A Duke and A Damsel

A Duke and A Damsel--Chapter 22

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A Duke and A Damsel

Chapter 22

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Arjun returned back to Blake's townhouse in a foul mood. He had waited over two hours for Sarah Rhodes to show up and had finally decided to walk home. As soon as he had walked out of the park, however, it had begun to rain profusely, and there was not a hackney in sight. To avoid getting any wetter than he already was, Arjun had decided to take a shortcut through a more rundown section of the city. Unfortunately, a street urchin had come and stolen his wallet. Though he'd tried to run after him and call for a bow street runner, there was not a single person around the area, and the rain was impeding visibility. Of course, right after that, a hackney had passed by him asking if he needed a ride somewhere, but when he'd said he had no money, the driver drove past him without another word and splashed him with mud. By the time he reached Blake's, he was wet, cold, tired, hungry, and extremely cranky.

“BLAKE!” he shouted upon entering the foyer and dropping his coat on the floor. “BLAKE! Where the bloody hell are you?! Meet me in your study right now. We need to talk.”

“Master Arjun!” Spencer exclaimed coming into the foyer to see what all the commotion was, an astounded look upon his face at seeing a usually calm Arjun seething like this. “Whatever is the matter? Why are you shouting? Is everything all right?”

Arjun shot Spencer a look that would have made any normal person cower in fear.

“Does it bloody look like I'm ok? Where the hell is Blake? Call him right now, Spencer. I don't care if he's not in the house. I want you to bloody go out and find him if you have to. He'd better be in front of me in the study in the next two minutes. And don't you dare tell me you can't go outside because of the damned rain. If I can walk back more than a mile in it, you bloody well can too.”

Arjun huffed furiously for a moment, frowning deeply and ignoring Spencer's astonished expression as well as the part of his conscience that was telling him he shouldn't be taking out his mood on poor Spencer.

“Well, why are you just standing there?! Shouldn't you be looking for Blake?!” he barked.

“I-I-I'm sorry, Master Arjun. I will go find him right away,” Spencer stuttered. “I believe I heard him come in a few moments earlier, sir. I think he asked Leslie to draw a bath, b-b-b-but do not worry,” he added, seeing the thunderous expression on Arjun's face, “I will let him know that it is a state of emergency and that he must see you i-i-immediately, even if he is not finished with his bath.”

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Blake ran into the study two minutes later with just a towel around his waist. Spencer had run in just as he had began to soak his toes in the bath.

“Arjun! Is everything all right? Spencer told me there was an emergency! What happened?!? And why do you look like that?” Blake asked, suddenly taking note of Arjun's appearance.