God, how was he supposed to get any sleep when he was this aroused? If this were any other situation, Lucas would have found a woman willing to come to bed with him so he could take the edge off, but he was in the middle of nowhere, and he had a feeling that Derbyshire wouldn’t be too happy about him taking someone in the house to his room.
He might have someone willing to take him up on the offer, but the thought of having Lady Marcia in his arms wasn’t as enticing as it should have been.
Not even a bit of fun with her sounded tempting.
He was not going to get any sleep anytime soon. Getting up, Lucas left the room and padded to the stairs on his stockinged feet. Derbyshire was coming up the stairs, his waistcoat unbuttoned and looking like he needed sleep. He slowed when he saw Lucas.
“You’re still up?”
“I was going to say the same about you. It’s almost one in the morning.”
“I had to deal with a few things. Time ran away with me.” Derbyshire yawned. “Where are you off to? You’re not sneaking off anywhere, are you?”
“I’m just going to return this book.” Lucas held up the offending item. “I thought it would help me sleep, but apparently not.”
“Oh. I see.” Derbyshire rubbed his eyes. “Well, just make sure you light a candle in the library. They’ve all been put out downstairs.”
“I’ll make sure to do that.”
Lucas thought about going back to his room and lighting a candle, but he didn’t want to retrace his steps. A bit of darkness wasn’t going to do him any harm. He could see in the dark, for the most part.
“Well, don’t take too long. And be careful not to bump into anything.” Derbyshire patted Lucas’ shoulder as he went past. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Lucas headed downstairs, pausing as he got to the bottom. Sure enough, all the candles had been extinguished. And the ground floor was incredibly dark. Far darker than he had expected. When Derbyshire had warned him before that everything would be pitch black when there was no light in the countryside, he hadn’t been lying. It was even darker than he was used to at his country estate. The Peak District was certainly teaching him a few things.
Including that he might, just a little bit, be scared of the dark.
There had to be a candlestick nearby. Why didn’t he go back upstairs? Lucas knew that would be the best thing to do.
But instead of doing that, he felt his way carefully to the drawing room, finding the doorknob and slipping inside. He recalled a table right by the door, and there had been a candlestick. Surely, it was still there?
Thankfully, it was. And the box of matches was on the table beside it. Sighing with relief, Lucas lit the three candles and picked up the candlestick. Things were a little better as he went back into the foyer.
“You could have gone back upstairs for a candle instead of venturing further,” he muttered as he made his way through the house. “You’re so lazy it’s ridiculous.”
He got to the library and found a bit of light there due to the fire burning away in the hearth and the moonlight coming in through the window. Putting his candlestick on a table by the window, Lucas looked out across the garden.
He could see a lot of the valley beyond like this, and everything was still and quiet. The silence had been roaring in his ears. The moon was big and clear in the sky, casting a silvery sheen across everything. It did look ethereal. Lucas liked it.
Bedfordshire was flat. Its countryside was nothing like Derbyshire. Just by looking at it, things were more interesting. Lucas didn’t think that was possible.
He wasn’t going to get anything done by staring at the scene outside the house. He wanted to put the book away and go back upstairs before he got too scared to be outside of his room on his own. Lucas groaned. He had become such a coward in just a few short minutes.
Now, where did he put the book? Lucas couldn’t remember. He wandered around the shelves, trying to recall which bookcase he was in when he tugged this book out from its confines. Was it just randomly put on the shelf, or was it with all the other books about art?
Lord and Lady Derbyshire were certainly avid book readers. The marquess, certainly, liked to buy books every time he was in London, and they had to be first editions. Lucas wasn’t one to read so much, but he did like a first edition as well before any changes were made. The original was always the best.
Although he wasn’t quite sure what to think about Italian art during the renaissance, it was fascinating, but it still left him confused. It took a special kind of mind to take it all in. Dorothy was a smart woman if she liked reading about art and understood it all.
Maybe he should look for recommendations. But then Dorothy would find out that he was trying to read what she liked as a way to impress her. Lucas didn’t think it would go down well that he was trying to sneak past her defences, especially not after what he had said to her.
Probably not the best thing he could have said to her. Lucas had tried to make it a compliment, but then he saw that he had actually insulted her. Not a good idea. Dorothy was a different type of woman. He would have to do things differently if he wanted her attention.
She was the sort of person who would make him work harder for it.
The library door opened, and Lucas spun around. All he saw was a candlestick with lit candles wobbling in their holders. He couldn’t see the person holding it for a moment with the light shining right into his eyes. Just an apparition in white cloth.