How to Catch a Duke in Ten Days by Violet Hamers

Chapter Four

Antony watched as the stranger flicked her head up toward him. With her head lifted, the candlelight fell on her features, flattering the high cheekbones and revealing what he had already suspected: she was very beautiful. When she found him standing nearby between the bookshelves, her eyes widened in response, but she said nothing, at least not at first. With those eyes looking straight at him, Antony felt a lurch in his stomach.

Attraction.

He knew this feeling, of course he did, but he was hardly expecting a woman who behaved so impolitely in his own home as to wander the place at night and read his books without permission would cause such a reaction

“Did you hear me?” he asked, trying to hold onto his anger. “I said who are you? And what are you doing in that chair?”

“I beg your pardon?” she said, startled as she sat straighter in the seat, making no move to get out of the chair. “I am a guest here. If I choose to sit in a chair, then that is my business. It is hardly the matter for a member of the staff to discuss.” She gestured toward him.

Antony almost laughed, but he managed to hold it in as he gazed down at his clothes. Naturally, he didn’t look like a Duke at this moment, but he hadn’t considered for one minute that someone would actually make that error.

“You should not be in here,” she said, lifting her book to hide her face. “Leave at once.”

“I should not be?” he said in amazement. For some reason, he didn’t find himself correcting her on her error. He was too baffled by the way in which she had spoken to him. No one spoke to him in such a way, ever. Women were always demure and overly kind to him out of fear of offending him. “Since when can guests wander a house late at night without permission of their host?”

“I am reading a book; it is hardly the greatest sin that was ever done, is it?” she said, lowering the book another time. The strength in her gaze made Antony walk toward her. The closer her got to her, the stronger that lurch of attraction was in his stomach.

She was incredibly beautiful, with those lips still parted as she stared back at him. Had she been one of the bawds in the gentleman’s club, he would have happily propositioned her. Yet clearly, from the extent of her gown, she had to be a lady of some refinement.

“Get out of the chair,” he ordered her, gesturing down to it. In his mind’s eye, he could still picture his father there instead. He had to get her out of it as soon as possible.

“Why?” she asked. Despite how close he now stood, practically towering over her in the chair, she did not recoil from him and neither did she cower.

“Because I am telling you to,” he said, lifting his chin higher. He was about to reveal who he really was, that he was the duke, and chastise her for being so outspoken to someone in his position when she spoke again, preventing him from saying anything.

“And you think just because you give an order, I have to follow it, do you?” she challenged, the corner of her lips turned up in a smile. “How typical, though particularly audacious from a member of staff, I must say.”

“Staff!?” he repeated in horror. “I am–”

“Just because a man has given a woman an order, he expects her to follow it. Do you really imagine that to be the case?” She was clearly expecting an answer to her question. Blindsided by the challenge in her tone and the way in which his eyes kept glancing down at those pink lips, he forgot about trying to tell her just who he was.

“It is a simple order,” he said, taking a step back from her. “I am not one of those men who expects women to answer his beck and call, but I do expect you to get out of that chair. In fact, go to bed. Retire now.”

“Just because you issue more orders does not mean I am likely to follow any more of them,” she said with a smirk before picking up the book again to read.

Antony nearly let out a growl of frustration. He was torn, trapped somewhere between his fury at this stranger and the desire that was now pulsing in his body. He’d never been challenged so before. Every woman he’d been with was delicate, putting up an act of obedience. This woman was different entirely. It burned within him to know what it could be like to explore his desire with a woman such as her.

“If you are merely going to stare at me all night, then I will be sure to complain to the Duke tomorrow morning,” she said, not taking her eyes off the book. Antony was so amused by the idea that she still thought him staff that he decided that it would be more fun to continue the charade.

What will she say when she discovers who I really am? He rather wanted to find out an answer to his question, but not until he had pushed this ruse for as long as possible.

“My master will probably be very happy that I am tipping someone out of his chair.”

“His chair?” she scoffed, looking up at him over the book again. “It is just a chair. In his house. He’s not using it now, anyway, is he?” She pointed out.

“He doesn’t like other people to sit in that chair,” he said, leaning down toward her. This time, the close distance he had put them at affected her.

As he placed his hands on the arms of the chair, effectively trapping her into the chair, she lowered the book completely to her lap and stared at him. She blushed this time, those white alabaster cheeks filling with a reddening that was delectable to him. He found himself imagining other ways in which he could make her blush.

Stop thinking of it! He shouted the order in his head.

“He is not here to see it,” she said, before lifting a hand and pointing straight at his chest. “Now, back away. If I have to report to the Duke tomorrow what liberties you are taking this evening in standing so close to me, he may well send you away.”

“You would actually try to have a member of staff from this household ousted just because I am making you uncomfortable?” He was so shocked by the idea that his jaw opened wide.

“No. I would not jeopardize someone’s livelihood in that way,” she said quickly, pinching the bridge of her nose, “but neither should you be making a guest in this house so uncomfortable. Step away. Now,” she ordered him.

To Antony’s amazement, his body obeyed her order. He released the chair and stood straight, taking a step back.

“That’s better,” she said with a triumphant smile. His eyes darted down to the curve of her lips again, wondering what would happen to that smile if he kissed her. He was in a happy daydream, imagining it as she lifted the book again.

“Please, leave,” she begged, but this time, he would not go.

He may have been strongly attracted to her and intrigued by her stubbornness and passionate spirit too, but that was his father’s chair. He still couldn’t allow her to sit in it, for no one was allowed in it. There was more to the challenge too now. He had obeyed one of her orders, and the idea of making her obey one of his was too tempting to resist. He was enjoying himself and determined to push it for as long as he could.

“I cannot leave until you get out of that chair,” he said plainly. “Move chairs, and I vow to leave you.”

“If I moved chairs, it would be giving in to your order,” she said, looking up at him again. “As I have just said, I will not follow your order just because you are a man.”

“What if I wasn’t staff?” he asked, feeling his lips turn up in a smirk. “What if I was the Duke, and I was giving you this order? Would you obey me then?”

She hesitated for a minute, not answering him. “You would, wouldn’t you?” he chuckled with the words. “You would obey me then.”

“I am not sure that I would,” she said with feeling. “I would certainly give him an argument on the matter.”

“How unusual; most people do what a Duke tells them to do,” Antony said snidely. “I rather think this is all just words, and you would do as he told you.”

“Your observations as his staff are very astute, but I am not like every other person he has ever met,” she said, holding his gaze.

As she turned her chin up an inch more toward him, he caught sight of the color of her eyes. His words died on his tongue as he flicked his gaze between them.

“What is it?” she asked, retreating back in the chair from him for the first time.

* * *

Hermione felt strangely examined by the man before her. She presumed he could be a gardener by the nature of his jacket, but, judging by the fact he was in the library, that was unlikely. Maybe a rather scruffy footman instead?

“I thought I asked you not to stare,” Hermione said, wanting the man to look away from her.

“You do not wish to follow my orders; why should I follow yours?” he asked, his lips turning up into a smile with the words. Hermione couldn’t think of a clever reply; he had outwitted her on this occasion.

She was distracted, staring back at him. This meeting was not what she had expected. The handsome stranger was making her stomach do strange things, tightening with excitement, and each time those stunning blue eyes of his dropped down to her lips, she felt a lurch in her chest.

What am I doing? She had never known this feeling before. It was an odd kind of yearning, one where she wanted to be closer to the man before her. It did not matter that he was staff, nor that he was being so rude to her; she was just intrigued by him.

Wonderful… I am attracted to a man who works for the gentleman I am supposed to seduce. The world was not dealing her a good hand at the moment.

“Please, leave,” she said again, knowing she had to put distance between them.

“I cannot leave you there in that chair,” he said, narrowing his blue eyes at her.

“For goodness’ sake, it is just a chair,” she said tiredly, lifting up her book again.

“What are you reading?” he asked, taking the book from her hands. Outraged that he dared to take it from her, Hermione jumped to her feet. “At last! That’s all I needed to do to get you out of the chair.”

“Oh, you are infuriating,” she snapped and purposefully sat back down in the chair with her hands placed on the arms of the seat.

“So close, but I ruined it,” he mocked himself as he turned the book over.

“Indeed, you did,” she said, unable to hold back her smile. “Now, please. I was enjoying the book, and I’d like it returned.” She gestured for him to hand the book back to her.

“A gothic novel?” he said, peering at the cover. “Well, it certainly suits this house.”

“You know the book?” she asked, startled so much that her hand dropped back down to her lap. “A well-read member of staff?” He looked up from the book sharply, his manner altered just a little.

“You could say that,” he said eventually. “If I do not give you the book back, then you’ll be forced to leave the chair.”

“This is no longer just rude or brazen for a member of staff. This is cruel too,” she said, reaching out to try and take the book from his hands.

“Cruel?” he looked horrified by the word. “I am not trying to be cruel; I just want you out of the chair.”

“I was enjoying a little peace by myself in this beautiful library with a good book, and you have destroyed that,” she said pleadingly. Her attraction to the man was making no sense to her now. How could she be attracted to him when he was going out of his way to be so difficult?

“Sit in this chair instead, and I will leave you be,” he pleaded and dropped the book into the seat of another chair.

Silence descended between them. He stood a little distance away with his arms folded, watching her intently. Meanwhile she was calculating if she could get the book back without leaving the seat. She took the arms of her chair and itched it to the side, shuffling with it toward the other one. To her amazement, the stranger before her laughed loudly, tipping his head back. It made his sharp features soften into something quite mesmerizing.

“I should have seen that coming,” he said, shaking his head as though in despair of himself.

“Fortunately for me, you did not,” she said with victory as she picked up the book off the other chair and pulled it back into her lap again.

“Forgive me for this, but if you do not get out of the chair, I will be forced to do something rash,” he said, stalking toward her. Looking up at him in this position, she supposed she should feel some kind of fear, but she did not. She was too busy staring at his handsome face instead and wondering what the something ‘rash’ could be.

“What would that be?” she asked. “Lay a hand one me, and I will complain to the Duke.”

“I would never harm a woman,” he said with feeling. “Never suspect me of that.”

“Then what do you intend to do?” she asked, sitting as tall as she could in the chair.

“I intend to distract you,” he said, placing his hands on the arms of the chair and leaning toward her again. “Distraction could be the perfect way to make you stand from that chair.”

“You think you could distract me?” she smiled mischievously as she lifted the open book between them, separating his gaze from hers. “Good luck with that,” she said, hiding her temptation to laugh as she settled her eyes on the words on the page instead of him.

“Damn the consequences,” he muttered from the other side of the book.

“What does that–” Before she could finish her question, the book was snatched out of her hand. “Wait, I was reading.”

Her complaint fell on deaf ears though. The book was tossed onto the other chair nearby, and then the stranger turned back toward her.

“What are you–” Her question was cut off as he lowered his face to hers and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss.