A Duchess a Day (Awakened by a Kiss #1) - Charis Michaels Page 0,17
apparently we will be outside. Either way, I shall need your help, but certainly this will be easier done if we are in the garden.”
“What will be easier? What is my objective?”
“Are you asking for your faux objective, or your actual objective?”
Declan swore in his head and turned away. He looked at the glow of moonlight through the window and thought of his jail cell. He thought of his father and the small, fogged window of his bedroom beside his tailor shop. He thought of his own bloody survival. She was like a dervish, but if he concentrated, if he really concentrated, he could just see beyond the cyclone.
“I’m asking for all objectives,” he said slowly, turning back. “What can you possibly expect a liveried groom to do inside a society party?”
Lady Helena held up slim fingers and ticked off expectations. “One of my mother’s gossipy friends has been invited. This is a great stroke of luck, as she is my greatest hope for building a list of potential duchesses for the duke.”
Declan blinked, trying to dissipate the shadows. Was she asking him to be complicit? Was the question no longer Are you a spy? Was it Help me run away?
He began shaking his head.
No. No. No.
No.
Lady Helena forged on. “The woman won’t rattle off the names outright, of course, but I feel certain I can dislodge them through gossip and flattery, et cetera.”
He gritted out, “And my role?”
“You will be assisting with my many packages and parcels—all the gifts I shall receive because I am Lusk’s bride-to-be.”
“There are footmen for this.”
“But only my personal groom can be trusted with our gifts,” she amended. “And while you are inventorying and guarding the gifts, you will also be standing ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“For me to sail by rather quickly and—”
“Oh God.”
“—take down the names of the girls I learn from my mother’s friend. To record any useful gossip I discern. I could never take down these notes while I’m circulating. I couldn’t remember everything I hope to learn. I’m wholly unschooled in London gossip. These names and directions will have no value to me. It will be like a foreign language.”
“No.”
“But you’ve hardly considered it,” she countered. “The task is only to stand near the gifts, inventory them—or pretend to inventory, honestly, who cares—and I will whisper my findings to you each time I come ’round. We need only paper and pen, which I will provide in the morning. Think of your secret role as Girdleston’s nonspy spy. What better way to keep an eye on me than to be within the bounds of the party?”
He stared at her, disbelieving.
Finally, he said, “You are aware that grooms have no business inside parties. Nor do they take dictation. And even if they did, I am employed by Girdleston. You are actively trying to undermine him.”
“You cannot possibly have loyalty to Lusk or Girdleston or the dukedom,” she said. “That was plain to me in the library.”
Declan opened his mouth, then closed it. She was correct, of course. He’d recoiled at the sight of the unconscious duke. Looking back, he’d wanted her to see his disgust.
“Make no mistake,” she went on, “I know you have no loyalty to me either. We’ve only just met.” She raised an eyebrow and flicked the thick rope of her braid over her shoulder. It hit the workbench with a thump. His gaze slid from her head to her boots. Desire surged like a falcon on a tether.
How could he be invigorated by the sight of her when he could barely see her? And what he saw was buried in ten yards of white cotton. Why was it impossible not to look?
I’m exhausted, he thought errantly. I began the day in prison, I made a deal with the devil, and now I’m in hell—all in one day. Exhausted.
But that was a lie. He was not exhausted.
He should be. Any sane man would be. Instead, he felt like a thick bolt of lightning had made prolonged contact with the top of his head. His heart thudded. Every nerve was alive to the sheer challenge of Helena Lark.
He was just about to remind her that her five minutes were up when a loud, shrill sound rent the night, freezing them in place.
Crreeakk—the unmistakable sound of a swinging stable gate.
In unison, their heads snapped to the door. Helena sucked in a gasp. Declan brought a finger to his lips. Shhh.