Chapter 15

Sophia blinked in confusion, not sure if her ears were betraying her or if the Duke was simply not being serious with her.

“Pardon me, Your Grace? I am not sure if I understand you correctly.”

The Duke straightened his back and leaned forward.

“That day when your carriage lost control and swiveled off onto the water… well, I know you do not remember this, but it did not happen too far from where we are now. I was out that night, trying to get a hold of my father as he had not returned home for a full day, and I heard a loud splash in the water. I was the one who pulled you out of the water.”

Sophia examined his face for any signs of insincerity but could not find any. Her head was spinning with this new information that the Duke had just delivered to her.

“How are you so sure?”

“Because the story of what I saw matches with your description entirely,” he admitted. “I rushed to the water bank and pulled you out of there. I looked for others, but there was no one else.”

“But… how come I do not remember anything of this sort?” she demanded, not knowing what to believe anymore.

How was it possible that the two of them had met so long ago at such a critical moment, and she had no recollection of it?

“I did not stay for too long. I still had to continue looking for my father, so I called for help and made my way out of there. There were some people around who had been looking for a cover for the storm. They rushed over when I called for help.”

“Did you know this all along?” Sophia demanded, stunned by his confession.

“Initially, I did not,” he admitted. “I only had a hunch when I came to ask for your hand and found out about your family name. Of course, I was still not sure then, but I am now since your story matches what I know exactly.”

Sophia began to shake her head.

“Why did you not tell me sooner?”

“Madam, even if I was sure, I did not want to bring up a painful memory for you.”

Sophia was touched by the concern he had shown her, but at the same time, a conflicting feeling began to brew inside of her. Her lungs felt ballooned with air, and she was immediately breathless.

“Sophia…” The Duke touched her shoulder gently, trying to calm her down.

“I did not know this. All this time, I thought that it was a tragic accident that I had somehow survived. But now that I am aware that you were behind my survival, I cannot help but wish that you had let me drown.”

“Do not say that,” the Duke reprimanded her, but his voice was soft.

She shook her head, taking in deep breaths now.

“I did not deserve to make it out of there alive if none of the rest of my family did,” she cried in a state of panic. “You should have let me drown.”

The Duke wrapped a single arm around her shoulder and pulled her to his chest.

“Madam, you need to breathe. Your anxiety is getting the best of you,” he said to her urgently.

But Sophia only continued to get worse. She shook her head and tried to break free from his hold. Her breathing was coming out raggedly now, and panic had flooded her veins completely.

Duncan firmed his grip on her and put his hand tightly around her mouth so that she could only breathe from her nose.

She tried to push him off at first, but then, as if by magic, her heart rate began to slow down, and the feeling of panic began to subside.

The warmth of his hands gave her a fuzzy feeling that she realized she liked quite a lot.

It was as though she was being given the best hug she had ever received in her entire life.

Did it feel just as good for him?she could not stop herself from wondering. It was as though that touch brought them closer faster than time ever could.

As she began to calm down, she began to hum gently. It was something she had learned to do as a child but had never done in front of anyone else till now.

How was it that the Duke made her feel so comfortable with such ease?

He held her like that for a long moment, unwilling to let go until she was okay again.

“There,” he said, finally removing his hand from her mouth. “I knew that would make it better.”

Sophia looked at him with utter surprise. She had experienced episodes like this before, but they would always last much longer.

“How did you know what to do?” she questioned, wondering what sort of magic he had just worked on her that no one in her life previously had figured out.

“I have seen it before and recognized the signs. My brother, Jacob, reacted the same way when he learned about our father’s passing,” he replied. “I had to calm him down the same way.”

Sophia’s mind was a mess. Too much had happened in the last ten minutes for her to even begin processing it.

But right now, she became aware of the fact that she was still very close to the Duke. He had dropped his hand from her mouth, but his grip on her waist remained.

When she locked eyes with him again, she felt his fingers begin to stroke her back gently. A feeling of warmth flooded Sophia that she had never experienced before.

“Thank you,” she managed to sputter out. “I really needed that.”

He nodded. Their faces were really close now, and his eyes dipped down to her lips which were jutting out from the pout that had formed on them.

Before either of them realized what was even happening, the Duke closed the distance between them, and Sophia was met with the sensation of his soft lips moving against hers.

Sophia kissed him back as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He held her close to him, keeping his hand on the small of her back.

For a moment, it felt as though time had stopped, and nothing else mattered in the entire world except what was happening between them at this moment.

But as they kissed, Duncan accidentally knocked his book off the table, and it served as a rude awakening, transporting Sophia back to reality.

She pulled away abruptly, the sides of her cheeks burning as she shuffled away from him.

“I really must go and sleep now, Your Grace.” Her words came out rushed, and she felt too shy to meet his gaze.

“I…” the Duke sputtered.

“I am sorry,” she said with a blush. “It really is getting so late, and I should not take any more of your time than I already have.”

If the Duke was disappointed with her answer, he did not let it show and instead nodded in her direction. Sophia darted out of the library, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she realized what had just happened between the two of them.

Sophia’s heart was still thumping loudly in her chest when she returned to her room.

“Oh God, how did that even happen?” she asked herself.

She and the Duke had just kissed. Just the thought alone sent butterflies down her stomach, but she knew that she had to pull herself together.

After all, Sophia had no business kissing the Duke that way. This was never a part of the original plan.

She touched her lips with her fingers and swore that she could still feel his touch lingering on top of her lips. Sophia had never kissed a man before this, but now that she had finally gotten the experience, she understood why it was such a big deal.

For one thing, her heart felt like it had grown three sizes, and she yearned for it to happen again. Sophia knew that this would not lead to any good.

If anything, it would just make her develop feelings for the Duke, and that was the last thing that she wanted to happen right now.

“Remember why you came here,” she told herself, gripping the side of her bedsheets. “You cannot drag him into the mess that is your life. He needs to remain protected from the curse, and kissing him certainly will not help.”

When she slipped back into her bed, all her previous thoughts about her nightmares had dissipated. All she could think about was the kiss, and a part of her badly wanted it to happen again.

Sophia could not take that risk. She knew that she needed to distance herself from the Duke. It was the only way that she could protect him.

To say that Duncan felt perplexed over how Sophia had reacted to their kiss would be an understatement.

In fact, it confused him so much that he found himself still thinking about it the next morning as he sat at the breakfast table.

Women were shy. He was aware of that. But he had never heard of someone running away from the room after just having been kissed.

For a moment, he entertained the possibility that she had not enjoyed the kiss or that his abilities had not been at par,but then, he was reminded of the way that her breathing had sped up and how her body had melted over into his.

Surely, she seemed to enjoy the kiss in the moment.

Then, what was the reason that she had just run away?

At the breakfast table, Jacob sat at some distance from his brother. He was busy eating his bread and did not have a clue what Duncan was going through currently.

Duncan wondered if he had moved too soon. Maybe she was not ready to kiss him just yet. Their marriage was not a real one, after all. She was not expected to perform any of her marital duties. It was something that Duncan had accepted, but in the moment, he did not know what had overcome him.

“You all right, there?” Jacob’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. “You have barely touched your food, brother dearest.”

Duncan shrugged and dug his fork in the sausage on his plate.

“I must say that I am quite surprised that you are up so early,” Jacob continued. “After all, it was your wedding night yesterday. I did not expect you to emerge from your room until noon.”

Duncan rolled his eyes at his brother. He knew that Jacob was just trying to get a rise out of him, as usual.

“I find it disturbing that you were thinking about the time I spent in my bedroom,” Duncan quipped back.

“Oh, come on. Surely it is a matter of public interest, is it not?” Jacob continued to tease him. “After all, we all want an heir to the Blackmoore Dukedom, don’t we? You have to hurry up if anything.”

Duncan glared at his brother from across the room, but before he could reply, Sophia joined them at the table for breakfast.

“Good morning, Your Grace,” she greeted him and then nodded at Jacob. “My Lord.”

“Good morning, Your Grace. Lovely to have you join us this morning,” Jacob replied.

Sophia nodded timidly and began to fill up her plate with food.

“The both of you are quite the early risers,” Jacob observed while Duncan glared at him once again, worried that he would say something inappropriate to Sophia.

“Yes, I am quite fond of mornings,” Sophia replied, oblivious to what Jacob had been implying just moments prior.

“Very good. So is my brother,” Jacob grinned. “The two of you truly are similar in many ways.”

Sophia blushed and did not look up from her plate.

“No need to play matchmaker anymore, Jacob.” Duncan shook his head at his brother. “We are already married.”

Jacob laughed loudly at that.

“Oh, I am not playing matchmaker. It’s just that the most successful couples I know have things in common with each other. I am merely trying to say that this is a good sign.” He winked. “Of course, the two of you should now figure out what else you have in common.”

Duncan did not mind his brother’s comments too much. He was used to them, but he worried that they would make Sophia uncomfortable.

Surely, that was the last thing that he wanted.

But Sophia was unusually quiet. She barely looked up from her plate.

By the time breakfast was over, the Duke had a brand-new thing to wonder about. Had Sophia always been this shy, or was this sudden change due to their kiss?

He felt like he had to have some kind of an answer. Later in the afternoon, when they ‘accidentally’ ran into each other in the library again, he finally had his chance to find out.

“Oh, Your Grace…” Sophia looked up, surprised. “I did not see you coming. Do you need the library?”

Duncan shook his head at her.

“No, it is all right. You can stay.”

Sophia bit down on her lip and looked at him as though she had something to say to him.

“Your Grace….” she finally said, “actually, there was something that I was hoping to speak to you about.”

“Was there?” Duncan asked, wondering if she had something to say about the kiss. He could not deny that he was very interested in knowing whatever it was that she had to say.

“Yes,” she replied. “I was wondering… do we really have to keep up an act around your family, too? I mean, I do not know how we can convince them that we are a couple in love when in reality it is nothing like that.”

Duncan felt a sting of disappointment at her words. He composed himself and made sure his feelings did not show on his face.

“What are you trying to say, Madam?”

“I was just wondering if we would ever tell anyone in the family,” she explained, “that we might be married by law, but our relationship is nothing like that. I just feel that if we were honest, it would ease the expectations on us.”

“Did someone say anything to you?” Duncan inquired. “I cannot help but wonder why you are bringing it up now.”

Sophia shook her head.

“Of course, nothing happened. I just… I just believe that these things are best decided at the outset. Jacob, for instance, seems convinced that we are a happy couple.”

Duncan waved his hand in the air dismissively.

“Oh, you do not need to take anything that Jacob says to heart,” he assured her. “You should treat him like your little brother. I thought mother might have said something to you.”

Sophia shook her head. “Oh, no. I have not gotten the chance to speak to the Dowager properly. I suppose I was just… preemptively worried.”

Duncan wondered if it was because of the kiss. Had she not enjoyed herself? Did she want him to take the hint that it should not happen again?

The questions were swirling inside of his head, and he did not like them.

“Well, I do not think it is a wise idea to speak to my mother about this,” he decided. “She will not understand it.”

“But then what happens when she begins to expect things from our union?” Sophia’s tone was horrified. “Like an heir.”

Even though Duncan had assured her beforehand that he would not be demanding an heir from her, he could not help but feel a certain way about how horrified she sounded at the prospect of producing one together.

Duncan was used to women fawning over him with no effort from his side.

What was it about this woman that she did not seem to act the same way? They were married now, and Duncan still had his doubts about whether she was even interested in him.

Duncan expected himself to get annoyed by this sort of behavior, but surprisingly, it only piqued his curiosity about her more. What would he have to do to get her to fall for him? Did he even want that to happen?

“Your Grace,” she pulled him out of his thoughts, and he realized that he had been keeping her waiting for an answer.

“Oh, well, as far an heir is concerned, I told you that you do not need to worry about it,” he assured her. “If mother says anything to you, then tell me, and I will resolve the matter. As far as appearances go, I do not think it is useful to tell my mother anything. She knows that our marriage was born out of duty already. She does not need to know any other details of our arrangement.”

Sophia looked at him expectantly.

“Are you sure, Your Grace?”

“Positive. There is no need to worry about things that are not problems…. yet.”

Something about her expression told Duncan that she was not convinced by his answer.

“Is the acting getting too difficult for you?” he asked. “If so, I can cancel some of the social events that we are supposed to attend together as a couple.”

“No, no.” She shook her head immediately. “I do not wish to make any changes to your schedules. I suppose I was just… Well, I suppose I am only overthinking things.”

“It seems like you are.”

“I should go now.” She got up. “I shall see you later.”

Once again, Duncan found himself staring at her retreating figure.

It was as though she was there but not completely. She was his by law, but not his at all when it came to reality. Almost within reach.

And God did it increase his curiosity towards her.