The Reluctant Duke (9 page)

All of those things were completely dangerous to a man who had never cared enough about any woman to suffer so much as a moment’s regret at the ending of one of his always brief relationships.

He wasn’t about to suffer one now, over the impulsively outspoken Lexie Hamilton, either!

‘The man in the centre of the painting is Hawk, the tenth Duke of Stourbridge, the other three are his siblings—Sebastian, Lucian and Arabella.’ Lucan answered her question abruptly.

Her brows rose. ‘Is your own name a derivative of Lucian?’

‘Probably.’ His tone was terse. ‘Gideon is a name often used in the family, too.’

Alexander, Lexie knew, was also a St Claire family
name. As well as being Lucan’s father’s name, it had also been that of his great-great-grandfather.

‘I believe,’ Lucan continued dismissively, ‘the name Gideon came into the family when the Lady Arabella called her first son by that name, in honour of the man who saved her life.’

Lexie’s eyes widened. ‘How did he do that?’

‘I have no idea.’ Lucan sounded decidedly uninterested. ‘I think we should go back downstairs now; the builder should be arriving at any moment.’

‘Of course.’ Lexie grimaced as she fell into step beside him, slightly disappointed that Lucan felt disinclined to share the feisty-looking Lady Arabella’s story with her. ‘Is it okay if I go for a walk in the grounds while you’re talking to the builder?’ she asked casually.

Deliberately so.

Because she didn’t want to alert Lucan to how important the walk was to her. Because a visit to her grandmother’s cottage was first on Lexie’s list of things to do this morning.

Closely followed by ensuring that Lucan would decide they could go back to London as soon he had spoken to the builder.

After their intimacy yesterday evening Lexie didn’t think the two of them spending another night together at Mulberry Hall was a good idea!

‘It’s going to snow,’ Lucan warned her with a frown.

Lexie eyed him teasingly. ‘And you know that
how?’

He looked irritated. ‘I know that because I listened to the weather forecast on the radio in the kitchen a few minutes ago!’

‘There’s no need to get snippy! ‘ she taunted.

‘I’m not getting—’ Lucan broke off abruptly to draw in a deep, controlling breath. ‘You enjoy irritating me, don’t
you?’ he realised frowningly, and easily saw the mischievous glint in Lexie’s sparkling blue eyes.

‘Love it,’ she admitted unrepentantly.

‘Because I’m an over-confident, pompous, unmitigated ass? ‘ he came back dryly.

Colour warmed her cheeks at this reminder of the names she had called him the night before. She grimaced. ‘You remember every word.’

‘Well, of course I remember every word!’ Lucan chuckled softly. ‘Of their kind, they were unique.’

She frowned up at him. ‘In what way?’

‘In every way.’ Lucan still smiled.

Lexie gave a self-conscious wince. ‘Meaning that no one has ever spoken to you in that way before?’

‘Meaning that no one has ever spoken to me in that way before,’ he continued mockingly.

She grimaced. ‘Oh, dear.’

Lucan found himself chuckling again. He couldn’t seem to help himself when confronted with Lexie’s blunt honesty. ‘You could try looking a little less pleased with yourself!’

She raised dark brows. ‘What would be the point, when that’s exactly how I feel?’

He gave a rueful shake of his head and stood back to allow Lexie to precede him into the warmth of the kitchen. ‘Do you always say the first thing that comes into your head?’

Lexie nodded. ‘Usually.’ But not always, she acknowledged with a frown. And she definitely needed to practise caution when in the company of this particular man.

Something she was finding she liked doing less and less.

It had been fun to tease Lucan just now, to see and hear
him laugh, to forget for a few minutes who he was and who she was.

Dear Lord—she couldn’t actually be interested in a
relationship
with Lucan, could she…?

She had done some pretty stupid things in her time—deciding to stand in as Lucan’s PA for three days being only one of them—but to allow this attraction she felt for him, the undeniable hunger she felt for more of Lucan’s kisses and caresses to continue, would be sheer madness on her part.

A madness that wasn’t going to happen!

She turned to look up at him challengingly. ‘For instance, at this moment I want to say I really need to get out of this stuffy atmosphere and into the fresh air!’

Lucan’s eyes narrowed as he returned the challenge in Lexie’s gaze. ‘Is it the house you find stuffy, or me…?’

‘I’ll leave that for you to decide! ‘ she came back perkily, before grabbing her coat from the back of the chair and letting herself out, without giving Lucan the chance to reply.

Not that Lucan would have done so in any case. He had never run after a woman in his life, and he wasn’t about to start now.

Even if part of him wanted to.

Lexie took a snow-covered path through the woods at the back of Mulberry Hall to her grandmother’s cottage, situated on the very edge of the village. A path that in the past had been well-worn by Alexander St Claire, during the years he had visited the woman he loved.

Her grandmother’s cottage looked the same as it always had as Lexie stepped out into a clearing at the back of the small white-painted building. The windows gleamed brightly, and the thatch on the roof looked new when she
glanced up and saw the inviting curl of smoke drifting delicately from the chimney.

Lexie drew in a deep breath as she hesitated outside the red-painted front door of the cottage, knowing she would have some explaining to do once she was inside.

And also knowing that what had happened last night between herself and Lucan, this attraction for him that Lexie was trying so desperately to fight, wouldn’t be a part of the conversation…!

‘W
HERE
the hell have you been?’ Lucan demanded furiously.

Lexie had paused in the kitchen doorway to brush the snow from her hair and coat. She glanced across the kitchen as a chair scraped on the flagstones and he stood up from his seat at the oak table, his expression grim.

‘Sorry…?’ she said lightly as she carefully closed the kitchen door behind her.

Lucan wasn’t fooled for a moment by the innocence of her expression. ‘You gave me the impression you were only going for a stroll in the grounds, and you’ve been gone for over two hours!’ he bit out coldly.

She raised dark brows. ‘Did you have some work you wanted me to do?’

‘Obviously not, when I’ve been talking to the builder.’

‘Then I don’t understand the problem…?’

‘The problem is that it began to snow not long after you left the house,’ he said, with a pointed glance at the dampness caused by the snow melting in Lexie’s hair.

‘Surely you weren’t
worried
about me, Lucan?’ she taunted dryly.

As it happened, yes, Lucan
had
been concerned by Lexie’s prolonged absence. Not only was it freezing cold outside, but the predicted snow had started to fall heavily
almost as soon as Lexie had stepped out of the house, and was now a couple of inches deep on the ground.

‘It isn’t a question of being worried, Lexie,’ he dismissed impatiently. ‘You aren’t familiar with the area,’ he continued tautly. ‘You could have fallen through the ice on the lake and drowned, for all I knew.’

‘You aren’t thinking positively, Lucan. At least that way I wouldn’t be here annoying you any more,’ she said ruefully as she slipped her damp coat down her arms to drape it across the back of one of the chairs to dry.

Lucan felt an icy chill down his spine as he immediately had an image of Lexie’s dead body floating beneath the layer of ice that presently covered the lake behind Mulberry Hall.

‘Damn it, this isn’t funny, Lexie!’

‘It wasn’t meant to be.’ She snapped her own impatience with the conversation. ‘And I’m no more used to answering to anyone for my actions than
you
are,’ she added pointedly.

‘While you’re staying here with me you had better get used to it!’ Lucan grated harshly.

She became very still. ‘I think not,’ she returned evenly, the angry glitter of her eyes a complete contradiction to that vocal calmness.

It was a warning Lucan had no intention of heeding.

He hadn’t been too worried when it first began to snow—had believed those icy flakes would bring Lexie back to the house sooner rather than later. When the minutes had ticked past, passing an hour, he had put on his own coat in order to go outside and look for her.

Unfortunately, the grounds of Mulberry Hall were vast—too much for Lucan to be able to search them properly. He hadn’t even been able to find any footprints in the snow to tell him which direction Lexie might have taken
on her walk. After twenty minutes of futile searching he had returned to the kitchen to sit and wait for her.

His temper rising by the minute.

Which—considering Lucan hadn’t even realised he
had
a temper until he’d met Lexie Hamilton—didn’t bode well for the outcome of their present conversation.

‘I think
yes,’
he ground out harshly.

Her mouth firmed. ‘You can think what you damn well please, Lucan, but that isn’t going to make it happen.’

‘Where were you for the last two hours?’ Lucan’s voice was hard as he reverted to his original question.

A question Lexie had no intention of answering honestly.

Because she couldn’t.

Her grandmother had been surprised but overjoyed to see Lexie again so soon after spending the Christmas holiday in London with all the family. Less pleased once she’d realised how and why Lexie was here.

It hadn’t been a comfortable conversation. Her grandmother was totally disapproving of Lexie’s subterfuge in going to work for Lucan in the first place. And deeply concerned at the way it had backfired on Lexie so that she’d had no choice but to accompany Lucan to Mulberry Hall yesterday.

Her grandmother had given dire warning as to Lucan’s reaction if he should discover the truth.

A totally unnecessary warning; Lexie already knew how angry Lucan was going to be if he ever learnt she was Sian Thomas’s granddaughter. How much he was going to hate himself—and her—for having kissed her.

Her gaze avoided meeting his probing dark one. ‘I told you—I was walking.’

‘Walking where?’ Lucan studied her through narrowed lids, having noted that evasion and wondering at the reason
for it. As far as he was aware Lexie had never been to Gloucestershire before, didn’t know anyone in the area—so what was her problem with telling him where she had been?

‘Here and there.’ She kept her tone light as she moved to pour herself a mug of coffee. ‘Want some?’ She held up the coffee pot invitingly.

‘No.’ Lucan was still far from satisfied with her answer. ‘What I want is to know where you’ve been all this time.’

‘For God’s sake, Lucan. I’m a grown woman, not a child!’ She slammed the coffee pot back down on the percolator before turning to glare at him.

Lucan’s mouth firmed as he strode forcefully across the kitchen until he stood directly in front of Lexie, effectively blocking her exit if she should try to make one. ‘Neither you nor your coat appear to be particularly wet, so you obviously took shelter somewhere—’

‘And you obviously missed your vocation as a nosy busybody!’ she cut in mockingly.

Lucan drew in a harshly controlling breath, hands clenched at his sides as he glared down at her. ‘You are the most infuriating, impossible, stubborn woman I have ever had the misfortune to meet.’

She grimaced. ‘Which makes me more than a match for an over-confident, pompous ass, wouldn’t you say?’

She had done it again, Lucan realised as he felt his anger begin to evaporate and amusement take its place. The tension began to ease from his shoulders as he gave a derisive smile. ‘You really
are
impossible, you know.’

‘I
do
know, actually.’ She nodded ruefully. ‘From all accounts I used to drive my parents to distraction when I was younger. It’s probably the reason I’m an only child!’

Lucan realised it was the first real piece of personal
information she had given him. ‘What’s that like? I grew up with two brothers only two years younger than I am, so I can’t imagine what it must be like to be an only child.’

‘It could be a little lonely on occasion,’ Lexie admitted cautiously, having no intention of telling him any more details about herself. ‘But obviously I survived the hardship,’ she dismissed brightly as she straightened. ‘So, what are we going to do for the rest of the day? Do you want to do some of the work you brought with you? Or should we try to drive back to London now, before the snow gets any deeper? ‘ she added, with a frown looking out of the kitchen window at the steadily falling snow.

She certainly didn’t want to get snowed in at Mulberry Hall for several days—and nights—with Lucan!

‘Just think, Lucan,’ she added encouragingly. ‘I could be out of your hair in just a matter of hours!’

It
would
be a good idea to try and get back to London today, Lucan inwardly acknowledged as he frowned. And not only because of the snow!

Staying on here for another day or so with Lexie—a woman who succeeded in making him laugh when it was the last thing he wanted to do—could be a mistake on his part. A big mistake.

And yet.

Therein lay the problem.

After years of avoiding coming anywhere near the Mulberry Hall estate, and all it represented, a part of Lucan was now reluctant to leave. Not because he wanted to be at Mulberry Hall itself, but because he was pretty sure that Lexie, once back in London, would make sure the agency she worked for immediately replaced her as his PA.

But wasn’t that what Lucan had decided he wanted last night, after Lexie had left the kitchen to go to bed? To put her out of his life? To never see or hear from her again? To
once again put himself behind that barrier of cold aloofness that he allowed no one to penetrate?

That was exactly what he had decided!