All the Things You Never Knew (33 page)

Sneaky
,
Duke
, Avangelene thought as the Duke of Hargate held her and devour the wits out of her with his mouth, savoring each taste with his tongue. It was more than what’s needed to cure his silence, yet he wouldn’t stop–she couldn’t stop. There’s something about this annoying duke that always does strange things to her and make her want to do things…like this.

She knows she shouldn’t but her heart was telling her otherwise. She likes him, she’ll admit that. And this kiss. She couldn’t quite remember a time when she’d been kissed like this. She’d never even thought, or dream of being kissed this way. It’s the last thing on her mind. She was always occupied with the work of the Imperial Order that she was never able to experience the life of a real lady.

Besides, she’s not a lady. She doesn’t belong in the world of aristocracy. She isn’t fit to attend balls or soirées. The only time she was able to be herself was at the ball held by her sister-in-law after her brother had gotten married. Even with that, she never had the opportunity to waltz, or dance with a fine line of gentlemen. Awkward enough, she had only danced with ladies. Working under the false disguise of a man and spying at soirées had made her quite a famous beau among the young ladies. They had all chased her down over the past couple of years, but even if she was to be a man, she wouldn’t fit to court them. The thought was totally outrageous. And not to mention now at this particular moment, she certainly doesn’t belong in the arms of a duke.

“Enough!” she said, finally coming back to her senses and pushing the duke away to catch her breath.
“With you, it’s never enough,” the duke said as he pulls her back to gently nip at her lips.
“Stop,” she commanded, reaching up to pinch his nose together and pull his head away to look into his eyes. “I mean it.”
The duke gave out a laugh and pinches her nose in return. “Your wish is my command,” he answered, laying his forehead down on hers.
Avangelene groaned and pushed free once more.
“Don’t touch me ever again,” she hissed, turning away and moving off to sit across from him on the other side of the fire.
“I’m sure what we just shared was mutual,” he said, chuckling lightly as he fell down to lay on the grass.
She has no doubt that he was talking about the kiss
“Thank you,” he added as he turned to look at her.
“For what?” she asked, though she suspected it was for the kiss also.
“Everything,” he answered then added, “And for always putting my life in danger.”
“You chose to put yourself in danger, not me,” she argued.
“You led me to it,” he countered.
“You chose to follow me around! It’s not like I dragged you along!”
“Your actions forced me to,” he replied, closing his eyes and turning away.
Whatever he meant by that.
“I didn’t want to,” he whispered.
“You
don’t
need to,” she said crossly, lying down on the grass to stare at the sky.
It was a clear night filled with millions of sparkling stars; even the light of the moon contributed its radiant rays along with its glittering minions.
“I can’t stop myself,” said the duke after a while. “I have to.”
Avangelene averted her attentions back to him and merely gazed.
His eyes met hers once more and he said softly, “I think I’m falling in love with you.”
Avangelene open her mouth to say something but nothing came out.
“I think I’m in love with you,” he said again, when she just looked at him dumbstruck with her heart twitching with an indescribable feeling.
The devil!
How she wished she had kept him silent for another night or two.

Laguna knew it was a mistake to tell Avangelene so, but he can’t lie to himself. He’d always believe that he’ll find a woman who he would truly fall in love with and when that moment comes, he will tell her. And it wouldn’t be a lie.

“I really am in love with you,” he said again, though really he shouldn’t. Saying it twice was enough, especially when that person just stares at you like you’re some idiot. Saying it a third time, well, he just felt like it.

A chuckle finally escaped from Avangelene then turned into a mocking hysteric laugh as she turns her back to him. Was she laughing at him or at what he just said?

“Go to sleep, Laguna,” she replied as her laughter died down, her back still to him. “Good night.”
Was that really all she had to say?
It angers him to have her take it as a joke. She just made him feel like a laughing stock. No–she just made
him
a laughing stock.
Does she know how much she had tortured him over the past few months? He had never felt this great of a desire or affection towards any woman, not even the whores at the brothel.
Yet, here he is with the sister of his best friend who had taken care of him when he got injured the last time while saving her brother from getting abducted by the Marquess of Lansing’s men, but he can’t seem to hold back the emotions. Everything was wrong. So wrong.
Hell!
Why does it have to be him now that’s stuck in this circle of love? He’s truly becoming a besotted fool.
No, he’s not a fool. Anyone who loves a woman this much cannot be a fool, could they? He’d always thought so of others, but coming to know Avangelene made him understood the feelings.
Blast it!
His friend Leon, Avangelene’s brother, had spent his life prying over the one woman he’d never thought to have another chance with after making an irrational decision and yet they’re back together with a love so strong that even steel can’t break it.
Surely he can have a shot at it with Avangelene. Having to chase her down after all this time and stopping her from running into dangers, he sees that they would be a good match. He may be a duke who is expected to marry a lady in the high social class like him and produce an heir, but how can he do that when his heart is engaged to this…this woman?
She’s the most reprehensible woman for him who is stubborn and never listens or obeys any orders. No one would ever approve of her as a wife for a duke. She’s so hard-headed that even a bull wouldn’t make it pass her and also really, really argumentative. There has never been a day where he didn’t have to argue with her. She seems to hold this hatred, if you should call it so, against him that nothing ever settles in peace. If only he was an ordinary man, maybe things would have been different. Maybe she wouldn’t have resented him so much. He still doesn’t understand why. He’d never done her wrong in anyway. Or did he?
Laguna looked at Avangelene’s back and feel the urge to get up and hold her for the night. She’s always so cold and harsh towards him, but he knows that deep down she holds a softness that she’s afraid to show, a barrier to her weakness that she doesn’t want to break. He swears one day he’ll break it and show her that no matter what, she would always be who she is; the brave, courageous Avangelene Heartily, the
Lady of Death
.
The woman to his heart.
“Avangelene,” he murmured, testing to see if she had fallen asleep.
“Sleep,” was all she said in reply.
What is he to say to get her attention?
“I’m sorry,” he answered, which he isn’t at all. One would be an idiot to apologize for having to confess ones love. “Forget I said that. I…just wanted to see how you’ll react.”
That seem to have caught her completely off guard and she turned swiftly back to glare at him. That seems to have done the trick. He had to say something to get her back to normal, didn’t he? No matter how true his words were and his feelings, he’ll just have to keep them inside so that they can stay like this awhile longer.
“You’re such an ass,” Avangelene said to him before turning away to the other side again.
She looked…was it disappointment that he saw in her eyes? It can’t be. She hates him after all. Is she just playing pretend with him to make him feel guilty? And to annoy him? She’s always good at that.
“Avangelene!” Not being able to take it, Laguna got up and strolls over to sit in front of her.
“What do you want?” she asked, sitting up to face him with her arms crossed.
“Are you mad?”
“There’s no reason for me to,” she answered, falling back down with her back towards him again.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Laguna smiled and dropped down to lie next to her.
She didn’t seem bother to move or stir at his presence.
“I can’t sleep,” he said. “After what you did to me, I can’t sleep.”
“That’s your problem,” she said, hugging her arms around her. “Please go back to your side.”
“Sorry we have no pillows or anything,” he said, just to provoke her to talk. “I know this grass isn’t too comfortable to sleep on.”
Still, she didn’t bother.
He looked up at the sky and sighed.
The stars and moon seems happy.
“Can we talk?” he asked, glancing back at her. “Want me to tell you a story like the last time you did for me?”
“No,” she said flatly, turning back to face him, which he feel was a good thing. “Can we just…sleep?”
He stared at her and before he knows it, she raised a hand up to cup his face and lean in towards him. Her eyes gleaming with suspicion.
What is wrong with her now?
Didn’t she say she wanted to sleep?
“Avange–”
“Hold still,” she said, pulling his head to hers and gazing into his eyes.
This is the one reason why he can’t stop–
“Good, Lord.” Her dim mood vanished and she just held his gaze with a priceless smile on her face. “I wasn’t wrong at all when I first saw it.”
“Saw what?” he asked his hearting pounding wildly in his chest. She has to stop touching him.
“Your eyes. They change colors,” she said amusingly. “I knew there was something unique about them.”
He almost laughed at the bizarre comment.
“You…were looking at my eyes?”
“It was steel gray the first time I met you,” she said. “Then at Lansing’s lair when we went to help Leon it was a golden bronze. Now it’s a…well…” She pulled him up without warning and pick up a torch from the fire to see his eye color better. “It’s amethyst.”
“Amethyst?” Laguna couldn’t help but laugh at her. “Avangelene, I assure you, my eyes do not change colors.”
“Do you ever look at yourself in the mirror then?”
“Not sure what you mean by
‘yourself’,
” he said with a light chuckle.
“Never mind then.” She blew an exasperated breath and let go of him, and threw the torch back into the fire. “I’m going back to sleep.”
“But you’re not really tired, are you?” he asked, grabbing her arm to prevent her from going back. “Can we just…sit and talk please?”
“Laguna.” She met his gaze again, her eyes glistening in the moonlight and he knew then, that he was doomed.

Avangelene woke up the next morning to the stream of sunlight that shone down on her and almost fret when she feel an arm beneath her head and another tightened at her waist with a slow, easy breathing at her ear. She turned her head and almost came lips to lips with the duke.

Curse it!
This is not happening for a second time!
She had slept with him twice!
Twice!
The thought sounded wrong but she will make sure never ever to

make him tell her stories again. It always makes her fall asleep. Her own stories had made her fell asleep the last time.

Without waiting for the duke to rise, Avangelene pushed him away and scrambled to her feet, making sure nothing about her was amiss.

A light chuckle came from the duke and he slowly sat up with an exaggerated yawn and looked at her.
“Good morning,” he said, smiling lazily as she turned to look at him.
She felt herself blush and turned away. “Good morning,” she answered, walking off to a nearby pond to wash her face.
He was right by her side when she rose up.
“There are no fishes, are there?” he asked, as he bends down to wash his own.
“What?”
“You know, like the ones at your Haven of Light,” he said as he stood up, wiping off the water with the sleeve of his shirt. “Those fishes hated me.”
Avangelene couldn’t help but laughed as he said that.
Laguna was her brother’s friend and had been injured during a task to one of the Marquess of Lansing’s many lairs to rescue her brother. He was brought to Haven of Light, the name of the secret impoverish village that she had come across six years ago when she had joined the army under Wellington’s command, and was placed under her care.
Haven of Light was just a mere wasteland when she found it and was abandoned with no residence. It took her a good long year to fix it up and establish a home for those in poverty. There must be about a thousand lives in there that she had saved. It had been hard trying to manage everything, but with her hard work and efforts, she was able to succeed within a few years.
The village was one with strengthen security. No one can get in if they don’t know where to find the switch to unlock the entrance. She had made sure it’s well hidden and built so that no intruders can come in. She never allows anyone that looks suspicious inside and always made sure no foes were lurking around before entering. Only her siblings were permitted inside–and them alone. Her brother Leon, however, had violated that rule by bringing in this annoying duke and that is why she’s stuck with him now.
“You know what I was thinking when I first encountered those fishes?” Laguna asked her as he crouches down to look at the pond again and then up at her. “I was thinking that you trained them purposely to despise me.”
His response brought a chuckle out of her and she shook her head. “You’re not that important for me to waste my time training fishes to hate you.”
It was funny as the scene flash back into her head.
She had just gotten him a new outfit from her tailor and was sitting up in the tree to enjoy the fresh air when she caught him strolling over to the pond below her. He was trying to tie his cravat and fix his collar, but somewhat, the fishes won’t let him. They will rise up to distort his reflection and splatter waters at him. It was as if they
were
trained to do exactly just
that.
She found it quite amusing. She always found things amusing with him. The fish incident had never happened to her before. Maybe the fishes do hate him after all. She totally had nothing to do with it so he better stop accusing her.
Besides, she doesn’t exactly hate him, nor dislike him. She just…she doesn’t know what she felt. It’s not hate or dislikes, that’s for sure. It’s just…something.
“You always ail me,” he said, feigning hurt as he stood up again from examining the pond. “I’m going to make you pay someday.”
She just flashed him a brazen smile and echoed, “Someday. Maybe.”
“I’m serious,” he said, raking his fingers through his hair as he looks at her.
Well, she’ll be damn if she doesn’t admit how bloody handsome he looks at the moment doing that to his tousled hair of dark glistening auburn that fell nicely to his neck.
“Whatever you say,
Duke
,” Avangelene replied, walking back to their camp to wipe off the ridiculous thought that she just had.
She can’t fall in love with him no matter how charming he looks.
She can’t!
He’s a duke!
A duke!
It scared her enough when he said he was falling in love with her last night. It doesn’t matter to her if it’s a joke or not. She doesn’t want to think about it. She can’t share the mutual…
thing
.
Lord, help her.
She needs to go home.
Back to Haven of Light.
Alone!