Rebecca firmly kept her eyes away from him, focusing on her sister instead. The night before she had found it very difficult to sleep, for each time she closed her eyes she imagined herself to be back in the company of the Duke, enjoying more of this witty conversation that left her feeling so happy.
When she had finally abandoned trying to sleep in the early hours of the morning, she made a decision.
It was clear the Duke of Frampington was a danger to her. She had already had her heart broken once in her life, and here was a man who was a charmer. He took charming ladies in his stride, as his reputation claimed, yet her foolish heart was falling for it despite her head telling her she was being a fool.
She had to stay away from him.
“They are growing close indeed, don’t you think?” the Duke asked, leaning down to whisper in her ear. A shiver passed down her spine, one of delight at having him come so close. Her fingers tightened around her reticule in response.
“Very,” she said, trying to keep her focus on Eliza and Lord Herberton. “I hope his intentions are honorable.”
“Of course, they are,” the Duke said with a laugh. “He is courting her, is he not?”
“In my experience, courting and even an offer of marriage do not have to be honorable.” Her words were tightly spoken. She meant them to be lighthearted, yet they came off defensive and hardened.
“My Lady, can you trust me?” The Duke’s words were such a surprise to her that she backed away, looking up at him in surprise.
“Trust you?”
“I see the idea is still shocking to you.” He followed her path, but she was not looking where she was going. She felt something behind her, just as the Duke reached out and took her arm. “Careful.” He drew her forward. She had almost backed up onto a jetty, from where some of the sailors were taking to their boats. “We don’t want you to fall in the water off the jetty.”
He hadn’t yet released her arm. She looked down at that touch, wishing her blush would go away, but it did not adhere to her thoughts, it merely grew worse.
“If you can bring yourself to trust me, Lady Rebecca, then trust me in this,” he said, looping her arm through his and steering her away from the jetty, closer to Eliza and Lord Herberton. “My friend would sooner hurt himself than hurt your sister.”
“Let us say that I wish to believe you, but I cannot yet.”
“You are scarred.”
“Scarred?” Rebecca didn’t like the word. It made her wrinkle her nose.
“Scarred from the past, my Lady.” The Duke’s expression hardened as he looked down at her.
“You are being bold.”
“I guess I am. I sometimes feel as if I can say anything to you, as if there is nothing off limits.” He smiled a little as he spoke. His sentiment was something so similar to what she had thought before that it startled her. “I may be bold, but it is a fair point to make. Do not return your wound on my friend. He does not deserve it.”
His disapproval hurt Rebecca. She tried to retrieve her arm from his and looked away, turning her gaze out to the river.
The sailing boats had gathered in earnest, each one lining up at a starting line beneath a bridge. Many people had gathered on the bridge and on the riverbank, where Rebecca now stood, eagerly cheering on the race, waiting for it to begin.
“Do not retreat from me, my Lady, just because I said something rather perceptive.” The Duke’s words only irked her all the more. This time she managed to extricate her arm from his.
“You do not know me anywhere near as well as you think you do.” She turned and left him there.
“My Lady?” he called after her, yet little good it did to call her back to him.
The starting pistol went off and the sailing boats leapt forward with the high winds. The crowds’ cheers went up, such a cacophony of sound that Rebecca could hear nothing else for a minute.
She felt rather lost in a world of cries and shouts, hurrying along the side of the river. She made an appearance of trying to get to the tea tent, placed much further down the river, but in truth, all she wished to do was escape the Duke’s side.
It is not because he disapproved of me. It is because it is not safe for me to be with him. My foolish heart will break all over again!
The words ran through her mind, though little good they did to quell her panic. She just kept on pushing through the crowds, hearing the cheers so loud that it echoed in her ears, deafening everything else. She didn’t even hear that there were quick footsteps behind her, of someone following her.
The first sign she had of someone behind her was the grip to her wrist, that pulled her to a stop.
“What are you doing?” Rebecca cried, turning round to find it was the Duke that had followed her, and he would not yet release her wrist.
