Trapped with the Duke by Annabelle Anders

Feeling Green

Addison resisted the urge to claw at his chest. He never should have entered this stairwell. He never should have set foot inside this Godforsaken school. Every time he opened his eyes, the walls seemed a little closer.

“You said you have two sisters. Tell me about the other one.” His voice came out gruff—demanding. When he focused on her, he could almost pretend the two of them weren’t locked inside… He brushed away a bead of sweat sliding down the side of his face.

“Oh, yes. Sarah. She is the youngest—just turned ten. Her hair is a little darker than mine, and I imagine she’s the smartest of the three of us. Chase hired a special tutor for her—one who could teach her to read on her own. And a special dog as well.”

“But she should be reading by now.” Addison turned his head enough so he could focus on her face. He would not submit to the spinning feeling assaulting him. He imagined a younger version of Miss Jones. One whose behind didn’t sway in an exasperatingly suggestive manner when she climbed stairs.

“Sarah was born without sight. It’s a wonder, since her eyes are quite lovely. She’s the only one of us with brown eyes. Like my mother’s.”

“Chaswick’s father sired all three of you?”

“Yes. He was good to us—he loved us. He provided my mother with a lovely townhouse not five minutes’ walk from his other one so he could come home to us often. We didn’t know Chase until after Father’s death. It was a terrible time for all of us, but meeting our brother helped.”

Two families! Good God! Addison tried to imagine living under such… complicated circumstances. He didn’t disapprove of the man, what with arranged marriages and all, and yet he couldn’t approve either.

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to breath. What would it have been like to have been raised completely unaware of Rowan’s existence and then discover his father had kept him hidden away until after his death? The notion was beyond comprehension.

“I have more mints if you’d like. They seemed to have helped before.” He opened his eyes again when the most impertinent Miss Jones’s voice sounded much closer. With her proximity came a faint scent of vanilla.

Unwilling to peel himself off the door quite yet, he didn’t move.

He was unaccustomed to feeling like a fool.

“Here.” She took hold of one of his clenched fists and attempted unsuccessfully to open it. Addison couldn’t relax if his life depended on it.

They’d been in this stairwell too long.

Shock, however, did the trick when she slipped one of her small mints between his lips.

Was it his imagination or had her fingers lingered longer than was necessary?

He’d concede the mint helped. He’d not hold such brazenness against her, but neither would he thank her.

“You were looking green again,” she offered. “It would be quite unpleasant if you were to—"

“Please don’t concern yourself with that.” He would not discuss his intestinal fortitude with this woman and would have straightened away from the door if he’d been able.

“Quite right, Your Grace.” But she was laughing softly at him.

This time, when she touched his fists, he opened his fingers to accept the hard candy. Her skin was soft, her hands efficiently cool but also feminine.

When she went to pull away, he did not allow it.

Her touch had the effect of reassuring him that the walls were not, in fact, closing in around them.

“How will she read—if she is blind?” he asked, closing his eyes.

“Oh! It’s the most incredible invention!” She neither commented on his grasp, nor did she attempt to pull her hand away. In fact, she squeezed his fingers back. “It’s all very new. Chase has learned of a Frenchman named Monsieur Braille who developed a code for people who cannot see. Rather than use ink, the code is written with raised dots. So Sarah is going to read with her fingertips.” She was all but cradling his fist in both hands now. Fanning his fingers out, she proceeded to draw imaginary circles, almost mesmerizing him. “Monsieur Braille is a leather-worker’s son. Punching holes in the leather gave him the idea.”

All of Addison’s attention homed in on the lines she traced softly in his palm. His chest loosened and the lightheaded feeling faded enough to where he could open his eyes.

“I apologize—” The feel of her fingertips took over his entire world. “You don’t have to...” And yet he did not release her hand.

It had been poor judgment of him to conclude that she was annoying and boring. Not that she hadn’t been boring—initially, that was. And she wouldn’t be a teacher if she wasn’t at least a little annoying.

But he had been ill-mannered with her and there was no excuse for it, her cheekiness notwithstanding.

Although it had been her idea to lead him up this ridiculously cramped stairwell…

She drew a line along the back of his fingers to his wrist, where the cuff of his shirt and jacket ended, and then dragged her fingertip back to the end of his middle finger.

“Her teacher has brought along a specially trained dog and is showing Sarah how to learn to depend on him to find her way around the estate. Sarah has always been able to maneuver around our home, but only inside, never outside. The dog is supposed to be able to guide her.”

Listening to her, Addison simply breathed. She was stroking her finger back and forth in tandem with the beating of his heart. By accident?

“Do you have a dog?” she asked, sounding quite practical and matter-of-fact.

It ought not to have surprised him but summoning the image of Zeus and Hera almost brought a smile to his lips. “Two, actually.”

“And you like them,” she said as though she’d discovered something quite significant.

“Of course.” Over the years, he’d always had a dog for companionship. He’d learned that losing one was more painful than he ever could have imagined, but living with them made life rather tolerable.

“Hunters?”

“I’ve had Zeus—my border collie—since I was seven and ten, but took in Hera, my two-year-old English foxhound, more recently.

“From the Greek word Dyeus… meaning shine or sky—the highest of the Gods. Is he noble?”

“That’s the way Zeus sees himself. At least where Hera is concerned.” Although Hera was coming into her own.

“Well, you cannot be as horrible as you seemed earlier if you appreciate dogs.” The woman did not know her place.

Intent upon sending her a scathingly disapproving glare, he opened his eyes and…

All thoughts of reprimanding her fled.

Because she was standing closer to him than he had realized, and he’d not expected to be so easily trapped in her gaze. Furthermore, a glimmer of hilarity in that gaze teased him.

The only person who ever got away with teasing him was his older brother, and those times were far and few between. Addison was a duke and could not afford to be taken lightly by others. Growing up, his tutor had instilled in him that such behavior was an insult to the title.

Miss Jones’ eyes twinkled back at him as the corners of her mouth tilted upward.

Although the hair she had tied into a knot at the back of her head was blond, the thick lashes fringing her sapphire eyes were nearly black. And those lips formed a perfect cupid’s bow. They were full and plump, and no proper teacher should be allowed to walk around wearing them. He didn’t understand how he hadn’t noticed her mouth the second he’d gotten a good look at her.

Perhaps he’d been distracted by the nonsense coming out of it.

Which brought him back to why he was staring down at her to begin with.

“You believed me to be horrible?” And yet, why did it matter what she believed?

Both her eyes and her smile widened. She shrugged. “Perhaps not horrible, but… at the very least, slightly disagreeable.”

“How are you doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“Matching your circles to my heartbeat?” Which was slowing and he could barely hear in his ears now.

Her fingertips froze and she lifted her hand toward his face. Addison instinctively drew back until he realized she was answering his question.

“Right here.” The tip of her finger tentatively found the pulse at the base of his neck and then settled there. Her touch felt intimate.

Too intimate.

“I didn’t do it intentionally. I was just watching it…”

Pink flooded her cheeks.

He’d never felt more trapped in his life. He straightened and inhaled a calming breath.

“Are your brother and his wife residing in the country presently?” He might very well need this information sometime in the near future.

“No. They are in London. The dowager prefers it there, but my understanding is that they will withdraw before the holidays… Why?”

“So that I can discuss our situation with him.”

Because there was no way in hell he was going to be allowed to walk away from their present circumstances with his bachelorhood intact. She was unmarried and he a bachelor and the two of them had already been locked alone for close to an hour.

She, of course, would be utterly ruined. Illegitimate or not, she had a baron for a brother and deserved the respect of any proper lady.

And because of him, her reputation would be in tatters.

“Our situation?” Her eyes narrowed, and two lines etched between them, just above her impertinent nose.

“Of course. Once we’re discovered locked together in here, we’ll have no choice but to marry.” Addison’s honor demanded he make an offer.

For the umpteenth time, she caught him unawares. Because rather than address the situation with the sobriety it demanded, Miss Jones threw her head back and laughed.