Shivering even in the thick layers of my dress, I still could not turn around. So much seemed to hinge on my response, yet I could not find a way forward.
He let out a heavy sigh. “I would venture to guess that, of the two of us, I enjoyed our time together more.”
The quiet, velvet quality of his voice gave me pause, and my grip on the door handle tightened. “Do not trifle with me, Your Grace. I am not a plaything.”
“I will never trifle with you, Miss Graham. I promise.”
A small breath escaped me as I released my hold on the doorknob.
The duke stepped to the side of me. “Perhaps we could try again. Won’t you come have a seat?”
Hesitating for only a heartbeat, I turned and gave him a brief nod, keeping my gaze on the floor. He led the way, taking us over to where a large fire roared in the hearth. He motioned toward the nearest chair. “Please, sit.”
I eased into the plush green chair, the deep-seated tension in me draining away. Though there were several chairs positioned around the fire, the duke took the one right next to mine. With his bad knee, the effort required to sit seemed monumental, but his expression remained neutral. Once settled, he leaned his cane against the chair and turned to face me. All at once my hands felt awkward and out of place as they smoothed invisible wrinkles in my skirts.
“Let me apologize once more for being so boorish,” he said. His brows knit together, causing a deep furrow in his forehead.
“You were boorish,” I agreed before I could stop myself. I smiled, trying to lighten my words. “But I was rather ill-mannered as well. Perhaps we could forgive one another.” I ignored the look of surprise that crossed his face, not wanting to dwell on the subject any longer. My gaze traveled up to the windows on the second floor. “I am glad you spend a great deal of time here in the library; it would be tragic for such a beautiful room to go to waste.”
The duke’s expression softened, and he relaxed and settled back in his chair. “It is my favorite room in the castle, save for the observatory.”
I jerked my head over to look at him. “The observatory?”
He nodded. “Up in the east tower.”
“With a telescope? Where you can view the stars?”
He smiled, amused by my enthusiasm. “That is the purpose of an observatory, after all.”
“My father taught me about the stars when I was young, and ever since they have held a sort of fascination for me. I’ve always wanted to look through a telescope.”
His look darkened. “I never go up there anymore.”
“Why ever not?”
“I should think it would be obvious enough. It is in one of the towers. Up six flights of stairs.”
At that realization my stomach dropped like an anchor thrown overboard. “Oh, I am sorry, Your Grace. I did not think—”
A sound of disapproval passed his lips. “There’s no need to apologize for something that is not your fault.” He waved his hand, batting away my words. “So your father taught you about the stars, did he? I believe you mentioned he was a sailor.”
“Yes.”
“And how is it that someone of your mother’s status came to marry a Scottish sailor?” He looked at me quickly. “I mean no offense; I am only curious.”
“None taken.” I crossed my feet beneath my skirts and laid my hands in my lap. “My father was a sailor aboard the ship my mother took when she visited the Continent with her father, though my grandfather knew nothing of the attachment she had formed until much later.”
“I see. After they were married, perhaps?”
I nodded. “She knew my grandfather would never agree, so she and my father eloped to Gretna Green. I was born in Scotland a little over a year later.”
“Yet you sound English, except for when you sing.” His face remained impassive, but my cheeks flushed at the reminder of that humiliating moment.
Trying to cover my embarrassment, I gave him a small smile. “Father moved us back to England shortly after I was born. Mother hated being so far away from her family. And Father was gone on long trips, rarely ashore for more than a few weeks at a time, so he wanted her to be somewhere she felt more at home.”
“She moved back to England to be near family? I rather thought your grandfather would have disowned her.”
The duke’s interest in my family surprised me, but perhaps he was just trying to make up for his earlier rudeness. “He did. But my mother still preferred England. We moved into a small house not far from my grandparents. I think she hoped, in time, Grandfather would change his mind.”
“And did he?”
I shook my head. “No. But Aunt Agnes was willing to change hers when she fell on hard times and hoped for some of my mother’s money.”
“Your mother’s money? And here I imagined you as poor as church mice.”
“Oh we were, when I was young. But my father eventually became a captain. He obtained a letter of marque and had great success in capturing French ships during the Napoleonic Wars.”
“Ah, a state-sanctioned pirate.” A half smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “I can’t imagine that helped him earn the good graces of your mother’s family.”
“No, but the fortune he made from the prize money ultimately softened Aunt Agnes toward us.” I clamped my hand over my mouth. “I’m sorry; it isn’t ladylike to speak of money. I should watch my tongue.”
The duke shifted toward me, his knee almost brushing mine. “I like you best when your tongue is unguarded.”
Heat rose in my cheeks, and it was more than just the warmth of the fire. Somehow every compliment Robert had ever given me faded in comparison with this one.
The duke stretched out his bad
