The Grace of a Duke by Linda Rae Sande Read Free Book Online Page B

simply wait for Garrett to report back to him before he would make any rash decisions. And in the meantime, perhaps he could put Charlotte to work just a bit. Running the household was his least favorite task as a duke; if she had truly trained to be a duchess, she could take on the responsibilities of the house and surrounding lawn and gardens. Planning the menus, overseeing the cook’s food purchases, speaking with staff, giving the gardener guidance as to how the grounds should look for the summer, and decorating that damned parlor, he considered, remembering how every time the vicar’s sister attended a function at the estate, she mentioned how shabby the old salon had become.
    In the meantime, he’d have to endure the other torture he found himself experiencing. His manhood was quite aware there was a nearly naked woman pressed against him. The pads of her right fingertips lay lightly on his chest and mounds of blonde curls tickled the skin around his shoulder. The slippery satin of her dressing gown, still wrapped mostly about her body, felt cool, almost sensual against the skin on the right side of his body, and he wondered for a moment how it would feel against his scarred left side. Although not many nerve endings had survived the trauma of being burned, those that did ached for something pleasant to feel, something smooth and soft and comforting.
    As if Charlotte could read his thoughts, she straightened the arm that rested on his chest. Her fingers absently glided over the scars around his ribs and under his left arm, their soft caress sending a series of shivers through him. His breath caught, and she stirred, her head moving a bit and her fingers deliberately retracing the path that sent his skin trembling. He was about to place a hand over hers ... not quite sure if he wanted to still it or to hold it for the sake of ... touching her, he thought, his body still thrilling at the thought of her body pressed against his.
    “Has it stopped?” she whispered, her head suddenly lifting a bit from his shoulder.
    Joshua held his breath for a moment, thinking, God no, don’t stop, as the pleasurable frissons darted under his skin. He didn’t realize what she was asking until a dim glimmer from a far away lightning flash appeared in the window. “It’s almost passed over,” he whispered, his left arm moving to rest under the arm she had draped over his chest. “What ... frightened you?” he wondered, his head turning so hers was under his chin. The scent of jasmine wafted under his nostrils and he took a deep breath. If I marry her, I could have this scent under my nose every night for the rest of my life, some part of his mind reasoned.
    Charlotte was so still he thought she might have gone to sleep, but her soft voice sounded again. “I saw a tree hit by a lightning bolt once. It burst apart ... pieces of it went everywhere,” she murmured, her head burying into him again. “And then the tree burned, and part of the stables burned, and one of our grooms died in the fire. His room was in the attic of the stables, and he couldn’t get out.”
    Damn! Joshua thought, suddenly understanding her fear as the thought of forever smelling jasmine flew from his brain. “Was anyone else hurt?” he whispered, his hold on her more protective as he turned his body just a bit toward hers. His cock was suddenly pressed against the satin over her belly. When she didn’t move away or otherwise react, Joshua took a deep breath. If he wasn’t careful, he might find himself taking her as his betrothed this very night, whether she truly wanted him as a husband or not.
    “I don’t remember anyone else being burned,” Charlotte whispered, her voice sounding very far away. “But there were several who could not breathe very well for a long time.”
    Smoke inhalation, he thought, remembering all too clearly how his own lungs had burned while he tried in vain to get his sister out of her room and down the stairs and out the