She nodded at him. “I have been looking for this particular book ever since I heard of it. I had even feared that it was not real as it was not so widely known as most other publications.”
“That is because the one who wrote the treatise and gathered the blueprints was not so well-known,” he shook his head.
“Well, he should have been more well-known!” she declared emphatically. “There are not so many who could have done what he did with this book.”
He laughed. “He will be pleased to know how you love his work.” He stood up and kissed her gently on the forehead. “I believe you will be able to create grander masterpieces than the ones in this book, Claire.”
The look on her face was one of astonishment and Oliver could not believe he had actually gone ahead to press his lips to her smooth brow!
Before she could utter another word, he excused himself and walked as quickly as he could back to his study, his heart beating against his chest madly.
Have I just kissed Claire? Lord, what if she felt me too forward? What if she felt that I was an absolute libertine for taking advantage of her in her grief?
He shook his head and sank into his upholstered chair as a smile traced across his lips. He certainly had not meant to kiss her—he had been carried away by his emotions, by the joy that sparkled in her eyes, by the very radiance that Claire embodied.
He had not meant to take liberties with her person.
But he had been longing to hold her for so long that it was a physical ache.
But Claire is not mine to hold, he reminded himself.I must be much more careful with myself next time. I cannot be so careless and let myself slip!
* * *
Claire stared after the Duke with a look of utter surprise, the warmth of his kiss like a fiery brand upon her brow.
In all the years she had known him, he had never shown as much affection to her as he had now. He had always been as close to her as a brother and he had conducted himself in a gentlemanly manner all throughout. In public, he was always so wonderfully proper that sometimes, he even came off as aloof.
Perhaps…it was naught but a brotherly kiss?Claire thought to herself. She shook her head ruefully.I must not think overmuch on such things. Nor should I place some sordid meaning into what was an innocent kiss. Why, men have been more forward to misses in the shadows of the balls I have attended!
“I must not put much meaning to it,” she murmured to herself. “He was just being…Oliver. He is the sweetest, kindest person I have ever met and it could not have meant anything more than a brotherly kiss.”
But try as she might, she could not help the blush that flamed at her cheeks at the memory of that light, feathery touch of his lips upon her brow.
She sat there in some sort of trance, her hands clutching the book he had just given her close to her heart.
He had searched for that book, exerted so much effort just so he could bring it to her, that she might seek solace in it after the death of her father.
If ever there was an angel on earth, it was His Grace, Oliver, the Duke of Minsbury.
“What do you have there?”
Claire shook herself out of the trance she was in when she saw her sister, Trixie, peering curiously at her with wide blue eyes.
She sobered up immediately when she saw her younger sister, dressed all in black just as she was, the somber color practically dwarfing Trixie and making her seem thinner than she actually was. Her luminous blue eyes seemed larger in her small face.
In the past few days, she had been so consumed by her own sadness that she had forgotten that her ownsisterhad lost a father, too.
“Come sit beside me,” she called out to Trixie, patting the empty space beside her by the window sill.
Trixie skipped over, her dark curls bouncing as she sat beside her older sister.
“I have not seen much of you these past few days, Claire,” she complained. “And Miss Ellis told me you had been out on a carriage ride with His Grace yesterday. Why did you not take me with you?”
“You would not have enjoyed it as much,” she told her younger sister. “We merely went to look around London and see the buildings I have been wanting to see.”
“Well, I still wanted to go out!” Trixie pouted. “I have been cooped up in this house for days on end, I fear I will eventually go mad!”
Claire smiled apologetically at her. “I should have asked if you wanted to accompany us but I was hardly good company at the time. I fear that most of the time, I had just been sitting in the carriage, looking like a vapid fool.”
