He said nothing and just continued to wade through the lake.
Dorothy stared in wonder. There was a voice in her mind that shouted that she should be running by now, fleeing away before he could catch her, but another voice was curious to see if the all-so-proper Duke would continue toward her, or if he would give up part way.
“Stephen!” she shouted again.
One of his boots slipped in the mud, and he sank deeper into the water. He looked down at it, agitated, then pulled his foot free. The water reached higher. He’d chosen a bad stretch, so it didn’t just reach his thighs, but up to his hips.
“Are you mad? What has happened to you? This isn’t you!”
“What is me, Dorothy?” he countered, speaking at last. “Hmm? What is me?”
“You are the man that stands on the other side and does not move a muscle. Like an alabaster statue, you would not get yourself dirty. Look at you now.”
“Yes. Look at me.” Stephen halted in the middle of the water and held his arms out triumphantly. “If this is what it takes to get you to talk to me, then meet the new me, Dorothy.” He strode on, walking toward her again. “And believe me, I am not giving up until I talk to you.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
“I… I do not understand.” Dorothy struggled for words. She stumbled back, moving up the bank of the lake as Stephen scrambled out of the water.
He stood on the side of the bank, water running off him in rivulets and dirt staining his trousers. She covered her mouth as she stared at him, thinking with horror that he would ordinarily hate the state he was in.
“Look at your trousers.” She pointed at him, lowering her hand from her face. “Nothing to say? Nothing to say about this exhibition we have both just made of ourselves?” She gestured toward the state they were both in.
“Well…” He paused, just out of the water, his eyes darting up and down her frame. “I like the gown.”
She shifted, angry that he would like a gown that she found so itchy.
“It suits you better, though, with all that mud on it.” He gestured toward the dirty wet streaks as he walked up the bank toward her.
She backed up, debating running again.
“Don’t even think about it. I will just keep chasing you across this estate. Sooner or later, you will tire, and your brother will catch up to us. I intend to speak fast before he can hear a word of it.”
“How reassuring,” she muttered wryly. “You do not need to say anything, Stephen. If you have come all this way to tell me again that what happened between us all meant nothing, then I do not need to hear it.” She shook her head.
There was a sudden lump in her throat by just saying the words. She struggled to utter them aloud and couldn’t bear the thought of hearing him say such words.
“Let us just leave it at this. I will never reproach you over what happened, and I just pray that your name isn’t too slandered in the scandal sheets when the story breaks. I am sorry that because of me, your reputation will now be jeopardized.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” His voice was so firm that it startled her. He continued to march toward her, and she kept backing up, though her pace wasn’t nearly as fast as his, and he soon caught up with her. “I am the one who kissed you the first time, and I was definitely the one begging for a kiss the second time.”
“Begging?” she spluttered, confused by his choice of words.
“So, let me try something different this time.”
He caught her hand and lifted it. She tried to jerk it out of his hold, but he was too strong. He turned it over and kissed the back of it. The dirty streaks across her hand didn’t seem to matter to him. In fact, it was as if he hadn’t even noticed they were there.
“What are you doing?” she whispered. “Allan will not be happy you are here.”
“I have his permission.” Yet, with the words, he glanced back over his shoulder, somewhat nervously. “Though I do not imagine he will be pleased with us doing this so far from the house.”
“Doing what?” she murmured.
“My endeavor to reveal the whole truth to you now.”
He caught her hand in both of his and moved it to his chest. The movement was so sudden that she stopped trying to back up from him at all and just stood there, feeling his heartbeat beneath her hand, thundering as if it wanted to erupt from his ribcage.
“Do you know what I was trying to say that night?”
