isolated after a while because who wanted to get to know an Ice Princess?
It had kept people at bay, but it had also protected me from their snubs and rejections.
And I’d just snubbed Luka.
Stop it, I told myself again.
He straightened in the seat, and I pulled my hand from his back, tucking it in my lap. My palm tingled from the contact, but I managed to ignore it—mostly.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked after he took another sip of whisky.
